I have a 7 month old half Lavender Orpington, half Buff Orpington pullet that 2 days ago, I found laying on the floor in a corner of the coop under the nesting boxes. Baby has always been small in comparison with her father who died last summer at a year of age of what looked like Sudden Death Syndrome. We weighed her last week and she weighed 2lbs, 16 ounces. When I found her in what appeared to be a shocked condition, we weighed her and her weight was down 4 ounces. She has not reached POL. When she gets down off the roosts to eat, drink or go outside, the rooster is determined to mate her and I suspect that had something to do with the condition I discovered her in. Lately I have been making it a point to hand feed her holding a bowl up for her to make sure that she did eat and she would wait till I came on the scene in the morning to fly down to get a drink so I could protect her.
Since I found her, I bought her into the house. Rooster Booster probiotics and vitamins in her water along with some Terramycin. She seemed cold/shocky, not wanting to open her eyes. I used a stylette to get fluid into her. Put her in a pet carrier in our shop. When she was slow to respond, I brought her in the house and she began to perk up and eat/drink. Last night she seemed like she was pulling out of, even ate half a scrambled egg, it but this morning she was back looking like a football with feathers, her head drawn in, fluffed up, refusing to open her eyes or lift her head. Trying to get a response from her I took her back out to the coop where she could see the other chickens and put her in my Broody pen so the roosters couldn't pester her and checked on her throughout the day. By 4 PM I thought she was dead. Sitting in the bedding, her head drawn in, her beak resting on the floor, her eyes closed. I bought her in the warm house again and for the past 5 hours every time I've checked her I expected to find her dead. I couldn't get her to move, open her eyes or do more than give a little whimper when I rubbed her neck. She appeared comatose. Out of the blue, an hour ago, I went out to check her and she was wide awake, still keeping her head drawn in but alert, and guzzling water. She even talked to me a little and ate sunflower seeds out of my hand, her favorite treat.
I have no idea what is going on with her but if I don't figure it out, she is going to die. She might anyway the way things are going. As I said. She is 7 months old from a June hatch last year. Her three brood sisters are healthy and laying, Buff O/Welsummer pullets. Her sire died of what looks like a sudden cardiac failure at 1 yr. I listened to her heart, sounds like a pretty normal heartbeat. Breathing normal. No discharge from nostrils or mouth. Crop is empty. No sign of egg binding. In fact her pelvis is very narrow for 7 months. No abdominal swelling, she appears thin (just finished running Corid through the flock) Skin around her eyes looks slightly pale but she is dehydrated. Stool was slightly loose at first but has firmed to normal. I haven't seen her pass stool since I put her out with the flock this morning. The only thing I've noticed out of the obvious symptoms is that she seems a bit unsteady on her feet when she does stand. She is the only one in a flock of 36 that is acting this way.
Am I looking at a genetic problem? Any ideas? Am I missing something or is this one of those weird cases of failure to thrive? If so, why now at POL?
Any help appreciated.
