These are my friend's hens, both Buff Orpingtons, about 8 months old, on Purina layer feed with access to some greens and scratch daily.
The first one went through a period of listlessness and weight loss but perked up and is free ranging as well as having layer feed available and vitamin/electrolyte water. The right side of her face swelled up almost 2 weeks ago to the point she stopped eating and seemed to have difficulty swallowing, and her eye stayed closed for a few days. The main swellling has subsided and the eye is oped, but some really bumpy, tumorous looking swelling is still around her eye/ear area including a strange purple spot- it's pretty ugly looking. She seems to have energy but doesn't weigh hardly anything now.
The other hen has been a poor eater but gets pecked and pushed around by the other hens, so she may not be getting her fill. She just seems to be wasting away and was sitting on the nest looking broody when my friend finally took her out of the coop and put her in a separate cage. She is listless, eyes closed, head falling slowly forward as she lays there, feathers fluffed, in the wood shavings. She did complain and fight back a little when I force fed her some vitamin water and gruel made with that water, powdered feed and liquified lettuce. She will not or cannot open her eyes now, and I saw her neck slowly turning to the side as she drifted off in rest again. The other hens had pecked off the rear half of her comb too.
Neither of these hens seems to eat much feed as they are both bone and feathers, unless there is some disease involved. At least one of them had been laying eggs at 6 months, but neither is able to lay at this point. I took the second one home with me to hand feed and try to get her back to the point she can eat on her own, but I'm being very careful not to let her anywhere near my coops since I don't know if this was brought on by them being kicked around by the other hens or by some disease(s).
My friend and I got our Buff Orps from the same place, but hers are losing weight and having more illness. Mine are housed with only Buff Orps while hers were in with Barred Rock hens and a RIR (so the BO's got kicked around by the more aggressive hens), and there were a few days wild doves got into her enclosure through the hog wire, possibly exposing her birds to some kind of infection. We're just not sure what these symptoms mean. The strange swelling and bumps on the other BO hen really concern me too and none of her other hens show any signs of illness, just these Buffs. Could it be they just needed to be with gentler chickens, and they're beat up now and more susceptible to illness? Or do these symptoms ring a bell for any one who can tell me what it might be?
The first one went through a period of listlessness and weight loss but perked up and is free ranging as well as having layer feed available and vitamin/electrolyte water. The right side of her face swelled up almost 2 weeks ago to the point she stopped eating and seemed to have difficulty swallowing, and her eye stayed closed for a few days. The main swellling has subsided and the eye is oped, but some really bumpy, tumorous looking swelling is still around her eye/ear area including a strange purple spot- it's pretty ugly looking. She seems to have energy but doesn't weigh hardly anything now.
The other hen has been a poor eater but gets pecked and pushed around by the other hens, so she may not be getting her fill. She just seems to be wasting away and was sitting on the nest looking broody when my friend finally took her out of the coop and put her in a separate cage. She is listless, eyes closed, head falling slowly forward as she lays there, feathers fluffed, in the wood shavings. She did complain and fight back a little when I force fed her some vitamin water and gruel made with that water, powdered feed and liquified lettuce. She will not or cannot open her eyes now, and I saw her neck slowly turning to the side as she drifted off in rest again. The other hens had pecked off the rear half of her comb too.
Neither of these hens seems to eat much feed as they are both bone and feathers, unless there is some disease involved. At least one of them had been laying eggs at 6 months, but neither is able to lay at this point. I took the second one home with me to hand feed and try to get her back to the point she can eat on her own, but I'm being very careful not to let her anywhere near my coops since I don't know if this was brought on by them being kicked around by the other hens or by some disease(s).
My friend and I got our Buff Orps from the same place, but hers are losing weight and having more illness. Mine are housed with only Buff Orps while hers were in with Barred Rock hens and a RIR (so the BO's got kicked around by the more aggressive hens), and there were a few days wild doves got into her enclosure through the hog wire, possibly exposing her birds to some kind of infection. We're just not sure what these symptoms mean. The strange swelling and bumps on the other BO hen really concern me too and none of her other hens show any signs of illness, just these Buffs. Could it be they just needed to be with gentler chickens, and they're beat up now and more susceptible to illness? Or do these symptoms ring a bell for any one who can tell me what it might be?
