- Apr 6, 2010
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hi all,
we had four chickens, two wyandottes and two americaunas, 2 years old. the two americaunas have been laying but the two wyandottes never started again after the winter. one of the wyandottes, goldie, started looking weird about 1.5 months ago: tail down, legs kind of out and puffed up, looking a little lethargic and sad. but she was eating well, would run and stay with the other girls, and was still pooping. she had poop on her butt, though -- it was a little runny. i let it be for about 2 weeks and then read on this forum, decided, crap! it may be that she's egg bound! and gave her some baths and abdomen massages and oatmeal -- but nothing helped, so we just let it go, since she was still eating so well. we found her dead yesterday. i cried a lot, realizing that this is entirely my fault.
well, also yesterday, we noticed one of our americaunas started getting a little droopy-tailed and lethargic-looking. she stopped laying about 1.5 weeks ago -- before that she was laying regularly. what do i do?? she also has a bit of a poopy butt, but she always does... is she egg bound?
and, the other wyandotte never started laying again. so now just one chicken is giving eggs. acck! i'm so concerned that they're fighting something and i have no idea what..
our chickens get organic layer crumbles with oyster shells. they get lots of scraps from events that happen in the canyon -- so this week for example they got a ton of spaghetti and pancakes. our waterer was starting to rust and i just replaced it this week -- wondering if that could be a cause? they stay in a movable coop which we move regularly although the area that they move around in is kind of small. they also get out of the coop entirely and wander around a large orchard almost daily. (they're in the coop not for lack of space but to keep the coyotes and bobcats from eating them.) in the coop they have five boxes with straw that we replace like once a week -- probably we should replace more often, but they kick it up so any poop that's on there gets moved out of the way...
the closest vet that treats chickens is over an hour's drive away, and we're kind of not into that, so any home remedies would be appreciated. i'm feeling like i'm neglecting them too much but i'm not sure what the right action would be, and we don't have much chicken experience, so,..... help!
many, many thanks in advance!
we had four chickens, two wyandottes and two americaunas, 2 years old. the two americaunas have been laying but the two wyandottes never started again after the winter. one of the wyandottes, goldie, started looking weird about 1.5 months ago: tail down, legs kind of out and puffed up, looking a little lethargic and sad. but she was eating well, would run and stay with the other girls, and was still pooping. she had poop on her butt, though -- it was a little runny. i let it be for about 2 weeks and then read on this forum, decided, crap! it may be that she's egg bound! and gave her some baths and abdomen massages and oatmeal -- but nothing helped, so we just let it go, since she was still eating so well. we found her dead yesterday. i cried a lot, realizing that this is entirely my fault.
well, also yesterday, we noticed one of our americaunas started getting a little droopy-tailed and lethargic-looking. she stopped laying about 1.5 weeks ago -- before that she was laying regularly. what do i do?? she also has a bit of a poopy butt, but she always does... is she egg bound?
and, the other wyandotte never started laying again. so now just one chicken is giving eggs. acck! i'm so concerned that they're fighting something and i have no idea what..
our chickens get organic layer crumbles with oyster shells. they get lots of scraps from events that happen in the canyon -- so this week for example they got a ton of spaghetti and pancakes. our waterer was starting to rust and i just replaced it this week -- wondering if that could be a cause? they stay in a movable coop which we move regularly although the area that they move around in is kind of small. they also get out of the coop entirely and wander around a large orchard almost daily. (they're in the coop not for lack of space but to keep the coyotes and bobcats from eating them.) in the coop they have five boxes with straw that we replace like once a week -- probably we should replace more often, but they kick it up so any poop that's on there gets moved out of the way...
the closest vet that treats chickens is over an hour's drive away, and we're kind of not into that, so any home remedies would be appreciated. i'm feeling like i'm neglecting them too much but i'm not sure what the right action would be, and we don't have much chicken experience, so,..... help!
many, many thanks in advance!
