Newchickenowner 2020
In the Brooder
- May 7, 2020
- 22
- 13
- 47
Hi everyone,
Really glad to have found this forum! I've been desperately wanting chickens for about 8 years now and thanks to a combo of moving into my first house and lockdown, I have finally realised the dream and brought home "Gladys" and "Edna."
I have absolutely fallen in love with Gladys in particular but am getting really worried about her. She's an 18-week-old Polish bantam who I bought along with a silkie chicken of the same age. I've noticed in the past 4 weeks that I've had them both, while Edna is gaining weight and is pretty happy, Gladys is losing all of her long tail feathers and seems to have chronic diarrhoea. The white fluffy feathers along her bottom and head are all over the bottom of the coop every morning as well. I can also see white quills coming through so not sure if that's new growth or more feather loss?
Weirdly though, she's eating, wandering around the garden and seems pretty alert and active. She has constant access to growers pellet, a handful of corn every day and fresh water mixed with multivitamins. I've been cleaning her (new) coop every week and have just started dusting her with DE thinking it might be a case of mites? I've also just ordered a dewormer thinking it might be an issue to treat as well.
Has anyone else experienced something similar? She's definitely a pet now and I'm so stressed out every time I notice she's lost more feathers or is still having digestive problems. I wonder if it could be the shock of being delivered by truck or possibly something that's upsetting her stomach? I realise chronic diarrhoea can really take a toll on an animal after a few weeks so I'm trying everything to make sure she's back to normal. Thanks so much for any advice/feedback, really appreciate it!
Really glad to have found this forum! I've been desperately wanting chickens for about 8 years now and thanks to a combo of moving into my first house and lockdown, I have finally realised the dream and brought home "Gladys" and "Edna."
I have absolutely fallen in love with Gladys in particular but am getting really worried about her. She's an 18-week-old Polish bantam who I bought along with a silkie chicken of the same age. I've noticed in the past 4 weeks that I've had them both, while Edna is gaining weight and is pretty happy, Gladys is losing all of her long tail feathers and seems to have chronic diarrhoea. The white fluffy feathers along her bottom and head are all over the bottom of the coop every morning as well. I can also see white quills coming through so not sure if that's new growth or more feather loss?
Weirdly though, she's eating, wandering around the garden and seems pretty alert and active. She has constant access to growers pellet, a handful of corn every day and fresh water mixed with multivitamins. I've been cleaning her (new) coop every week and have just started dusting her with DE thinking it might be a case of mites? I've also just ordered a dewormer thinking it might be an issue to treat as well.
Has anyone else experienced something similar? She's definitely a pet now and I'm so stressed out every time I notice she's lost more feathers or is still having digestive problems. I wonder if it could be the shock of being delivered by truck or possibly something that's upsetting her stomach? I realise chronic diarrhoea can really take a toll on an animal after a few weeks so I'm trying everything to make sure she's back to normal. Thanks so much for any advice/feedback, really appreciate it!
