FrankeFarm9394
In the Brooder
- Aug 12, 2024
- 18
- 42
- 46
Hi all. So, we have a flock of 20; 19 hens and one roo.
On Thursday night (almost 5 days ago), I noticed one of my girls was acting off. We left her alone but the next morning my husband said he thought she was eggnpund so we immediately started trying to fix that. She was standing hunched like a penguin, whites of her wings showing (they were drooped), and just not good. She looked like she didn't feel good at all. Comb + wattles were still red and she was....aware, but not really alert. You could just tell she felt like crap.
SO. We rushed her inside, soaked her in epsom salt while massaging her abdomen gently. Then took her out, dried her off with a towel and set her up in a big dog crate with food and water. She just sat there. She would drink some if I put her beak in it.
We researched and ended up going to the store to pick up Vaseline, calcium pills, and recover 911 at TSC. I did feel for an egg with Vaseline in her poor little bum but I felt absolutely nothing at all. She did have a massive, pressurized poop after I did it that stunk to high heaven and was dark green with some yellow. After that, she perked up quite a bit. She wasn't hunched anymore, she started preening herself, holding her wings up and her tail like a normal chicken. Much more herself. She didn't have a lot of energy though.
She's been in the house now for about 2 days. She was eating pretty well on her own yesterday and drinking water. She has been pooping, green with yellow. Firmish when she was eating and runny when not. She was walking around a lot yesterday afternoon and seemed way more active later in the day.
Today, she is still alert. Clucks at me when I talk to her or move her. She is drinking on her own. She shows interest in food, but won't go ham like I would expect her to -- she just doesn't feel 100%. She will eat if it's in front of her while she's laying down and I'm not in the room with her (we have a ring camera trained on her to monitor what she's doing), but she just doesn't have a lot of energy and is mostly just chilling out and resting.
We have no idea what's wrong or what to do other than keep her inside, leep offering her food and water and monitor her. There aren't chicken vets anywhere nearby. She laid an egg last Wednesday, the day before she starting acting off, but hasn't laid since. She shows no signs of discomfort when I palpate her abdomen, feet, etc. Her crop was floppy and empty when we brought her in, but is, as of about 40ish minutes ago, hard but idk if i should worry about that? She currently has access to layer feed mixed with the recover 911 water (soft and mushy), some apple cinnamon oatmeal, scrambled eggs with some ham and a small piece of potato, and some wet dog food (not patè). I placed some of the mushrooms in front of her inside the littlw box my husband cut out for her to rest in and she was pecking at it. She also drank a good bit of water earlier this morning while i was sitting with her.
She is running her beak on things like usual. Holding her tail up. Preening. Pecking the ground. Inspecting things I bring in there for her. She really seems almost fine....just lack of energy and not eating much.
None of my other chickens are presenting any signs of anything at all. They all free range in the back yard and roost together in the coop/run at night. We did have standing water that was dumped and drained. No worms in her poop or any other birds poop outside. They have access to fresh clean water and food, as well as grass and bugs in the yard.
We are in south central Texas and the heat really ramped up the past week or so, over 100+ so I don't know if that somehow factored in. We do have little scorpions in the back as well that I've seen them eat, also have spiders and such. Wild birds have access back there, but don't land out there anymore because of the roo and because the chickens are loose all day. No deer or other wildlife have access back there. Our dogs use the yard, but nine of them have shown symptoms of anything off either.
So...what could be wrong with her? Why is it JUST her if it's not a reproductive issue? What can I do for her? Is she out of the woods? When can we reintegrate her (she's tired of being inside and alone you can see it
)? I love my birds and this sweet girl is one of my faves -- she's one of the friendliest and sweetest ones we have. I just want to know if I'm doing right by her or if we should be thinking about culling. Idk.....I've had chickens in the past and never lost one to illness. This is all new territory for us.
*All of our birds except the rooster are vaxxed for Mareks. Rooster we got about 2 weeks ago from a local gentleman. We did NOT quarantine him (risky, I know). No one has shown any symptoms of anything at all except Petunia.
*Attached are photos of how she looked before we brought her in and she had that pressurized poop. And the poop picture is of the pressurized poop itself. I can get other pics of her poop from today if needed. It's a lighter shade of green now, sometimes with more urate than green. She has been pooping pretty consistently, though not as much as i expect she would be if she was eating the correct amount.
On Thursday night (almost 5 days ago), I noticed one of my girls was acting off. We left her alone but the next morning my husband said he thought she was eggnpund so we immediately started trying to fix that. She was standing hunched like a penguin, whites of her wings showing (they were drooped), and just not good. She looked like she didn't feel good at all. Comb + wattles were still red and she was....aware, but not really alert. You could just tell she felt like crap.
SO. We rushed her inside, soaked her in epsom salt while massaging her abdomen gently. Then took her out, dried her off with a towel and set her up in a big dog crate with food and water. She just sat there. She would drink some if I put her beak in it.
We researched and ended up going to the store to pick up Vaseline, calcium pills, and recover 911 at TSC. I did feel for an egg with Vaseline in her poor little bum but I felt absolutely nothing at all. She did have a massive, pressurized poop after I did it that stunk to high heaven and was dark green with some yellow. After that, she perked up quite a bit. She wasn't hunched anymore, she started preening herself, holding her wings up and her tail like a normal chicken. Much more herself. She didn't have a lot of energy though.
She's been in the house now for about 2 days. She was eating pretty well on her own yesterday and drinking water. She has been pooping, green with yellow. Firmish when she was eating and runny when not. She was walking around a lot yesterday afternoon and seemed way more active later in the day.
Today, she is still alert. Clucks at me when I talk to her or move her. She is drinking on her own. She shows interest in food, but won't go ham like I would expect her to -- she just doesn't feel 100%. She will eat if it's in front of her while she's laying down and I'm not in the room with her (we have a ring camera trained on her to monitor what she's doing), but she just doesn't have a lot of energy and is mostly just chilling out and resting.
We have no idea what's wrong or what to do other than keep her inside, leep offering her food and water and monitor her. There aren't chicken vets anywhere nearby. She laid an egg last Wednesday, the day before she starting acting off, but hasn't laid since. She shows no signs of discomfort when I palpate her abdomen, feet, etc. Her crop was floppy and empty when we brought her in, but is, as of about 40ish minutes ago, hard but idk if i should worry about that? She currently has access to layer feed mixed with the recover 911 water (soft and mushy), some apple cinnamon oatmeal, scrambled eggs with some ham and a small piece of potato, and some wet dog food (not patè). I placed some of the mushrooms in front of her inside the littlw box my husband cut out for her to rest in and she was pecking at it. She also drank a good bit of water earlier this morning while i was sitting with her.
She is running her beak on things like usual. Holding her tail up. Preening. Pecking the ground. Inspecting things I bring in there for her. She really seems almost fine....just lack of energy and not eating much.
None of my other chickens are presenting any signs of anything at all. They all free range in the back yard and roost together in the coop/run at night. We did have standing water that was dumped and drained. No worms in her poop or any other birds poop outside. They have access to fresh clean water and food, as well as grass and bugs in the yard.
We are in south central Texas and the heat really ramped up the past week or so, over 100+ so I don't know if that somehow factored in. We do have little scorpions in the back as well that I've seen them eat, also have spiders and such. Wild birds have access back there, but don't land out there anymore because of the roo and because the chickens are loose all day. No deer or other wildlife have access back there. Our dogs use the yard, but nine of them have shown symptoms of anything off either.
So...what could be wrong with her? Why is it JUST her if it's not a reproductive issue? What can I do for her? Is she out of the woods? When can we reintegrate her (she's tired of being inside and alone you can see it
)? I love my birds and this sweet girl is one of my faves -- she's one of the friendliest and sweetest ones we have. I just want to know if I'm doing right by her or if we should be thinking about culling. Idk.....I've had chickens in the past and never lost one to illness. This is all new territory for us. *All of our birds except the rooster are vaxxed for Mareks. Rooster we got about 2 weeks ago from a local gentleman. We did NOT quarantine him (risky, I know). No one has shown any symptoms of anything at all except Petunia.
*Attached are photos of how she looked before we brought her in and she had that pressurized poop. And the poop picture is of the pressurized poop itself. I can get other pics of her poop from today if needed. It's a lighter shade of green now, sometimes with more urate than green. She has been pooping pretty consistently, though not as much as i expect she would be if she was eating the correct amount.
