Hi everyone,
We have a Rhode Island Red hen that is about 2 1/2 years old and she is looking a bit out of sorts over the last day or so.
She seems a little bit slower than usual and her comb appears to be a little pale. The main concern is the nasty stuff that seems to be sticking to her rear and her feathers. It looks to be a poopy cocktail of whitish yucky mess.
We have a total of 13 birds and she is the one that has always been the least friendly and so she is difficult to catch for a closer inspection and possible cleaning up.
I plan to wait until after dark tonight so I can get her when she roosts.
I tried to take detailed photos but she kept escaping the camera when she could so these are the best I could get. She is quite camera shy.
Her comb looks pretty full so it appears that she is eating/drinking.
I tossed in some scratch a few minutes ago and she joined the rest of the girls, eagerly getting her share of the goodies.
I guess the question is, are we looking at a major sickness?
Will I need to cull this bird to protect the rest of them or am I concerned about nothing?
Hopefully this is just some simple thing that can be fixed up easily, but I don't want to risk the health of the rest of the flock if it is something worse.
None of the other birds have any kind of symptoms of the same issue so I want to get ahead of it spreading if that may be a possibility.
Any advice or expertise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Fooster
We have a Rhode Island Red hen that is about 2 1/2 years old and she is looking a bit out of sorts over the last day or so.
She seems a little bit slower than usual and her comb appears to be a little pale. The main concern is the nasty stuff that seems to be sticking to her rear and her feathers. It looks to be a poopy cocktail of whitish yucky mess.
We have a total of 13 birds and she is the one that has always been the least friendly and so she is difficult to catch for a closer inspection and possible cleaning up.
I plan to wait until after dark tonight so I can get her when she roosts.
I tried to take detailed photos but she kept escaping the camera when she could so these are the best I could get. She is quite camera shy.
Her comb looks pretty full so it appears that she is eating/drinking.
I tossed in some scratch a few minutes ago and she joined the rest of the girls, eagerly getting her share of the goodies.
I guess the question is, are we looking at a major sickness?
Will I need to cull this bird to protect the rest of them or am I concerned about nothing?
Hopefully this is just some simple thing that can be fixed up easily, but I don't want to risk the health of the rest of the flock if it is something worse.
None of the other birds have any kind of symptoms of the same issue so I want to get ahead of it spreading if that may be a possibility.
Any advice or expertise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Fooster
