I know this is going to sound weird as can be but I really want to help my bird so please bear with me. I have an EE from Cackle hatchery. She was one of 100 that I ordered. She is very different. ALL her feathers look like the curly feathers on a sebastapol(sp?) goose. She has the bluest earlobes I have ever seen. She is a year old roughly and has only ever laid 2 eggs. One without a shell and one with a super thin shell that was off white in color. She MUST have direct sunlight everyday or she will die. On cloudy days I have to give her a light or else she will just fall over like her batteries ran down. If she gets the bright sun she needs she acts like all the other birds in every way. I feed the whole flock of 13 birds kitchen scraps(including egg shells), calf-manna, purina layena crumble, as well as all the fun creepy crawly things they find in the yard. The only reason I can think of that she needs the sun for so much is vitamin D. I chose to remove her from the flock daily and give her tuna or salmon treats because these have vitamin D. I worm the flock once a year needed or not and I use DE like my life depends on it. I keep a very clean coop and all my other birds are great. This bird is not sick but she has an issue that I really think is linked to vitamin D.
Does anyone have a clue what I could add to her diet for vitamin D deficiency?
I have been raising chickens for years and have never encountered anything like this before. I have been debating quite a bit about posting this because it is so crazy I didn't want to get laughed off the forum so please be kind. I refuse to cull a healthy bird just for being different or ugly. That is why I have chosen to go above and beyond to care for her. She deserves to be a chicken as much as she can for however long she can as long as she is happy I will continue to care for my "solar chicken"
Thank you for reading
Edit: Original discovery story in post #7
Does anyone have a clue what I could add to her diet for vitamin D deficiency?
I have been raising chickens for years and have never encountered anything like this before. I have been debating quite a bit about posting this because it is so crazy I didn't want to get laughed off the forum so please be kind. I refuse to cull a healthy bird just for being different or ugly. That is why I have chosen to go above and beyond to care for her. She deserves to be a chicken as much as she can for however long she can as long as she is happy I will continue to care for my "solar chicken"
Thank you for reading
Edit: Original discovery story in post #7
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) so had the opportunity to look up some things today. Amoung other things I found are that mycotoxins from mold can decrease egg production and cause problems with health. WHAT problems with health weren't elaborated on so much. But, an interesting thing is that you can illuminate your feed sack and the general area with a black light, and if it glows, you may have a mycotoxin problem. Severa sites say you can supplement using vitamin D in the form of D3 (better than D2). In my wanderings across the internet I also found a website that may be useful to you - google "Mississippi State Poultry Department" and check out their information. The best site I found was the "Penn State Department of Poultry" ; if you go to the "topics index" listed there, when you pull up the page and then look at the bottom of the page there is a section you can go to called "ask the expert." There are contact people and their specialty area in poultry science that you may be able to get help from. I have to wonder if you have some unusual genetic abnormality with your hen. I am far from an expert in chicken care, but I do love to hunt for information. Hope some of this turns out to be useful for you! Take care!
