Chicken Soap with Nuts
Chirping
- Sep 27, 2021
- 35
- 159
- 71
Rosalie is a 5 1/2 year old Redstar hen. She is currently lighter than usual.
Rosalie has recently started having trouble moving since maybe Saturday? First she moved to the lowest roosting bar, then to the egg box, then refused to come out of the roosting area/eggbox area. I thought oh, maybe she's trying to be broody, but she pooped on the eggs and stood up after everyone laid their eggs like it was uncomfortable for her. I left some food in there, but she didn't come downstairs for water, so I gave her some water with a syringe and massaged her crop as it felt hard due to the lack of liquid. I removed her and put her outside, but she was barely moving, so I put her in a cage on a nest for the day with some food and water, but she didn't touch it. Last night I put her in a box with a nest in it in the secured run attached to the roosting area on the ground level so she didn't have to go up and down the "stairs". She stepped out of the box, so I tried the food and water and she just laid down next to them and ate and drank. I put her back in the box at bedtime as she seemed stuck there. I put the food and water nearby, but she was either not interested or couldn't. I moved the box to a cage as the other chickens were tripping over her to take the food and water. She was our alpha hen, so nobody bothers her when she's sick, but they all gathered around the cage for support all day. She flaps her wings when she feels off balance and tries very unsteadily to take steps, but is usually sleeping or resting. When she's sleeping, her head doesn't move around the weird way (see videos), but when she's awake it seems to bob back and forth. Her eyes look normal to me. I can't tell if her toes look curly or not. Today I offered her food and water and she refused. She tried to peck at the food but hit the metal of the food dish and didn't try again. I gave her a kidney shaped dish with wet food mash in it in front of her chest and she didn't touch it.
She's been sick on and off since earlier this summer. She had an impacted/sour crop, I think she had a chicken neck bone stuck. Her comb turned purple and flopped over and I was sure she was going to die, but she pulled through. When she finally got that worked out, she went back to laying briefly. She's always had difficulty in that her eggshells have been thin and brittle her entire life, but she laid an egg almost every single day of her laying life except when she molted until she got sick. Calcium supplementation didn't seem to help until I found RepCal and realized she had a vitamin D deficiency for some unknown reason. The heat this summer was really terrible. We put up a shade cloth and gave them a pool of water, but she seemed really hit hard by it. She had a purple comb off and on, and her health has been off and on as well all summer. I figured she was just getting old. I noticed a spot in her abdomen on her left side that felt almost like an extra jumbo sideways egg, but I was thinking it was an enlarged liver or something else. It was weird, it seemed to harden and soften as I touched it, almost like uterine contractions in a human. She presented with ascites a couple weeks ago that was really bad. I removed between 1-2 cups with a sterile catheter and a syringe and she improved briefly. Now this. She also has some accumulated poop, but it's not blocking her vent. I'm not sure if she's strong enough for me to bathe her.
The other birds (4) seem fine, except they all seem to have watery diarrhea except for one. I think that is because I replaced the spring on their treadle feeder and only that one is smart enough to use the feeder if it's not left open. Back to that, the spring went missing about a week ago and I still haven't found it, which made me wonder if Rosalie ate it. The other chickens have an occasional sneeze (maybe I'll hear one or two every week or two out of the whole flock?), but no one seems sick or has major discharge. Everyone's waling normally. Egg production is slowing. Rosalie hasn't laid since her second bout of illness this summer.
No signs of trauma.
Very little eating, and less drinking.
Poop looks slightly greenish, not super runny, not super hard. white cap.
She's currently sleeping on a Precision Pet by Petmate Excelsior Nesting Pad inside a cardboard box inside the coop (also used in nestbox). I use Flockfresh bedding in the run and there is wire and wood under the roosts, which she's not currently using. The coop was cleaned out and fresh bedding placed on Sunday.
I'm just not sure what it is. The weird head thing and her difficulty walking make me wonder if it's neurological. The missing spring makes me wonder if it's heavy metal related. I'm just wondering if it's something that could affect the rest of the flock, if she's just old (which is what I first thought), or what. If she's just old, that's life. If it's possibly something I should worry for the flock, I'll probably need to get a necropsy when she passes and then what?
1st video is from Sunday 2nd video is from tonight (Tuesday night). She's pretty much skin and bones and feathers now. She looks super healthy in the first video compared to today.
Update Wed:
She seems to have single sided leg weakness/paralysis. Is this Mereks or something else?
Rosalie has recently started having trouble moving since maybe Saturday? First she moved to the lowest roosting bar, then to the egg box, then refused to come out of the roosting area/eggbox area. I thought oh, maybe she's trying to be broody, but she pooped on the eggs and stood up after everyone laid their eggs like it was uncomfortable for her. I left some food in there, but she didn't come downstairs for water, so I gave her some water with a syringe and massaged her crop as it felt hard due to the lack of liquid. I removed her and put her outside, but she was barely moving, so I put her in a cage on a nest for the day with some food and water, but she didn't touch it. Last night I put her in a box with a nest in it in the secured run attached to the roosting area on the ground level so she didn't have to go up and down the "stairs". She stepped out of the box, so I tried the food and water and she just laid down next to them and ate and drank. I put her back in the box at bedtime as she seemed stuck there. I put the food and water nearby, but she was either not interested or couldn't. I moved the box to a cage as the other chickens were tripping over her to take the food and water. She was our alpha hen, so nobody bothers her when she's sick, but they all gathered around the cage for support all day. She flaps her wings when she feels off balance and tries very unsteadily to take steps, but is usually sleeping or resting. When she's sleeping, her head doesn't move around the weird way (see videos), but when she's awake it seems to bob back and forth. Her eyes look normal to me. I can't tell if her toes look curly or not. Today I offered her food and water and she refused. She tried to peck at the food but hit the metal of the food dish and didn't try again. I gave her a kidney shaped dish with wet food mash in it in front of her chest and she didn't touch it.
She's been sick on and off since earlier this summer. She had an impacted/sour crop, I think she had a chicken neck bone stuck. Her comb turned purple and flopped over and I was sure she was going to die, but she pulled through. When she finally got that worked out, she went back to laying briefly. She's always had difficulty in that her eggshells have been thin and brittle her entire life, but she laid an egg almost every single day of her laying life except when she molted until she got sick. Calcium supplementation didn't seem to help until I found RepCal and realized she had a vitamin D deficiency for some unknown reason. The heat this summer was really terrible. We put up a shade cloth and gave them a pool of water, but she seemed really hit hard by it. She had a purple comb off and on, and her health has been off and on as well all summer. I figured she was just getting old. I noticed a spot in her abdomen on her left side that felt almost like an extra jumbo sideways egg, but I was thinking it was an enlarged liver or something else. It was weird, it seemed to harden and soften as I touched it, almost like uterine contractions in a human. She presented with ascites a couple weeks ago that was really bad. I removed between 1-2 cups with a sterile catheter and a syringe and she improved briefly. Now this. She also has some accumulated poop, but it's not blocking her vent. I'm not sure if she's strong enough for me to bathe her.
The other birds (4) seem fine, except they all seem to have watery diarrhea except for one. I think that is because I replaced the spring on their treadle feeder and only that one is smart enough to use the feeder if it's not left open. Back to that, the spring went missing about a week ago and I still haven't found it, which made me wonder if Rosalie ate it. The other chickens have an occasional sneeze (maybe I'll hear one or two every week or two out of the whole flock?), but no one seems sick or has major discharge. Everyone's waling normally. Egg production is slowing. Rosalie hasn't laid since her second bout of illness this summer.
No signs of trauma.
Very little eating, and less drinking.
Poop looks slightly greenish, not super runny, not super hard. white cap.
She's currently sleeping on a Precision Pet by Petmate Excelsior Nesting Pad inside a cardboard box inside the coop (also used in nestbox). I use Flockfresh bedding in the run and there is wire and wood under the roosts, which she's not currently using. The coop was cleaned out and fresh bedding placed on Sunday.
I'm just not sure what it is. The weird head thing and her difficulty walking make me wonder if it's neurological. The missing spring makes me wonder if it's heavy metal related. I'm just wondering if it's something that could affect the rest of the flock, if she's just old (which is what I first thought), or what. If she's just old, that's life. If it's possibly something I should worry for the flock, I'll probably need to get a necropsy when she passes and then what?
1st video is from Sunday 2nd video is from tonight (Tuesday night). She's pretty much skin and bones and feathers now. She looks super healthy in the first video compared to today.
Update Wed:
She seems to have single sided leg weakness/paralysis. Is this Mereks or something else?
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