the sultan thread

[keket369]

Hey there, I don't think I've posted here before! I've been in love with this breed since I first saw them, and I hope to contribute to their preservation. I have a shipment of twelve from Waltz's Ark that are about six weeks, and they are curious, strange little birds. I just adore them! I'll have to get some better pics here soon. Does anyone know about when you can sex them? I've tentatively picked through them and I think I only have four pullets, though they're still young and seem to take longer than usual to mature.

The darker birds are bredas and marans.

 

[jdt2395]

My sultan chickens do not interest to eat Pellet.

They die for some stuff like Cucumbers or rice or macaroni!!

The rate of their eggs have been so rare and they laid small eggs.

what sould I do?

 

[hyzenthlay]

Hi there, I'm new to this thread but I'm hoping someone can help me. I have a Sultan hen that's about 1 year old. She has always been slower and more docile than the rest of my flock, but more or less a normal chicken. But in the last week or so her behavior has really been worrying me. She seems to lay in one spot for hours at a time, instead of roaming and foraging like my other hens. Sometimes she does not even bother to leave the coop when I open the door in the morning. She is not dust bathing, just resting on the ground with her head up. I know she can walk, run, and fly at least enough to get up to the perches in the coop, but she seems to avoid doing so. When approached she often takes a few unsteady steps backwards instead of running away. I also thought her steps looked small and ginger, so I thought maybe her feet or legs hurt--but I looked and couldn't see anything obviously wrong with them. I was worried she wasn't eating and drinking enough, so I try to put her right next to the water with a little pile of food next to her when the other hens aren't around to steal it. She is interested in the food and pecks at it, but sometimes seems just as likely to peck the ground near the food rather than getting the food itself. I also think she has stopped laying, or maybe just decreased, I can't be sure because I have a few white layers and I don't always know who laid the white eggs.

At first I thought maybe her crest was covering her eyes too much and she was having trouble seeing, so I trimmed it back enough that I can see her eyes pretty easily--about the same as my Polish hen who is vigorous and clearly doing fine. But that was several days ago and it hasn't seemed to change her behavior at all--if anything I think she is a little worse.

This is her before the crest trim--her eyes are a little more exposed now, not totally but better. I'm thinking of trimming more, since I don't know what else to do

.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any advice or ideas? Thank you!!

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Okay I think you have a sick bird. I would isolate her from the rest in case it is a contagion but also to see if she is laying. But I am not good on diagnosis so I would repost her symptoms in the medical section... but check to see if her crop is full, see if we can rule that out... if it is not full, it could be she is egg bound... these are both problems I have zero experience with other than reading about on BYC. Also check her feet rule out Bumble Foot (highly unlikely I think) and make sure she does not have mites. You will need to physiologically support her system if she is not eating... but my guess is either Contagion or impacted crop or egg bound... hit the emergency area.

 

[hyzenthlay]

Thank you, @Lauravonsmurf . I have never dealt with crop problems or an egg bound hen or mites, either, so I didn't think of that. I don't think she has bumble foot--I did check for that because of how she was walking. I had myself convinced she was handicapped because her crest had maybe grown more and she couldn't see. Her behavior seemed consistent to me with semi-blindness, sort of helpless and cautious and clumsy. I really thought the trim would fix it, but it hasn't. Then I thought maybe this could be a behavioral thing with Sultans.

I will give her a thorough physical today, and maybe a bath while I'm at it so I can be sure to get a good look at her all over. I've never had to give one of my chickens a bath before, but she doesn't seem to be keeping herself as clean as the others, even though she's in the dry coop (or mostly dry run) much of the time. Then again, she's the only one that's all white, so maybe she just shows the dirt more. After I get a full look at her I plan to repost in the emergency/illness forum as you suggested, with any more details/symptoms I can find.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Putting her in isolation is usually suggested as you can also lower the stress level... in keep box or a little cage you can keep dark. Pet carrier with food and water. If you bathe her add green tea to your bath water it has some good benifits, mugwort too if you got it... kills parasites and microbes on the outside of the bird.

 

[hyzenthlay]

Putting her in isolation is usually suggested as you can also lower the stress level... in keep box or a little cage you can keep dark. Pet carrier with food and water. If you bathe her add green tea to your bath water it has some good benifits, mugwort too if you got it... kills parasites and microbes on the outside of the bird.

Thanks, Laura, I will isolate her for sure after the bath, at least for awhile to keep an eye on her and see how she's doing. I had been thinking of doing it earlier, so that I could be sure she was eating and drinking, but I was hesitant because I thought being alone might stress her more than her current situation--on the theory that she had some sort of neurological/behavioral issue rather than an illness going on. I think you're right, though--it probably is worth doing now, if just to rule out illness if nothing else....

 

[hyzenthlay]

Putting her in isolation is usually suggested as you can also lower the stress level... in keep box or a little cage you can keep dark. Pet carrier with food and water. If you bathe her add green tea to your bath water it has some good benifits, mugwort too if you got it... kills parasites and microbes on the outside of the bird.

So, after the bath, I can see I was wrong about her feet. They were so dirty before from her laying around that it was hard to see, but it does look like she has bumble foot, and maybe also scaly leg mites. On the positive side, her crop is not enlarged at all and she doesn't seem to have any problems around her vent, or anywhere else that I can see. So, we will see what we can do about the bumble foot first, then treat for leg mites.... Thank you for your helpful replies.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Your welcome... make sure you treat the whole flock and the coop for mites too. There are some good how toos for Bumble Foot on BYC. Good luck on her treatment and recovery. Also you will want to supplement her water with vitamins to deal with those little blood suckers stressing her body out.

 

[hyzenthlay]

Your welcome... make sure you treat the whole flock and the coop for mites too. There are some good how toos for Bumble Foot on BYC. Good luck on her treatment and recovery. Also you will want to supplement her water with vitamins to deal with those little blood suckers stressing her body out.

Thanks again, Laura. We followed the tutorials for non-surgical treatment of bumblefoot to start with--epsom salt soak, removing as much of the scab as possible without trauma, applying veterycin, etc. I also gave her 1cc of Nutridrench and 2ccs of electrolyte/vitamin water by syringe. I set her up inside in a pet carrier with some food and dried mealworms, and more electrolyte/vitamin water. I did see her nibbling at the treats, so I figure I will let her rest now and see how she's doing in the am. I think I'll buy Ivermectin for the mites, since it's hard to do all the topical treatments while her bumblefoot is healing. I looked at the rest of the girls and don't see the scale problem yet on them, so that's good, but I'll figure out the best way to treat them and the coop so the problem doesn't spread.