Pekin Hen Not Acting Right

[Vyctoria]

Well, after checking on her later this evening, it unfortunately looks like she rubbed her face and irritated her eye quite a bit from bumping into the fence, trying to get to the others. Just her left eye is a bit red and squinty, so I had to use some Vetericyn eye rinse.

The bright side is, after another warm bath, her stool is all looking really normal now and it looks like she ate waaay more today than she has been.

I did speak with my local vet and they're willing to run a fecal for me without having to bring her in, so I have the sample ready to bring in tomorrow in order to rule out any parasites.

I also finally picked up some cat food for her. I went with Orijen Six Fish. I'm hoping that's okay. I didn't like the looks of any others and I wasn't sure which kinds of fish were best for them.

 

[casportpony]

I also finally picked up some cat food for her. I went with Orijen Six Fish. I'm hoping that's okay. I didn't like the looks of any others and I wasn't sure which kinds of fish were best for them.

Most dry foods are 30% protein, so that's really all that matters.

What's her weigh today?

 

[Vyctoria]

What's her weigh today?

Well, I weighed her today, but she had just had a bath and wasn't completely dry yet, so I don't know how accurate it was. From the looks of it she was 1/2 lb. more, but I feel like that's impossible so I'm going to weigh her first thing tomorrow and see what I get.

 

[casportpony]

Well, I weighed her today, but she had just had a bath and wasn't completely dry yet, so I don't know how accurate it was. From the looks of it she was 1/2 lb. more, but I feel like that's impossible so I'm going to weigh her first thing tomorrow and see what I get.

It is possible to have a gain of 1/2 pound, especially if you weighed her in the afternoon or evening.

What's her weight today?

 

[Vyctoria]

What's her weight today?

A wopping 5lbs. 4 oz! Her energy continues to improve. I actually cleaned the whole coop again tonight and decided to let her run with the others inside for the night. I'll need to keep her seperate during the day to make sure she gets her food and such, but she was able to climb out of the pool this evening on her own(I let her out while I cleaned the coop), which she didn't have the strength to do before. I'm thankful that the weather is warming up some too.

Pay day is tomorrow so I'm still going to get her fecal tested just to be sure. I've also continued to syringe her the echinacea/golden seal, oregano oil, and garlic juice every morning. She's really been improving quickly since starting with it and I'm beginning to think you may have been dead on about the possible bacterial infection.

 

[casportpony]

That's great news! You're definitely heading in the right direction!

 

[Vyctoria]

Well, she seems to be fairly back to her old self at this point. Very slowly gaining weight. Last night was 5.6 lbs. Still not waterproof again which worries me heading into winter. I'm still waiting to hear the results of the fecal sample. Hopefully Monday I'll know. I'm trying her outside with the others today while I'm home to supervise her.

 

[chickens really]

Molt takes about 6 weeks if it was a hard molt.....Glad things are going well....

 

[casportpony]

Well, she seems to be fairly back to her old self at this point. Very slowly gaining weight. Last night was 5.6 lbs. Still not waterproof again which worries me heading into winter. I'm still waiting to hear the results of the fecal sample. Hopefully Monday I'll know. I'm trying her outside with the others today while I'm home to supervise her.

Excellent weight gains! Don't worry too much about the waterproofing, that will return!

 

[Vyctoria]

I need to weigh her tonight because I forgot to last night, but she does seem to be filling out more so that's good. Her energy and enthusiasm is still great. Her appetite is good. She has always been my biggest food hog, and I've been able to hand feed her extras to make sure she gets more after everyone has eaten. And good news on the stool test. She's parasite free.

My only fear is still the water-proofing. She gets absolutely soaked. This morning we just had our first really hard frost and I had to start hooking up my heated water bucket in the coop. This past summer we had expanded their run and put in a 220 gal. pond with a bio-filter. I'm going to be putting a heater in that today as well, to keep it just above freezing. They swim daily and as long as she is out with them, she goes in it. The water is terribly cold right now and I get so worried. She is preening quite enthusiastically every time, but she still seems to get wet. Do they water proof over time or is there something I should be doing to help?