- Dec 8, 2008
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I have a mystery on my hands and I'm hoping the collective knowledge of the BYC community can help!
I'll try to provide as much pertinent info as possible without going overboard...
Background:
We have been backyard flock keepers for the better part of 10 years. We are on our third flock and are pretty familiar with all the day-to-day chicken issues, ailments and benefits. We are in southern California, just north of LA, no abnormal weather conditions or other environmental stress factors that we have observed. We work away from the home during the day so we dont see everything that goes on, but are generally very observant about the coop and girls conditions. Girls are on an organic, non-gmo crumble type feed. With scratch, kitchen scraps and yard treats regularly. We don't have any toxic plants like oleander etc in the yard.
We got our current flock (a mixed bag of leghorns, wyandottes and australorp) in May of last year and they are currently going through their first molt.
On to the chicken sickness...
We first noticed one of the white leghorn girls limping and sitting on the ground most of the day. My initial thought was that she had injured her leg somehow. After some poking and prodding, I could find no injury or anything that caused her pain. I also checked if she was egg-bound and again came up empty. Thinking she had maybe just tweaked a leg or something we decided to let her "walk it off". after two weeks with no improvement, I went to my old standby and brought her inside for a warm chicken bath and time away from the other girls. That turned into a month of "chicken spa" inside with no improvement. Determined to to get the bird out of the house and promote her own self healing, back in the coop she went. That was in mid-July. She is still in there and in more or less the same condition.
In another twist, she now has a friend in the "sick ward" as one of the Wyandottes has developed the exact same symptoms.
Here are the symptoms:
- Limping on one leg (not the same side in both hens)
- Not laying
- Combs are pale
- Sitting/laying a lot (and the wyandotte sometimes doesnt come out of the coop all day, just to eat and drink)
- They both are still eating and drinking albeit at a lower amount
- When they sit there, they often close their eyes and just 'rest'
- The wyandotte seems to be a little worse off and also can seem off-balance.
- Although I know she can see me, the wyandotte displays what might be some diminished sight capacity.
Again, there have been no major changes on our side as far as our routine goes. No obvious predator attacks or injuries. And although they are now molting, both girls' symptoms started before the molt.
In my experience, most illness/sickness/disease/injury tends to take the hen out pretty quickly. They are such simple creatures and dont have many defenses. This is a strange one though because they just seem to hang on. I am wondering if this might be some kind of vitamin or mineral deficiency??
The other girls are just fine and dont display any issues.
Thanks for the help and discussion in advance.
I'll try to provide as much pertinent info as possible without going overboard...
Background:
We have been backyard flock keepers for the better part of 10 years. We are on our third flock and are pretty familiar with all the day-to-day chicken issues, ailments and benefits. We are in southern California, just north of LA, no abnormal weather conditions or other environmental stress factors that we have observed. We work away from the home during the day so we dont see everything that goes on, but are generally very observant about the coop and girls conditions. Girls are on an organic, non-gmo crumble type feed. With scratch, kitchen scraps and yard treats regularly. We don't have any toxic plants like oleander etc in the yard.
We got our current flock (a mixed bag of leghorns, wyandottes and australorp) in May of last year and they are currently going through their first molt.
On to the chicken sickness...
We first noticed one of the white leghorn girls limping and sitting on the ground most of the day. My initial thought was that she had injured her leg somehow. After some poking and prodding, I could find no injury or anything that caused her pain. I also checked if she was egg-bound and again came up empty. Thinking she had maybe just tweaked a leg or something we decided to let her "walk it off". after two weeks with no improvement, I went to my old standby and brought her inside for a warm chicken bath and time away from the other girls. That turned into a month of "chicken spa" inside with no improvement. Determined to to get the bird out of the house and promote her own self healing, back in the coop she went. That was in mid-July. She is still in there and in more or less the same condition.
In another twist, she now has a friend in the "sick ward" as one of the Wyandottes has developed the exact same symptoms.
Here are the symptoms:
- Limping on one leg (not the same side in both hens)
- Not laying
- Combs are pale
- Sitting/laying a lot (and the wyandotte sometimes doesnt come out of the coop all day, just to eat and drink)
- They both are still eating and drinking albeit at a lower amount
- When they sit there, they often close their eyes and just 'rest'
- The wyandotte seems to be a little worse off and also can seem off-balance.
- Although I know she can see me, the wyandotte displays what might be some diminished sight capacity.
Again, there have been no major changes on our side as far as our routine goes. No obvious predator attacks or injuries. And although they are now molting, both girls' symptoms started before the molt.
In my experience, most illness/sickness/disease/injury tends to take the hen out pretty quickly. They are such simple creatures and dont have many defenses. This is a strange one though because they just seem to hang on. I am wondering if this might be some kind of vitamin or mineral deficiency??
The other girls are just fine and dont display any issues.
Thanks for the help and discussion in advance.
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