The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Scott H]

Well, you asked what I would do. If I didn't know what was wrong with her and thought she was slipping away? I would treat with a antibiotic such as Denagard. Not natural but may save her.

 

[TeaChick]

Have you done a thorough exam? I examined her at the beginning, but didn't know everything to look for/at. Her abdomin is not hard at all; it is "soft", what I think would be normal; she did not tighten her abs against my palpatation.

-Looked at feet and legs? Yes. Any sign of bumblefoot or infection in the feet or scaley legs? No, they look like normal chicken feet to me.
I did pick her up (gently) by her wings and one foot curled up and the other hung straight. I remember reading a post where curling up the foot meant something, but I haven't had a chance to find it.
-Look for evidence of lice and mites. no bugs, no bites.
-Look at the vent area; any discharge/smell? a little bit of light yellow poo (no more clear, thick poos, just sometimes yellow and sometimes normal)
-Is she molting? No. Well, highly unlikely; she had two or three broods this summer for the breeder I got her from, so I assume that she molted then, as others have mentioned on this thread.
-Look at her sides/under wings where the rooster's spur might have cut her during mating ... look for any wounds, etc.? No evidence of wounds of any kind.

Is it possible to give her a buddy where you're keeping her during the day? I know she and my Bantam Cochin get along well and being Bantam, she won't eat so much that Beauty won't have a chance to eat.
Is she interested in food/eating normally but just can't get to it in the big flock (bottom of pecking order)? When I put the egg in there, she goes right for it (slower than usual) and eats. When I gave them all treats, she gets some and takes it off a little ways, and as long as I can keep the other girls busy with the treats, they leave her alone.
Any discharge from nose or eyes? No, nothing at all.

Something I forgot to mention is that she has a hard time getting her balance, like when the rooster mounts her, for instance, she kind of stumbles a bit, then she goes on okay, just very very slow.

 

[Leahs Mom]

This was one of 2 birds you got from the same place if I remember correctly? And the other one was sick? What symptoms did that one show and did it recover? (Sorry I don't remember details.)

 

[Kassaundra]

Something I forgot to mention is that she has a hard time getting her balance, like when the rooster mounts her, for instance, she kind of stumbles a bit, then she goes on okay, just very very slow.

Curling the legs up towards the body when being picked up by the wings is suppose to indicate abd pain, where hanging down straight(ish) is suppose to mean no abd pain.

To me slow deliberate movements denotes pain.

 

[TeaChick]

This was one of 2 birds you got from the same place if I remember correctly? And the other one was sick? What symptoms did that one show and did it recover? (Sorry I don't remember details.)

Yes, she's one of two hens I got from the same place. (I wouldn't have remembered that, so Kudos to you!!!) =)
No, they were not already sick. The got sick here, I didn't know until about two weeks after they arrived. They got some digestive thing. The other one didn't make it; this is the one I was able to nurse back to health. Her weight has fluctuated since then and right now, it's down.
{Well, I say "weight", I mean that I feel her all over and her breast meat is the first to go, this time she doesn't have as much on her thighs.} It worries me for her b/c as soon as she starts building back up, something else has hit her.
These are different symptoms, the other thing they got was definitely digestive, but she was slower, etc. This seems different; it's like depression only not emotional, if that makes any sense; it's like she's mopey and she eats but not much and she gives up once I've caught her (normally, she'd continue to try to get away unless I had her upside-down by the feet or had her wings pinned to her sides).

 

[TeaChick]

Curling the legs up towards the body when being picked up by the wings is suppose to indicate abd pain, where hanging down straight(ish) is suppose to mean no abd pain.

To me slow deliberate movements denotes pain.

Okay. Thank you. Yes, I didn't remember correctly and haven't had a chance to look it up. I've had a lot going on inside the house lately, so I hadn't had a chance to look it up.

New symptom: abdominal pain.

 

[Kassaundra]

Yes, she's one of two hens I got from the same place. (I wouldn't have remembered that, so Kudos to you!!!) =)
No, they were not already sick. The got sick here, I didn't know until about two weeks after they arrived. They got some digestive thing. The other one didn't make it; this is the one I was able to nurse back to health. Her weight has fluctuated since then and right now, it's down.
{Well, I say "weight", I mean that I feel her all over and her breast meat is the first to go, this time she doesn't have as much on her thighs.} It worries me for her b/c as soon as she starts building back up, something else has hit her.
These are different symptoms, the other thing they got was definitely digestive, but she was slower, etc. This seems different; it's like depression only not emotional, if that makes any sense; it's like she's mopey and she eats but not much and she gives up once I've caught her (normally, she'd continue to try to get away unless I had her upside-down by the feet or had her wings pinned to her sides).

Failure to thrive

 

[TeaChick]

Failure to thrive

Really? This has been going on for two months. No, I wouldn't describe her life as "thriving" by human standards, but... I don't know what chicken standards are.
Oh, I don't want it to be that.

 

[Kassaundra]

Really? This has been going on for two months. No, I wouldn't describe her life as "thriving" by human standards, but... I don't know what chicken standards are.
Oh, I don't want it to be that.

FAILURE to thrive, means she isn't thriving. The term means not ness. sick but a general steady decline in health and ability.

I know you don't want to hear this, but after 2 months of failure to thrive I would cull (as in euthanize)

 

[Kassaundra]

Copied from a human sickness site it explains failure to thrive better then me

~~In elderly patients, failure to thrive describes a state of decline that is multifactorial and may be caused by chronic concurrent diseases and functional impairments. Manifestations of this condition include weight loss, decreased appetite, poor nutrition, and inactivity.



That ends the copied part this next part is my statement.

In my human world it seldom has a good outcome, in my chicken yard it has only one outcome. (It's just in my chicken world I have the ability to end suffering not afforded in the human world...... this is not a political statement, just an observed fact)