The New Flock 2021: Back to Basics

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Aww Brodie, at least he can watch the rest who look really good.

 

[1muttsfan]

Those are beautiful girls.

It does look like the old boy is winding down

 

[speckledhen]

Those are beautiful girls.

It does look like the old boy is winding down

Yes, poor sweet Bodie. He may just be at the end of his life, short as it was compared to others.
I do love my BRs, such eye candy.

 

[speckledhen]

The Bodie report:
He did not eat for almost two days, then yesterday I caught him standing fully up and horizontal next to the waterer with a wet beak so he was up and drinking. Generally, he will do a half stand, butt up in the air with head down. And he ate and ate and ate. I had tuna salad with avocado oil mayo and some sardines crushed up in it, took some out to him and thinking he'd not really eat it, gave most of it to the Brahmas, good old Omega 3's in there, and put a few bits on top of his scratch in the little yogurt tub we use for stuff like that. He ate and ate, then he ate that 14 grain conditioner I use for my scratch. When I cut the outer edge off my fried eggs (i hate that part cooked crusty but my husband made them ), he ate that as well. He watched his peeps run around and seemed much better, at least for another day.
I don't think he'll recover, but I like to see him at least semi-enjoying part of his day. I told my husband about his newest rally, and he said that as long as Bodie is fighting, he'll fight for him. I've tried to get him to put down Bodie because my hands are not strong enough to do it on a bird who shows the strength he has in his wings, but Tom won't do it with a feisty bird, no matter how much it should be done. He makes sure he drinks, puts food in front of him constantly, pets him and talks to him so I guess we'll let Bodie decide if he wants to stay or go just like Spike did after he developed that weird neurological problem.
My confusion with Bodie is that his head is cocked over to the left and almost resting on his shoulder so he often looks like he's going to do gymnastics and tumble. His comb has never shown signs of even beginning to stand upright again which is a sign to me that he won't recover from whatever the heck this is. At this point, it's like an As the Rooster Turns soap opera. I hate that he's lost his full life and position as the leader of that mottley crew.
End of update. I think the reruns are becoming boring, sorry. I just hate mysteries and this one has baffled me.

 

[1muttsfan]

Well we are here to hear the stories of your chickens, good bad and ugly, along with the funny and delightful.

 

[speckledhen]

Well we are here to hear the stories of your chickens, good bad and ugly, along with the funny and delightful.

You're sweet, Mary. I made a short video to show the way he is now. The head makes me wonder. He started showing that he was not himself at the end of October and has gone steadily to this point other than one great day where he was crowing. Hasn't since. Adding that years ago in my original flock pre-rooster addition, a broody was like a zombie, refused to give up. Just remembered this. Sunny was apparently fake-eating and drinking, would not get up unless I got her up. At about three weeks, her head was listing over like Bodie's, twisting backwards. Wes in TX here on the forum said to syringe water in her beak to make sure she was getting it and to squeeze a vit E gel cap into her beak once a day. In a day or two, she was back to normal and finally broke up her zombie run at having chicks. I may try that with Bodie tomorrow.

ADDING: Bodie Mystery Update, Feb 3: Yesterday, Bodie ate some of our tuna salad (100% avocado oil maybe, lots of chopped boiled eggs) as well as some cooked egg whites I had left on my breakfast plate, as I mentioned. Today, I decided to take him more of the same, but added 2 Vitamin E gel caps because he needed that, but I was thinking he may only eat a few bites. He ate it all, standing up fully. Then, I had three store-bought eggs stuck to a carton, had to crack them out of it and cooked them, mashed them up, put a tablespoon of yogurt and the last few drops of the Polyvisol we had on one area of the eggs. Before I gave them to the big group, I scooped that vitamin-enriched portion into Bodie's feed bowl on top of his scratch. He ate them, too, surprisingly, has a great appetite today. And he's walking around the cage as well, fully upright, going to the front cage door to watch his flock roam around outside.

So, for newbies, why the Vitamin E? The Vitamin E is what we used to save our first ever broody Buff Orpington hen who was "fake-eating" and not really drinking, though we removed her from the nest every day (no fertile eggs, no rooster then). I just remembered it yesterday, spurred by the way Bodie's head is twisting to the left and downward. I mean it was 20 years ago so I guess it just didn't come to mind right away. To repeat some of the story that prompted this addition of Vit E, my hen's head had been twisting around almost backwards by three weeks of sitting because she was malnourished at that point. Wes in TX was more experienced than I was and had instructed me to squeeze one of those gel caps into her beak and syringe water in to make sure she got some. Within a day or so, she was back to normal, if a lot thinner, and snapped out of her broody mindset. I wish I'd remembered this experience sooner, ack! She was the only one of my original hatchery flock of three or four breeds that ever went broody and she did it again later on, but this time, she knew how to take care of herself and she raised two chicks as well as adopted 23 more who were two weeks older than hers in the grow-out pen next to hers.
After I mentioned this story about Sunny on YouTube, a lovely friend of mine on YouTube reminded me that a condition called wry neck is treated with selenium and Vitamin E so that's something for you new chicken owners to put in your arsenal of knowledge! Let's hope that this helps Bodie finally turn the corner!
By the way, Wry Neck can be a genetic issue, a vitamin deficiency, or even a head injury. Wry Neck can also be a symptom of a larger problem such as toxins, Botulism, Newscastle Disease, Marek's Disease, or even an ear infection, though I doubt those more serious issues apply here, other than an outside chance of a toxin. I hope he didn't get hold of a toxin somewhere, don't think so, but who knows? It didn't start out three months ago with his neck being this way, only recently, maybe malnourished from being off his feed. Bash had that mystery illness back in 2019 and it was touch and go, presented like lead poisoning. He recovered with supportive care, of course, though we never knew exactly what caused it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Poor Bodie. I wonder if he fell and got a head injury. His symptoms are very strange. I don't put birds down here until they can easily be caught. If they can still outrun me we give them more time.

 

[speckledhen]

Poor Bodie. I wonder if he fell and got a head injury. His symptoms are very strange. I don't put birds down here until they can easily be caught. If they can still outrun me we give them more time.

I have no idea at all at this point what caused this. I agree that it's very strange. It was so warm today that i put him outside in the big dog cage in a bed of leaves. He dozed in the sun, talked to the hens who came around and the boys didn't harass him. He was really enjoying it, has to be therapeutic. He did have a good day so we'll continue to provide supportive care and he'll either get better or not. I want to hear him crow again! I'll figure out a way for him to have a couple of hens if he survives or maybe he can even worm his way back into the flock eventually like Axel did.

 

[speckledhen]

Bodie's day out

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

With that bit of scratch he does makes me wonder if he has an inner infection. It's very nice that hen to come over by him and scratch around.