@azygous @WVduckchick I just got back from a residence near me after getting a call from the caretaker saying that one of the hens was really sick and behaving weird and the woman didnt know what to do. So I go out there to find a hen, RIR, rolled over on the coop floor with her neck bent over so her beak was buried in her breast feathers and she had residue of what looked like vomit (?) in the feathers and on her beak. Eyes kind of rolling, she cant move her head from this position, her neck rigid in this position. On picking her up, I noticed that her feet, one especially was so distorted that the nails were turned upside down and growing upwards, long, long nails. One was probably a full 1inch long maybe more. Bad gooey green and yellow diarrhea and she was very, very thin. Anyway, long story short, I euthanized her as she seemed to be absolutely miserable. What could have caused this with the neck? Was this wry neck? Do older chickens get this and is it from a vitamin deficiency?
Upon looking at the other hens, 6 in all, 4 of them have the same distorted toes going on. They have a reasonable size run with nothing but dirt. Fed some pellets and a couple of dishes of water. Filthy coop where there is a ladder that runs from their regular roost way up into the ceiling and the caretaker told me that they roost all the way up there and then drop down to the floor at a very steep angle onto the floor in the mornings. They dont bother with the ladder.
Anyway, I told the caretaker to get them some vitamins and ACV for the water and to give them the vegetable scraps from the garden but what can be done about the twisted feet? I didnt see any signs of mites on the really sick chicken but I did not examine the rest of the birds. What do I do about this? Apart from the feet situation the hens look OK.
Upon looking at the other hens, 6 in all, 4 of them have the same distorted toes going on. They have a reasonable size run with nothing but dirt. Fed some pellets and a couple of dishes of water. Filthy coop where there is a ladder that runs from their regular roost way up into the ceiling and the caretaker told me that they roost all the way up there and then drop down to the floor at a very steep angle onto the floor in the mornings. They dont bother with the ladder.
Anyway, I told the caretaker to get them some vitamins and ACV for the water and to give them the vegetable scraps from the garden but what can be done about the twisted feet? I didnt see any signs of mites on the really sick chicken but I did not examine the rest of the birds. What do I do about this? Apart from the feet situation the hens look OK.
