- Oct 2, 2008
- 7
- 0
- 7
Hello there,
I have had a number of dilema's with my poultry.
I noticed my alpha hen was sick last Sunday. She was walking about and pecking, but kept sitting and closing her eyes. On closer inspection she was straining with her bowels being full - only little bits of faeces coming out from what looked like an internal obstruction.
She was very, very thin with a normal red comb and her poo's were normally formed.
I took her to the vet who said it might be an inflamation of her oviducts or a bacterial infection and gave her a weeks course of AB's. She did an internal palpation and found no obstruction. I have been giving this to her morning and night. Vet said she was very skinny and might not be assimilating her food properly - said she had some musculature to her still.
She was initially eating but has now slowed her intake and her poo's are much smaller and green in colour. Her comb now has a purple tinge to it.
She has not been wormed and I am going to worm her today.
I don't know how old she is as she was given to me. She was just found one day in someone's back yard. She hasn't laid an egg for about 8 months. She doesn't look to old as her feathers look nice and glossy. She is usually free range but I have seperated her and confined her to an avairy.
We also have a little call duck who lives with our hen and 4 bantams. The duck loves the hens very, very much and we are very fond of her also. I have put the chickens water dispenser on a bench so that the duck can't get to it. I thought the hen might have been drinking water from the ducks pond and picked up an infection this way?
Any other thoughts on what could be the problem?
Also, currently I have a gosling running with the aforementioned mob (minus hen). Today I will make a seperate enclosure for the gosling and bantam 'mum' after reading about the risks of disease having them together.
Any thoughts or ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Siobhan.
I have had a number of dilema's with my poultry.
I noticed my alpha hen was sick last Sunday. She was walking about and pecking, but kept sitting and closing her eyes. On closer inspection she was straining with her bowels being full - only little bits of faeces coming out from what looked like an internal obstruction.
She was very, very thin with a normal red comb and her poo's were normally formed.
I took her to the vet who said it might be an inflamation of her oviducts or a bacterial infection and gave her a weeks course of AB's. She did an internal palpation and found no obstruction. I have been giving this to her morning and night. Vet said she was very skinny and might not be assimilating her food properly - said she had some musculature to her still.
She was initially eating but has now slowed her intake and her poo's are much smaller and green in colour. Her comb now has a purple tinge to it.
She has not been wormed and I am going to worm her today.
I don't know how old she is as she was given to me. She was just found one day in someone's back yard. She hasn't laid an egg for about 8 months. She doesn't look to old as her feathers look nice and glossy. She is usually free range but I have seperated her and confined her to an avairy.
We also have a little call duck who lives with our hen and 4 bantams. The duck loves the hens very, very much and we are very fond of her also. I have put the chickens water dispenser on a bench so that the duck can't get to it. I thought the hen might have been drinking water from the ducks pond and picked up an infection this way?
Any other thoughts on what could be the problem?
Also, currently I have a gosling running with the aforementioned mob (minus hen). Today I will make a seperate enclosure for the gosling and bantam 'mum' after reading about the risks of disease having them together.
Any thoughts or ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Siobhan.