Hi guys,
I had 13 chooks, and about 3 weeks ago my husband came home with a very sorry looking specimen that apparently hadn't eaten for 3 days. He was at her work and they were going to cull her, but he felt sorry for her as she desperately ran away from her would be killers. She had so much energy left, and just didn't look sick enough to warrant being killed. He brought her home to me, where I kept her in a dog crate in my spare room. At first she refused to eat, which really worried me as she was literally skin and bone! After some light persuasion though, I finally managed to get her to eat some high protein recovery cat food. Over the next few days I continued to feed her up, and then placed her in a separate enclosure within our main chicken run. At first she was absolutely petrified of the other chickens, which made me think the others had bullied her out of eating at my husbands work. Gradually the flock acclimatized to her presence, and when they paid no heed to her at all, I let her integrate. She is now a happy part of the flock, but I have been examining her every day, and am concerned as from afar she looks ok, behaving normally, stuffing herself with food and squabbling over corn like the rest of them, but from close up, she doesn't seem to be developing properly. Her comb and wattle are non existant,she is still very skinny, and her crop is very enlarged but soft and squidgy. I emptied her once in case it was sour crop but the contents were not foul smelling, just watery. I am loathed to seperate her from the flock and have to go through the introductions again, so don't know if she's pooing normally. She is very active and happy in herself. I was wondering if she may have some sort of digestive problem, in which case what can I do for her??
She's approximately between 15 and 18 weeks old and is a Bovan Nera.
Ellie
I had 13 chooks, and about 3 weeks ago my husband came home with a very sorry looking specimen that apparently hadn't eaten for 3 days. He was at her work and they were going to cull her, but he felt sorry for her as she desperately ran away from her would be killers. She had so much energy left, and just didn't look sick enough to warrant being killed. He brought her home to me, where I kept her in a dog crate in my spare room. At first she refused to eat, which really worried me as she was literally skin and bone! After some light persuasion though, I finally managed to get her to eat some high protein recovery cat food. Over the next few days I continued to feed her up, and then placed her in a separate enclosure within our main chicken run. At first she was absolutely petrified of the other chickens, which made me think the others had bullied her out of eating at my husbands work. Gradually the flock acclimatized to her presence, and when they paid no heed to her at all, I let her integrate. She is now a happy part of the flock, but I have been examining her every day, and am concerned as from afar she looks ok, behaving normally, stuffing herself with food and squabbling over corn like the rest of them, but from close up, she doesn't seem to be developing properly. Her comb and wattle are non existant,she is still very skinny, and her crop is very enlarged but soft and squidgy. I emptied her once in case it was sour crop but the contents were not foul smelling, just watery. I am loathed to seperate her from the flock and have to go through the introductions again, so don't know if she's pooing normally. She is very active and happy in herself. I was wondering if she may have some sort of digestive problem, in which case what can I do for her??
She's approximately between 15 and 18 weeks old and is a Bovan Nera.
Ellie
