- Jan 10, 2014
- 5
- 0
- 7
We acquired our flock just 2 weeks ago, they are older ladies, leghorns and reds. All was well until 3 days ago when I noticed a very dirty backside on one of the reds, she was lethargic, not joining in with the other birds and sitting on her own, ruffled feathers and looking like she wanted to fall asleep. I isolated her (built a separate pen), have given her yogurt, priobiotics and a bath. When I bathed her I could not find any mites etc and her backside was not swollen or red. She still is very listless but appears to be eating spasmodically but has emptied three containers of water. I am not sure what to do next. Can I bath her regularly? We have lots of flies here and I don't want her to be fly blown. The other chickens seem to be fine, although I am checking their backsides regularly. The weather is very hot. Our ladies feed on layer pellets, seed (prepared) and kitchen scraps. We do have an accommodation cottage on the property and guests do keep their kitchen scraps for the chickens, however, we do not know what the chickens get from the guests, although we do tell them what not to keep. Could this be the problem with this hen? Could she have had something which has caused her illness. We thought it would be lovely for children to feed chickens and collect eggs and know they did not come from the supermarket. BUT perhaps I should vet anything they get. I would really not like to loose this chicken (Bertha), if there is something else I can do, please tell me. Thanks so much. Sue
