My girl Hannah. (Heat can be such a bugger!) And my attempt to beat the heat.

[sandesnow]

Last night we noticed when we closed up the coop, one of our hens was acting very solitary. Kinda standing in a corner on her own. We just checked them for lice and mites a few days ago and even treated coop just in case. So today she has been acting similarly. And when I waited until about 12:30 p to open the coop, everyone headed out but her.

I have looked her over and I noticed some spots on her comb. So Firstly I am thinking that avianary pox, is there anything I can do for her for this? Or is it something that has to run its course? They are dry... I checked her craw, and it seemed quite low.. like she hadn't been eating much today.

For now, I have isolated her and brought her into the house. I put some food and water in with her (mash, and she ate some.) I did change their feed this weekend. (Thursday/Friday) to pellets.

Any advice? Any would be much appreciated. She did poo, but it wasn't much. I am contributing that to a little in, means a little out..?

 

[sandesnow]

Just an update. After 8 hours, she seems to be doing alright. Eating and drinking. She still isn't putting out much in the ways of poo, still quite small compared to a normal size poo. So I dunno. The spots on her crown though lead me to believe she has fowl pox. I put iodine on the spots 8 hours ago and will do so again tonight. Hopefully we will escape with a mild case and it won't turn for the worse. I had seen the pox on her a few days ago..maybe even a week? But I didn't realize what it might be.

So will continue to observe her. Her crop seems to have stayed reasonably medium full today. (Visually have been observing her eating and drinking and it hasn't gone huge or as low as it was this noon time.)

Maybe I am just being paranoid! lol These girls are my babies so, I hope I am not thinking I am seeing symptoms where there are none.

 

[Eggcessive]

Try mixing some of the pellets with water to make an oatmeal consistency. Give her some scrambled egg. She shouldn't feel that bad from just a slight case of pox. I'm not sure that I would keep her separate because it may be hard to reintegrate her. I've had very mild pox before that I never separated. You might want to worm her if she hasn't been.

 

[sandesnow]

I am treating with iodine on the crown daily and am not seeing a huge difference. I did remove the one larger pox, and that seems to be getting better. Actually much better. I also had noticed spots on my other girls. 4 of the 5, and have begun treating them with iodine as well, the weird thing is that when doing so, the spots came off, as if it wasn't the same. And upon looking more closely at Hannah, now see that it almost looks like it was dirt or something? (almost dried on mudlike, though I am not sure what it was.)

Today I have decided to treat with Safeguard Paste. Hannah was looking thin. I gave a large pea size dose per bird. (As I was looking over them, gave them a small piece of bread with the wormer so that I knew that each one got their dose.)

Now I still have a hen that does the stretching her neck thing, actually it is two of them. I am wondering if I should just treat them all for gape worm? Or if I should just swab first see if they are present, then re treat in 10 days if there is a negative swab as if I was doing a normal treatment. Or can I just worm them all for the three days..? Will it be harmful to do so? And do I still re-worm in 10 days??

If anyone has any advise, it is much appreciated.

Oh, and on top.. I believe one of my gals has scaly leg mites. (My other older hen.) She has 4 raised scales on one foot, 5 raised ones on the other foot. Have treated with petroleum jelly today at time of the worming. The coop is getting cleaned out and treated with DE. New pine shavings to go in.

Quote:
Agreed. I had put her back in the flock once she started acting more normal, which was about 8 hours later. She still is acting fine. Not eating as much as I would like, but is eating and drinking. Another thing is it has been so very hot here, which I think is contributing a bit as well. I have made a cooler for them out of a shallow plastic box, that I was able to place bricks in, then filled it with water to just below the bricks for them to stand on and keep cool in the shade.

Also, since this has happened, (4 days ago,) Hannah has not laid an egg, which is odd for her. Can heat cause laying to slow? Or should I be worried about something else? Now that I think on it, prior to all this, there was a very thin shelled egg that I found in the coop that was broken, but it was all there. I was able to piece it all together, as the thin shell was still stuck to the thin membrane.. I am not certain for sure if it was Hannah's or not.. but am suspecting so. She isn't acting lethargic or anything, nor walking funny. She is acting quite normal except a slightly lowered appetite.

 

[Eggcessive]

Stretching the neck can be a sign of adjusting the crop, but also gaping can be a sign of being overheated. I would check the crops first thing in the morning to make sure it is emptying. Gapeworm is pretty rare, and you can't see it in the throat. It is only visible when you cut open the trachea of a dead chicken. Treatment for gapeworm is SafeGuard Paste 1 ml for 4 days. Hens can stop laying in hot weather. I have a few taking a break right now.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a link about soft shell eggs in hot summer months: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...y-calcium-deficiency-weather-follow-up-report

 

[sandesnow]

To be honest, I am not so convinced that any of them have gape worms. All have been relatively healthy and weight wise, in good shape. I have never seen any worms in stools or even fragments. I have never wormed, so figured it might be a good idea. I just wasn't sure if I should worm for the extreme, and call it all good. lol Bleh, so much to learn!

Today is so very hot it is miserable, but the ladies all seem fine. Munching on cool watermelon and keeping cool in the shade.

Weighed all my hens also:

Hannah 4.30 lbs (Age 15 months)
Fiona 4.90 lbs (Age 15 months)
Henrietta 4.90 lbs (Age 7 months)
Sarah 4.90 lbs (Age 7 months)
Cassidy 4.50 lbs (Age 7 months)

The weights are just for personal info, but I hope that worming Hannah will help. All birds have been checked over and treated for mites and lice. I did that two weeks ago so at least that is checked off of the list of things to look for.

Thanks for the link, much appreciated.

I will dose again in 10 days and re-weigh in 48 hours.

 

[sandesnow]

So just went out and found this. The egg colour tells me it is Hannah's as she is the only one that lays eggs this colour. It is also her typical size. (Jumbo) Everyone else's is a rich brown. Since the heat we have been having, this is the second one that I have found in the coop like this. However, this one doesn't have a shred of shell on it at all, where the last one had a really thin one. Also, both of these eggs were in the coop rather than in the nesting box. (At the opposite end.)

Cooler temps are on the horizon for tomorrow.. If you can call 19 cooler, but we have been at 25+ for the last 4 days (when this all started) But the 10 day forecast has the temps at an average of 23. Poor girl. I am going to be taking some suggestions and getting frozen jugs filed for them to set out to help keep them cool.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would go out and hand feed her some calcium tomorrow--crushed egg shells, a Tums, 1/2 calcium tablet, or watch her eat some crushed oyster shell. You can also give her some calcium gluconate. Here is a short thread about it with the dosage in post 9: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/819024/egg-bound-calcium-dosage

 

[sandesnow]

Went out and fed her some calcium.. (Oyster shell)

What I did was took a piece of bread crust and wet it with a bit of milk, almost to the wetness of being almost soggy, (not sopping) but then I took 8 pea sized peace of oyster shell and ground it into a powder with my mortar and pestle. I then coated the soggy bread with all the oyster shell powder.

I was able to feed the whole thing to her, so she got it all. Couldn't resist it plopped near her.

Here is hoping this helps. lol The odd things I have been doing for these birds the last few days.. >.< Gotta do what I can to keep them happy and healthy!