My molting hen keeps TIPPING OVER! What's wrong?

[FlyingByTheSeatOfMyPants]

Gibbychicks, good luck with your RIR! I can't believe this condition is that rare. An earlier poster said production breeds like RIRs often drop their feathers quickly. (Strangely, mine is just a lowly bantam Light Brahma.) Not much to her. The mash in the above post seems to be helping.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I'm glad the mash is helping. It was a recipe threehorses gave me months ago for my sick hen. For future reference, if you ever need to clear out your hen a little, add to that mash some unsweetened applesauce or molasses. Molasses acts as a body flush. But do it only once, not every day.

My standard light brahmas (and dark, for that matter) were incredibly slow to mature, meaning they had only pinfeathers and bare skin on their backs and rears when other breeds had been fully feathered for a long time. They just take their sweet ol' time with it. When we butchered a few brahma roosters, we discovered they were just covered with these big old pin feathers, making them very hard to process. They were 5 months old, but DH theorizes they would have had less pin feathers if we'd waited longer. ?? I think that breed probably always has a lot of pin feathers. The fact that yours is making a lot of feather progress is good, since they're so slow to begin with.

If she's not drinking water, you might try adding a little Gatorade to it. Some hens will love the Gatorade, I've read. Mine didn't care either way. Gatorade is cheap enough to give it a try.

 

[FlyingByTheSeatOfMyPants]

The Gatorade is not a bad idea! Thanks again, Eggs4Sale!

 

[Eggs4Sale]

After you have your photo downloaded to your computer, you're set. Make sure that you have that application closed, meaning if you have that photo currently open, you can't post it.

To begin:

On the upper blue bar, click 'Uploads'

Click 'browse'

find the photo you want and click on it

the words 'resize image' has a box to the left, click that box

for the size, if you put your arrow there, it will open to more sizes, click on 640 X 480, the largest

click 'submit'

wait forever

a new page comes up with your photo on it, but small

under that photo, it says 'thumb' and 'image'

next to the word 'image', left click the " http " thing

[B]then right click[/B]

a mini menu pops up, right click 'copy'

Now click the red square with the X at the top of that page to close it

You'll now be back at this page

Hit 'post reply'

right click 'paste'

Your photo should appear.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I just followed my own instructions and made a correction!

 

[FlyingByTheSeatOfMyPants]

Thanks for the photo advice! I NEVER would have remembered all that!
OK, brace yourself... here's poor Violet. I know, it gives ya the WILLIES!

To be fair, I should post one of her before the disaster. The poor wee thing.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

WOW.

We don't have much in the way of molting here, so I've never seen anything like that.

WOW.



That poor girl....

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
That's definitely good news.

One word of advice. Unless she eats all her mash, give the vitamin drops by beak because it's important that she get all of them. Of make a batch of the mash, and give her only a very tiny portion first into which you'll mix the vitamins and when she finishes that, give her the rest.

I'm glad, very glad, that she's eating. Try dissolving some honey into her water for now, and put electrolytes in it if she's not been drinking. Dip her beak once; she'll appreciate the honey taste and that'll get her caught back up more quickly on not being dehydrated because of the honey taste encouraging drinking.

The B12 in the polyvisol drops should also lightly encourage appetite, which is why I recommend them (and of course the oil/liquid form of the vitamins, not in water, helps as they're oil vitamins).

 

[FlyingByTheSeatOfMyPants]

OK, the honey water is doing the trick. I dipped her beak in it and she looked surprised and then took five or six good drinks by herself! thanks again, threehorses!

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I'd never heard of the honey water trick!

(filing away in memory....)