I was only kidding, sort-of, when I said I was afraid what would happen in the remaining days of 2008. Must have been prophetic.
Suede's daughter with Velvet is a huge, robust tank of a Black Orp girl. She is bossy on the roost and we have to make her move sometimes and not beat up the smaller girls. She has NEVER been ill and has no symptoms. I found her this afternoon on the top roost just standing like she was frozen. When I spoke her name, she climbed into a nest, sat down and closed her eyes. She wouldn't repond so we took her up to the house. She keeps acting like she cannot keep her eyes open, then she'll wake up and act like she just nodded off. Her crop is completely empty, except for maybe a few seeds, and she pooped a big, normal poop while we were holding her.
No discharges, eyes bright and clear, comb color good, hasn't lost any weight that we can feel. No injuries whatsoever. She just acts like she'll die before the night is over. She has no contact with poisons (we chicken-proofed this place over time, even though there is acreage she can roam. The environment is the same as it's always been).
I did just lose my young Delaware pullet, but she was never full size and we have concluded after opening her up that she had a heart defect and coming into lay just put too much strain on it.
The ones I lost earlier in the year were all internal layers, all hatchery birds. I lost Delilah's mother to sour crop during a hard molt just recently. This is something completely different and non symptomatic. I'm stumped and frustrated and upset. Delilah lived with a different group than her mother or the Delaware girl, so they have nothing in common, except that she is of the Blue/Black/Splash Orp persuasion.
We have her in the house in the playpen. We did syringe vitamin and electrolyte and honey water into her mouth. DH just put a bowl of bread crumbs soaked in oil with honey and she did eat that.
Suede's daughter with Velvet is a huge, robust tank of a Black Orp girl. She is bossy on the roost and we have to make her move sometimes and not beat up the smaller girls. She has NEVER been ill and has no symptoms. I found her this afternoon on the top roost just standing like she was frozen. When I spoke her name, she climbed into a nest, sat down and closed her eyes. She wouldn't repond so we took her up to the house. She keeps acting like she cannot keep her eyes open, then she'll wake up and act like she just nodded off. Her crop is completely empty, except for maybe a few seeds, and she pooped a big, normal poop while we were holding her.
No discharges, eyes bright and clear, comb color good, hasn't lost any weight that we can feel. No injuries whatsoever. She just acts like she'll die before the night is over. She has no contact with poisons (we chicken-proofed this place over time, even though there is acreage she can roam. The environment is the same as it's always been).
I did just lose my young Delaware pullet, but she was never full size and we have concluded after opening her up that she had a heart defect and coming into lay just put too much strain on it.
The ones I lost earlier in the year were all internal layers, all hatchery birds. I lost Delilah's mother to sour crop during a hard molt just recently. This is something completely different and non symptomatic. I'm stumped and frustrated and upset. Delilah lived with a different group than her mother or the Delaware girl, so they have nothing in common, except that she is of the Blue/Black/Splash Orp persuasion.
We have her in the house in the playpen. We did syringe vitamin and electrolyte and honey water into her mouth. DH just put a bowl of bread crumbs soaked in oil with honey and she did eat that.
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