- May 17, 2009
- 154
- 2
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Hey All,
I have a handful of hens safely cooped- 4 X 6 coop with 8 foot run that I can walk in- 5 hens total- 3 BO, 1 PR, 1 RIR- The Buffs are 2 years old. We lost one of these last year without signs of illness and were left with these three- The PR and RIR were new additions this spring- purchased as day old chicks from a reputable family owned hardware store (that I believe gets its stock from Ideal?)and raised indoors in our brooder for 8-10 weeks, then in a large, open brooder in the adult hens' run, now completely part of the flock for the last several months.
The top hen on the pecking order, our BO Frieda has been molting quite a bit, almost constantly of late, and her feathers have gone from buff to more white and she has sparse tail feathers. She seems to have dropped some weight, or looks smaller due to her decreased in feathers, though is still top of the pecking order in the coop. In addition, her comb and wattles seem a bit faint compared to her peers.
I had wormed the entire flock when the little ones were about 16 weeks- First with wazine in the waterer and then with ivermectin in the water a couple weeks later- That was about 3-4 months ago and none of our hens seemed to suffer ill effects from the treatment.
They all eat commercial, medication-free laying pellets. We give scratch grains occassionally as a treat now that the weather is turning colder. I haven't given yogurt in several weeks, but do occassionally mixed with non-iron baby vits. We give kitchen extras- organic lettuces, tomatoes, bananas, apples, etc as we have them. We allow the girls out to range on our yard- grass- non-chemically treated, but haven't in a couple weeks because we do need to give constant supervision due to a resident hawk that likes to hover over our yard....
No one else looks ill- in fact my flock is beautiful! Except for poor Frieda.
Any ideas?
I have a handful of hens safely cooped- 4 X 6 coop with 8 foot run that I can walk in- 5 hens total- 3 BO, 1 PR, 1 RIR- The Buffs are 2 years old. We lost one of these last year without signs of illness and were left with these three- The PR and RIR were new additions this spring- purchased as day old chicks from a reputable family owned hardware store (that I believe gets its stock from Ideal?)and raised indoors in our brooder for 8-10 weeks, then in a large, open brooder in the adult hens' run, now completely part of the flock for the last several months.
The top hen on the pecking order, our BO Frieda has been molting quite a bit, almost constantly of late, and her feathers have gone from buff to more white and she has sparse tail feathers. She seems to have dropped some weight, or looks smaller due to her decreased in feathers, though is still top of the pecking order in the coop. In addition, her comb and wattles seem a bit faint compared to her peers.
I had wormed the entire flock when the little ones were about 16 weeks- First with wazine in the waterer and then with ivermectin in the water a couple weeks later- That was about 3-4 months ago and none of our hens seemed to suffer ill effects from the treatment.
They all eat commercial, medication-free laying pellets. We give scratch grains occassionally as a treat now that the weather is turning colder. I haven't given yogurt in several weeks, but do occassionally mixed with non-iron baby vits. We give kitchen extras- organic lettuces, tomatoes, bananas, apples, etc as we have them. We allow the girls out to range on our yard- grass- non-chemically treated, but haven't in a couple weeks because we do need to give constant supervision due to a resident hawk that likes to hover over our yard....
No one else looks ill- in fact my flock is beautiful! Except for poor Frieda.
Any ideas?
