A little history: I added two pullets to my flock a few weeks ago. The existing flock (3 birds) was about 10 weeks old at the time, the two new ones were a couple of weeks younger - maybe 7 or 8 weeks.
A week later, one of the new birds seemed to be half-paralyzed or lame, and many posters here thought it could be Marek's. The breeder took her back and nursed her back to health with vitamins and isolation, and now I have her back again. She seems perfectly healthy now.
So I have a few theories about what could have caused it.
1. - she is pure black and of course it's been hot here - might a black bird suffer in the heat more than the others, and could this have caused her illness?
2. She is at the bottom of the pecking order, and the other birds chase her around. Could that either make her so unhappy she'd go off her food and water, or could they literally have kept her from eating or drinking enough that her health suffered?
If that's the case - if they are bullying her so much she can't eat and drink, what can I do about it? The coop is quite small and I'd have to build a whole new one to keep them separate from each other. I do have a fenced in area that I can keep her in during the day, while confining the others, for a few days at least.
The other younger one doesn't bully her - she's even smaller, so I could keep those two together and the three big ones together.
What advice can you give?
A week later, one of the new birds seemed to be half-paralyzed or lame, and many posters here thought it could be Marek's. The breeder took her back and nursed her back to health with vitamins and isolation, and now I have her back again. She seems perfectly healthy now.
So I have a few theories about what could have caused it.
1. - she is pure black and of course it's been hot here - might a black bird suffer in the heat more than the others, and could this have caused her illness?
2. She is at the bottom of the pecking order, and the other birds chase her around. Could that either make her so unhappy she'd go off her food and water, or could they literally have kept her from eating or drinking enough that her health suffered?
If that's the case - if they are bullying her so much she can't eat and drink, what can I do about it? The coop is quite small and I'd have to build a whole new one to keep them separate from each other. I do have a fenced in area that I can keep her in during the day, while confining the others, for a few days at least.
The other younger one doesn't bully her - she's even smaller, so I could keep those two together and the three big ones together.
What advice can you give?
