We had an incident w/ her a few weeks back. She was usually VERY loud when I came out in the morning to give the treats. I came out one morning and she was silent. Not a peep. First clue that there was a problem. Then I tossed out treats and she just stood in the corner w/ her head and tail down. Oh boy. Big problem. And when I walked up to her, she didn't walk away. She spent the day at the vets office and the best we can come up with is that she ate straw and it fermented in her crop.
Basically, she had bad gas. I kept her inside that evening after picking her up from the vets office. Fed her mashed up feed and banana (banana is her FAVORITE treat). And let me tell you, a gassy chicken in the house is HILARIOUS. She made the most obscene and offensive sounds all night long. The vet gave her something to help break up the straw and gas and move it all through her and the next morning, it started moving. 6 dirty towels later, she was talking and pecking at the dog crate and bossing me around like I'm used to.
I let her out of the crate and she walked right up to my feet and looked up at me like, take me home! And readily let me pick her up and take her out to her sister. It took her a few more days before she was 100% back to normal but she's made a full recovery.
And I feel our bond has changed. It's tighter. It's like she knows that I'm her Flock Mistress and she now comes right up to me. She'll even let me have a quick feel of her crop. I just love her.
I've been giving her more protein. The thought was that perhaps since she's still growing, she may be craving more protein than her sister (who are not JG's) and when I switched her from Grower/Finisher to Layer Rations she's not getting the protein she needs. As a result, she's just putting anything and everything in her beak.
I can't wait for her to fully grow up. She's 6.5 lbs today. I've read that she'll get up to 9 or even 10 lbs. She's HUGE compared to my EE who probably weighs a pound.
