Okay, I'll try this again. I've posted on Aunt Bea twice in the last week but haven't gotten much. No offense to the few of you who did reply, it just wasn't what I needed.
I'm at my wits end!
I'll really try to keep this short:
Symptoms: lethargy, droopy, pale comb, head tucked in and just stands around. Either won't go to coop at night with others, choosing to tuck herself away in the barn, or she goes to the coop but stays on the floor.
No: mucus, diarrhea, dropping weight, stuck egg.
General living/feeding conditions: Large airy coop, kept clean with shavings on dirt floor. Free fed layer crumbles. Scratch/BOSS in the morning for a breakfast treat. Cooking scraps as often as I have them, and my neighbor brings old bread for them. 10 acres to free range.
She gobbles up treats and eats fine. Keeps to herself often but gets along fine with other hens and will free range with them occasionally, eating and hanging out companionably. They don't pick on her. Rooster will occasionally attack and she just hunkers down and tucks her head. He does NOT try to mount - just attacks. I've got 10 acres for them to roam so she's got plenty of room to stay away from everyone.
I have read volumes in the forum on this disease or that ailment over the last week. I am now an expert in things like wry neck, sour crop, crop impaction, coccidiosis, etc.
What I'm not an expert on, however, is what is wrong with MY hen.
I bring her into a dog kennel and she's fine and wants out, chirping at me. I let her out, she picks around, follows me, goes to the barn.
I've turned her upside down to massage for a squishy crop. She just burped several times. But no sour smell at all.
She doesn't poop much in kennel but she does poop and it seems normal.
Oh, and no worms.
She is at least 4 and perhaps considerably older. Could it possibly be that she is just getting old and likes to be alone?
I don't know what to do. I even read ALL the pages of the "how to humanely euthanize a chicken" thread in order to prepare myself for that eventuality. But if she's just old and reclusive, and not sick/injured and suffering, I hate to put her down.
I'd really, really love some solid input. Don't make me beg...
I'm at my wits end!
I'll really try to keep this short:
Symptoms: lethargy, droopy, pale comb, head tucked in and just stands around. Either won't go to coop at night with others, choosing to tuck herself away in the barn, or she goes to the coop but stays on the floor.
No: mucus, diarrhea, dropping weight, stuck egg.
General living/feeding conditions: Large airy coop, kept clean with shavings on dirt floor. Free fed layer crumbles. Scratch/BOSS in the morning for a breakfast treat. Cooking scraps as often as I have them, and my neighbor brings old bread for them. 10 acres to free range.
She gobbles up treats and eats fine. Keeps to herself often but gets along fine with other hens and will free range with them occasionally, eating and hanging out companionably. They don't pick on her. Rooster will occasionally attack and she just hunkers down and tucks her head. He does NOT try to mount - just attacks. I've got 10 acres for them to roam so she's got plenty of room to stay away from everyone.
I have read volumes in the forum on this disease or that ailment over the last week. I am now an expert in things like wry neck, sour crop, crop impaction, coccidiosis, etc.
What I'm not an expert on, however, is what is wrong with MY hen.
I bring her into a dog kennel and she's fine and wants out, chirping at me. I let her out, she picks around, follows me, goes to the barn.
I've turned her upside down to massage for a squishy crop. She just burped several times. But no sour smell at all.
She doesn't poop much in kennel but she does poop and it seems normal.
Oh, and no worms.
She is at least 4 and perhaps considerably older. Could it possibly be that she is just getting old and likes to be alone?
I don't know what to do. I even read ALL the pages of the "how to humanely euthanize a chicken" thread in order to prepare myself for that eventuality. But if she's just old and reclusive, and not sick/injured and suffering, I hate to put her down.
I'd really, really love some solid input. Don't make me beg...
