- Sep 4, 2010
- 13
- 0
- 22
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Hello,
I was hoping that my introductory post would be a bit happier than this, but right now I have a sick hen.
She is a year and a half old Oppington Buff named "Lovey" (her flock mates are a Rhode Island Red named Ginger and a Black Australorp named Mary Ann)
We've had some off and on hot and cold weather and egg production from all three has been spotty.
All have been healthy and active.
Yesterday, I went out to the pen and discovered Lovey laying down near the waterer. Her eyes were half closed.
When I tried to move her, she just rolled over. I was afraid I had lost her right then.
I separated her from the other girls, put her in a box and brought her into the basement.
Her comb and wattles appear normal, her crop appears to be functioning normally and she does not feel egg bound.
When I put her in the box last night with a dish of food (layer pellets) and water, she did eat and drink some water.
Before I went to bed last night, I checked on her, and she was standing rather than laying down which is a good sign. She seemed annoyed to be in the box and pecked at it, which is also a good sign.
She had urinated and passed a normal amount of somewhat watery stool. I did not see any undigested material or parasites in the stool, but I will be looking more closely later today. (right now there are people working on the house, so I'm trying to leave her alone as much as possible until it quiets back down)
The weather was quite warm yesterday compared to what we've been having and there have been roofers working on the house, so it has been quite noisy. The coop is 50 feet from the house, so the noise wasn't right on top of them.
This morning she is standing up, her feather's aren't puffed up and she looks better than she did yesterday afternoon.
Does anyone have any ideas about what might be going on?
I've been biding my time looking for symptoms other than weak, sleepy looking chicken.
I am also going to be sanitizing the feeder and waterer (have already dumped all the food and changed the water) and will be giving the pen a good cleaning. For the time being, I will keep her separated from the other girls.
Hello,
I was hoping that my introductory post would be a bit happier than this, but right now I have a sick hen.
She is a year and a half old Oppington Buff named "Lovey" (her flock mates are a Rhode Island Red named Ginger and a Black Australorp named Mary Ann)
We've had some off and on hot and cold weather and egg production from all three has been spotty.
All have been healthy and active.
Yesterday, I went out to the pen and discovered Lovey laying down near the waterer. Her eyes were half closed.
When I tried to move her, she just rolled over. I was afraid I had lost her right then.
I separated her from the other girls, put her in a box and brought her into the basement.
Her comb and wattles appear normal, her crop appears to be functioning normally and she does not feel egg bound.
When I put her in the box last night with a dish of food (layer pellets) and water, she did eat and drink some water.
Before I went to bed last night, I checked on her, and she was standing rather than laying down which is a good sign. She seemed annoyed to be in the box and pecked at it, which is also a good sign.
She had urinated and passed a normal amount of somewhat watery stool. I did not see any undigested material or parasites in the stool, but I will be looking more closely later today. (right now there are people working on the house, so I'm trying to leave her alone as much as possible until it quiets back down)
The weather was quite warm yesterday compared to what we've been having and there have been roofers working on the house, so it has been quite noisy. The coop is 50 feet from the house, so the noise wasn't right on top of them.
This morning she is standing up, her feather's aren't puffed up and she looks better than she did yesterday afternoon.
Does anyone have any ideas about what might be going on?
I've been biding my time looking for symptoms other than weak, sleepy looking chicken.
I am also going to be sanitizing the feeder and waterer (have already dumped all the food and changed the water) and will be giving the pen a good cleaning. For the time being, I will keep her separated from the other girls.