First, even though a part of this post is in a blue box, it's all written by me. (It's not quoted - just want to avoid any confusion.)
Second, there is more going on with her that may or may not be related, that I'll also describe.
She is the Omega of the flock, & she spends more time on her own and digging into the ground & eating from it (maybe that doesn't sound like a logical or inevitable causality, but it seems to me that her standing in the flock is what gets her more into the soil, more frequently, than the others, but I could be wrong). Anyway, we did have a whole lot of non-stop rain a month or so ago (10 days at least), with some standing water outside and very wet conditions out there for a while. I wonder if she could have tapped into some mold on the ground? (Not feed though; I do not feed their feed on the ground.)
On the other hand, if there's a Marek's cause, which I know stress can bring out from hiding, here's what's been going on lately:
1. I had a big building project in the coop;
2. I brought some 8.5-wk-old chicks into that newly-built section next door - I raised those chicks in the house since getting them from a national chain feed store at a few days old, non-vaccinated, & they took field trips to the chicken yard before I moved them into the addition. The chicks have been there full time since 4 July, & are very perky and thriving;
3. We had all that rain & wetness, & now we have very high heat;
4. I've had our rooster - who seems to be her best friend - separated but visible right next door for over a month so far to give her a break since she's his favorite, until her feathers come back in, and until I grow out the flock with those additional, new hens (the chicks, now 12 wks old).
Now, I don't know if anything other than the worms would have caused a lot of stress... Just putting everything out there I can think of.
(And besides, while I was building on to the coop, the chickens spent that much more time outdoors, which they like, so that could have even been good psychologically...? She loved getting out and dirt bathing, foraging...)
No signs of lice. Haven't ever checked for mites.
She's still laying every day, including first thing this a.m. However, her eggs have been consistently pointy- shaped for a little while now (maybe a week?).
I noticed yesterday, for the first time, that she was falling asleep while eating. She would start to eat and then close her eyes and fall asleep.
Her stools for the past few days have also been very small on the droppings board from overnight. Lots of water (reasonable due to the heat), but very small stools, especially yesterday and today. NOW I realize it's probably the case that she's not eating enough - maybe because she can't see her food? The last 2 days, her droppings on the overnight board are also clay-red color, like our soil! It just occurred to me that she may have been mistaking clumps of soil for food while not being able to see...? I'm including a pic of the droppings I discovered early this a.m.
One other thing: the only treats I give are dried fly larvae, bought from the feed store. I rarely if ever even give them bits of an apple or tomato. The reason I give the larvae is to round up the chickens back into the coop. Since I've got the rooster separated, I have them going out into the yard on a rotation basis, and so I've been giving everyone those dried larvae 2x/ day.
Otherwise, they're all eating a grower feed with oyster shell on the side, that's made locally and which is supposed to be a very good product. However, now that I look at the label, I see that corn is the first ingredient. That's probably not good, is it?! I'll post a picture of the ingredients and nutritional breakdown.
As I've been writing this, looking at Scarlet now separated from the others, in my back yard, I see that she is mostly sleeping all day today. Well, if she hasn't been eating, i guess that shouldn't be surprising that she'd have no energy. So I mixed some electrolytes and poultry vitamins into her water, and I made her some wet food of her grower feed (which she loves). She ate some greedily, and then fell asleep. She also drank some of the water, and it was then I noticed how pale her comb and wattles were! The color has since returned though. Still, I tried to feed her some more about an hour later. She took a bite of the moistened food, and literally closed her eyes with the food in her beak.
?
Second, there is more going on with her that may or may not be related, that I'll also describe.
Scarlet had roundworms in her stool not long ago, so I treated her and the flock with Valbazen once and then a second time 10 days later. That second dose was given about 1.5 weeks ago. (I've been tossing the eggs, not feeding them back to the birds as some people do.)
She is the Omega of the flock, & she spends more time on her own and digging into the ground & eating from it (maybe that doesn't sound like a logical or inevitable causality, but it seems to me that her standing in the flock is what gets her more into the soil, more frequently, than the others, but I could be wrong). Anyway, we did have a whole lot of non-stop rain a month or so ago (10 days at least), with some standing water outside and very wet conditions out there for a while. I wonder if she could have tapped into some mold on the ground? (Not feed though; I do not feed their feed on the ground.)
On the other hand, if there's a Marek's cause, which I know stress can bring out from hiding, here's what's been going on lately:
1. I had a big building project in the coop;
2. I brought some 8.5-wk-old chicks into that newly-built section next door - I raised those chicks in the house since getting them from a national chain feed store at a few days old, non-vaccinated, & they took field trips to the chicken yard before I moved them into the addition. The chicks have been there full time since 4 July, & are very perky and thriving;
3. We had all that rain & wetness, & now we have very high heat;
4. I've had our rooster - who seems to be her best friend - separated but visible right next door for over a month so far to give her a break since she's his favorite, until her feathers come back in, and until I grow out the flock with those additional, new hens (the chicks, now 12 wks old).
Now, I don't know if anything other than the worms would have caused a lot of stress... Just putting everything out there I can think of.
(And besides, while I was building on to the coop, the chickens spent that much more time outdoors, which they like, so that could have even been good psychologically...? She loved getting out and dirt bathing, foraging...)
No signs of lice. Haven't ever checked for mites.
She's still laying every day, including first thing this a.m. However, her eggs have been consistently pointy- shaped for a little while now (maybe a week?).
I noticed yesterday, for the first time, that she was falling asleep while eating. She would start to eat and then close her eyes and fall asleep.
Her stools for the past few days have also been very small on the droppings board from overnight. Lots of water (reasonable due to the heat), but very small stools, especially yesterday and today. NOW I realize it's probably the case that she's not eating enough - maybe because she can't see her food? The last 2 days, her droppings on the overnight board are also clay-red color, like our soil! It just occurred to me that she may have been mistaking clumps of soil for food while not being able to see...? I'm including a pic of the droppings I discovered early this a.m.
One other thing: the only treats I give are dried fly larvae, bought from the feed store. I rarely if ever even give them bits of an apple or tomato. The reason I give the larvae is to round up the chickens back into the coop. Since I've got the rooster separated, I have them going out into the yard on a rotation basis, and so I've been giving everyone those dried larvae 2x/ day.
Otherwise, they're all eating a grower feed with oyster shell on the side, that's made locally and which is supposed to be a very good product. However, now that I look at the label, I see that corn is the first ingredient. That's probably not good, is it?! I'll post a picture of the ingredients and nutritional breakdown.
As I've been writing this, looking at Scarlet now separated from the others, in my back yard, I see that she is mostly sleeping all day today. Well, if she hasn't been eating, i guess that shouldn't be surprising that she'd have no energy. So I mixed some electrolytes and poultry vitamins into her water, and I made her some wet food of her grower feed (which she loves). She ate some greedily, and then fell asleep. She also drank some of the water, and it was then I noticed how pale her comb and wattles were! The color has since returned though. Still, I tried to feed her some more about an hour later. She took a bite of the moistened food, and literally closed her eyes with the food in her beak.
Wait - I fed her again as these pics loaded, & she was somehow able to see the 2 Band-aids on the hand I held the dish with! She pecked at both of them!!
?
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