Hello fellow chicken people, I would love if I could get a little input and suggestions on my situation and it is a little long-winded, so my apologies for that. I purchased some chicks from a co-op about 2 years ago and little did I know that this particular co-op had chicks from a crappy hatchery considering almost all 6 of the chicks ended up having genetic related problems.
The amberlink hen I got had developed cataracts after couple of months. Needless to say she has difficulty seeing so I named her Bee, after a bumblebee since they sometimes bump into things. Bee is of course on the bottom of the pecking order and I feel like it's extra hard on her because she can't see the hens so she doesn't know to look away from a staredown and gets pecked at for it very often.
About a month ago I saw a hawk take down one of our 7 hens. I guess it hit her really hard because she laid there with her eyes closed twitching and passed away before I could think of a way to dispatch her. Everyone was shaken and I kept them in them locked away for a couple days, hoping the hawk would move on. The reason it was a couple days was because the coop was one I bought from tractor supply with a tiny run(don't believe the descriptions on these coops, they recommend waaay more chickens than what should actually live in there).
The hawk came back a week later and the girls hid in a bush except for Bee, who the hawk seemed to be eyeing. She was on the other side of the yard hidden behind pallets. I came out and the hawk flew away, but Bee was so scared she was grunting and breathing fast.
I decided that that weekend I was going to get a large dog run to attach to the coop so I can keep the girls up and protected from the hawk. I had noticed one morning that Bee did not want to come out of the coop so I took a closer look and noticed one of her eyes was swollen and she did not even want to eat scratch.
I brought her inside the house and put her in a large rabbit cage.
It seemed like her breathing was labored there was a clicking on the inhale and she did not want to drink at all. It sounded like a respiratory disease and she didn't look too great but I was going to try the best with what I had and prepared for the worst. I was able to get her to eat scrambled eggs and drip water on her beak the first 3 days.
After that she perked up and started eating scratch and drinking water on her own. Breathing was normal again and 2 days after putting medicine in her eye, she has both eyes open now.
The amberlink hen I got had developed cataracts after couple of months. Needless to say she has difficulty seeing so I named her Bee, after a bumblebee since they sometimes bump into things. Bee is of course on the bottom of the pecking order and I feel like it's extra hard on her because she can't see the hens so she doesn't know to look away from a staredown and gets pecked at for it very often.
About a month ago I saw a hawk take down one of our 7 hens. I guess it hit her really hard because she laid there with her eyes closed twitching and passed away before I could think of a way to dispatch her. Everyone was shaken and I kept them in them locked away for a couple days, hoping the hawk would move on. The reason it was a couple days was because the coop was one I bought from tractor supply with a tiny run(don't believe the descriptions on these coops, they recommend waaay more chickens than what should actually live in there).
The hawk came back a week later and the girls hid in a bush except for Bee, who the hawk seemed to be eyeing. She was on the other side of the yard hidden behind pallets. I came out and the hawk flew away, but Bee was so scared she was grunting and breathing fast.
I decided that that weekend I was going to get a large dog run to attach to the coop so I can keep the girls up and protected from the hawk. I had noticed one morning that Bee did not want to come out of the coop so I took a closer look and noticed one of her eyes was swollen and she did not even want to eat scratch.
I brought her inside the house and put her in a large rabbit cage.
It seemed like her breathing was labored there was a clicking on the inhale and she did not want to drink at all. It sounded like a respiratory disease and she didn't look too great but I was going to try the best with what I had and prepared for the worst. I was able to get her to eat scrambled eggs and drip water on her beak the first 3 days.
After that she perked up and started eating scratch and drinking water on her own. Breathing was normal again and 2 days after putting medicine in her eye, she has both eyes open now.