naked neck hen stopped bocking, not eating, not exploring

[jmorian]

I have a flock of 4 hens, all different breeds. my 5 month old buff-colored naked neck (Lucy) usually runs for snacks along with the other gals. Today, she just wants to be by herself and stand or lay around. She is usually just as social as the others and will follow me around the yard to see what I'm up to.

The weirdest symptom is that she also will not vocalize at all. She usually makes a continual little squeek/peep. She's not being picked on. In fact, she is the biggest, although very gentle.

She eats everything in the back yard, along with grains, fruit, sprouts, shrimp (including tail and shell). She has not started laying eggs yet. Can anyone tell me what might be wrong or what to look for? There are a lot of misquitos in the back yard. With her neck featherless, I wonder if it could be West Nile?

Thanks.

 

[Firework]

Is she loosing waight?

 

[threehorses]

We really need some more information, please. If you could check out the second sticky for a set of questions that will help us get a better picture.

I'd like to emphasize the need for information on their diet, please.

I'm going to add a few question:
Do your girls have grit and oyster shell? Grit as in actual grit rather than what they find in the yard?

Are you already supplementing her with oyster shell for potential laying? Is her comb turning red and filling out yet?

Have you picked them all up to see if she's lost weight, thin keeled, and to check especially carefully for mites/lice against her skin, feather shafts, etc?

If you feel her abdoment gently, do you feel any lumpiness or heaviness there?

Could you tell us whether or not you're having issues with heat there? If you have a compost pile, decaying leaves, any carcasses (possible around woods), maggots, etc that she could have gotten into?

If you can get us started with these questions and those of the sticky (all questions are important for a specific reason) that will give us a more clear picture of flock history so that we can be more accurate and correct with our help.

Thank you.

p.s. It' snot likely West Nile. It would be more likely to be a pox type illness - so check the inside of her mouth, please, for any patches of anything. Listen carefully to her breathing and "feel" her breathing (her chest) for rattles. Also please feel her crop first thing in the morning before she eats and tell us if it's full at that time. (First thing in the morning, before coming off her roost, she should have very little in her crop.)

 

[sammi]

add to above:

describe the droppings..color and consistency.

check the crop...

 

[jmorian]

Thank you for your replies. Maybe this moot now, because my sick chicken seems to be bouncing back. Also, I have found two shell-less eggs in the past two days. Maybe this is the cause? I don't know for sure if these were hers, or one of the other chickens. I have one that lays a normal (pullet) egg almost every day, starting a couple of weeks ago. The others had not started laying at all, except for whomever just started laying the shell-less eggs.
My sick one is still less enthusiastic about food/snacks than usual, and less active, but she is peeping some again.
Could laying the shell-less eggs cause her behavior change? Here are the basics:

1) Transylvanian naked-neck (I'm told), 5 months old, I don't yet have an accurate scale to weigh her, but she doesn't seem to have lost weight,
2) Possibly laying shell-less eggs, less energy, less appetite, had stopped vocalizing for a day. These would be her first eggs.
3) No sign of trauma.
4) Nothing new in diet or environment
5) She is eating grains (millet, buckwheat, oat groats, barley, etc), along with grass and weeds in the back yard. I also give them fresh corn, cantelope, grapes, cherries, sunflower sprouts, and shrimp (with shells) every day as treats. They eat bugs, insects, and worms when they can, and tear up the arugala I planted for them in the garden. They regularly scratch in the dirt for bugs and sprouts. I don't give grit, since I've read pastured chickens get it on their own. Occasionally, I'll pour them a bit of my banana and berry smoothie (which they beg for), which does have a little dairy in it, but only once or twice a week, and I have been doing this for 2 or 3 months.
6) I'm still trying to catch her in the act; otherwise, any of the poop could belong to any of my four hens; some of it is brown and somewhat runny--soft-stool to diarrhea consistency; no blood in stool
7) No treatment
8 ) I'll find a vet if she gets worse
9) Pics won't show problem, her wattles, comb, feathers and eyes look good; her wattles and comb are red and well-developed;
10) They have the run of the backyard (grass, many plants and bushes,weeds, dirt patches, dirt baths, compost pile) first thing in the a.m. till dark when they fall asleep on the patio table. I then carry them back to their hutch, where they like to sleep standing up, lined up on a perch bar.

Her crop felt like it had little pebbles or sand in it--not terribly full, but not empty. She was more passive than she usually would be when I inspected her this morning. She has a little white residue drizzled down her feathers under her bottom. Maybe the shell-less egg? I don't know what a chicken's bottom is supposed to look like, but I saw no blood or anything like that. I saw no mites on her skin. I'd look in her mouth, but don't know how to persuade or force her to to open it.

It was terribly hot here in the midwest a week ago, but they survived with lots of dust baths, water, and deep shade. During that week, I tried to make them stand in cool water when I could, but they don't tolerate this for long. It's been wonderful (80's in the day) for almost a week now.

I'll get a scale to monitor her weight. If anyone has any ideas, especially about the shell-less eggs, in the meantime, please let me know. Thanks, Julie

 

[threehorses]

Oh it's never moot!

Let's see what we have here and go with it.

First, it's awesome that your bird is bouncing back. YAY! Good news is always welcome. She shell-less eggs - likely. That needs to be addressed and in a big hurry, and we'll talk about that last here as I go through your post bit by bit.

First, her weight. By this I mean more her 'keel score' - in other words, when you feel her breast bone - is it prominant, or padded nicely on each side without being TOO padded?

Five months old - yes - time to get ready for the laying. It's best to do it ahead of time so that when they do lay, they have all the tools to do so.

Are you giving them any oyster shell? Are they getting any laying feed at all? The feed you're feeding is very high in phosphorus which will not only cause shell less eggs, but start to take the calcium out of the bird's actual bones to make up for the high phosphorus. This must be fixed.

If you're into organics, at least find an organic complete feed. Grains, etc, should comprise less than 10% of their feed unless you're a feed designer. Relationships between vitamin D3, calcium, phosphorus are so delicate and must be adhered to strictly.

You wrote" 5) She is eating grains (millet, buckwheat, oat groats, barley, etc), along with grass and weeds in the back yard. I also give them fresh corn, cantelope, grapes, cherries, sunflower sprouts, and shrimp (with shells) every day as treats. They eat bugs, insects, and worms when they can, and tear up the arugala I planted for them in the garden. They regularly scratch in the dirt for bugs and sprouts. I don't give grit, since I've read pastured chickens get it on their own. Occasionally, I'll pour them a bit of my banana and berry smoothie (which they beg for), which does have a little dairy in it, but only once or twice a week, and I have been doing this for 2 or 3 months."

There's the issue. First, no - pastured chickens still need grit (just they might not use as much) because not every environment contains the variety and size and most especially hardness of grits needed for birds. Oyster shell is not grit - it's a calcium supplement so that birds can regulate their own calcium to some degree. It dissolves very quickly compared to granite grit. Grit and oyster shell should be given to any free range birds in a separate container so that they can self serve. It's very inexpensive these days to get a small bag of each (most feedstores sell the little bags now - or they're online and not too heavy to ship cheaply).

I'm less concerned about the grit than I am the diet. I see a diet that is such a lovely supplement, the best supplement you can get, but a diet that is bound to cause laying issues especially in first-timers. Please at least look into organic laying pellets or mash with a vitamin package. Birds MUST have nutrients, and it's possible that your bird will start depleting her life-dependent calcium or already is.

I hate to sound alarmist, but I've seen it way too many times. And I'd hate to have you have problems with her and the other girls.

I think that (and the added stress of heat) is the issue. Everything else sounds pretty normal except her vent, which I think is from the stress of what's going on with her right now. Plain yogurt (1 teaspoon per bird) will help that. They'd LOVE that if they like smoothies. My baby chicks attack me every time I put my hand in the cage now because they think I have yogurt. Seriously - they're vicious! lol

Despite sounding negative above, I think you've done a lot to think about whole foods that birds benefit from. I think if you adjust it to where you get an appropriate laying feed in her with a vitamin package and then give what you give for the other 10% (withhold it, leave only the laying food, except for the evening/afternoon) then you're going to have an exceptionally healthy flock. But let's get the basics down here first and then add the lovely icing to the cake.

I do hope this helps. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance either here or email or whatever you need. It's my pleasure.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

does the bird ever get
commercial protein crumbles feed?
thus denoting the actual protein she needs

does the group have access to oyster shell on their demand?

do you put 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a gallon of water?
thus the chickens body using the Vit D and calcium it needs to make egg shells

this is a very important item
Also do they have a feeder with granite grit in it?
thus using it at their own time for digesting all the numerous items

also is a naked neck able to lay at 5 months old? mine never di

they were hatched in spring and laid the next winter or spring

maybe yours is a line of laying hens?

also the best thing for the chicken or chickens is a regular
wet mash probiotic
once or twice a week

I would start them on it today
the wet mash probiotic is for their healthy gut flora and the ACV will help their bodies use the calcium and vit D they need

any questions email me

 

[jmorian]

I meant to thank you all for the advice. I'll take a trip to the feed store this weekend to get feed with vitamins to add to their diets; I'm still looking for organic feed that I don't have to get through the mail, but will get just regular in the meantime. I'll also get grit and oyster shell. I'll try the yogurt for probiotics, too--although they probably don't need another food that they are crazy about!
Actually, my naked neck is laying an egg every day or every other day now, and seems fully recovered. She was born the first week in February, and started laying shelled eggs a few days after she was sick. One of my others, a black barred rock, seemed to have the same symptoms a couple of days later, but recovered the next day. Maybe I just need to add in the suggestions everyone gave to their diets, before they all have problems. Thanks! Julie

 

[threehorses]

It never hurts to add the yogurt, for sure. The vitamins personally I feel it's best to feed them rather than buy water packages. The reason is that the most important and most often degraded vitamins, A D E, are all oil based and don't really come across well in water preparations. It also encourages bacterial growth (of the wrong kind) in the water. So I avoid them except for flock-healing.

I'm glad we all could be of help! Please keep us updated. Thank you.