What to do?

[unbaked pegga]

One other question for anyone who has the time to answer. Do I just put the other hen in there at nigh? I know this is going to be upsetting for all of the chicken, not just the 2 involved. My oh my

 

[Eggcessive]

The $29 vaccine you saw is for a different type of mycoplasma that affects swine I think. It is not for MG. The MG ones are more like $90 and would probably need a cooler, ice pack, and expedited shipping making it more $$$. It was only listed by 2 sellers and the other one was out of stock as well.

It can be very risky to just add a chicken in with another, since they can be pecked to death. That includes adding them at night. I would be present when adding the chicken and stay there to watch behavior in case you need to separate. You can get the hennoff the roost at night and place her inside a dog crate to make it easier to grab her in the morning. I would consider also just leaving the MG positive hen alone.

 

[unbaked pegga]

The $29 vaccine you saw is for a different type of mycoplasma that affects swine I think. It is not for MG. The MG ones are more like $90 and would probably need a cooler, ice pack, and expedited shipping making it more $$$. It was only listed by 2 sellers and the other one was out of stock as well.

It can be very risky to just add a chicken in with another, since they can be pecked to death. That includes adding them at night. I would be present when adding the chicken and stay there to watch behavior in case you need to separate. You can get the hennoff the roost at night and place her inside a dog crate to make it easier to grab her in the morning. I would consider also just leaving the MG positive hen alone.

You are probably right. I have been thinking about it. The one remaining hen might get onto the little hen (Cookie) as bad as the others do. I know what to do if it was only one aggressive hen. But it is different if there are four aggressive hens. And I also agree about giving the vaccine. God forbid I would do anything to hurt them. The one hen is alone now and she is so very pitiful walking around the fenced in area, under the coop and in the coop crying Looking for her. I don’t want her to die too

 

[unbaked pegga]

I believe I would be happy to pay whatever I needed for a vaccine that would make the other ones immune so I could maybe mix them. I don’t know if that could to ease her obvious misery. She hasn’t eaten one bite and this is the 3rd day, no scratch or treats nothing. She lays in her pen with her eyes closed. Bedtime is the worst. She goes in and out of the coop crying. She can’t understand. I don’t know what to do for her to help her

 

[unbaked pegga]

Another Fay. My widowed hen is little if an better. She eats little if any. Where as before she clucked and carried on all the time. I have not hea one peep from her, this is the 4th day. I’ve even let her freerange in the back yard but she is never out there over 15 minutes. Late this afternoon I couldn’t find her and I called for and looked everywhere. I lifted up the nest box top and she was in the nest box huddled so close to the wall I couldn’t see her before. It is breaking my heart. Isn’t there anything I can do for her? Anyone?

 

[aart]

Since all your birds are most likely exposed, let them all out to range.

 

[unbaked pegga]

I shouldn’t have ever gotten this attached to my hens. The hen that is now alone is losing her feathers. I don’t know if she is molting (she just finished) from the stress of the last week or pulling her feathers out for the same reason. She is eating so very little. Maybe 1/4 of what she normally does. I had her out free ranging today which is not something I normally do, her pen is fairly big but I thought a little change would be good for her. I realized I hadn’t seen her for a few minutes and I started looking for her, I thought something had gotten her (we have so many hawks out here in the country) I was calling her and she was at the very end of the property. i think she was lost. I got her back to the house and went in for a moment and when I came back one of the younger chickens had unbelievably flown over the fence around her pen and was eating some food I had put out for Scarlet who was trying to attack the younger hen. If the mycoplasma hadn’t been shared before - that probably erased all doubt. I don’t know if a chicken can grieve itself to death or not. She is 6 years old and she had lived with Lilac all her life. She went to bed about 3pm! I went in the coop and she was huddled against the wall of the nest box. I picked her up up and realized how light she was!! Feathers hide a lot. Her crop was small. Is there any food I can give her to help her put on weight (I mean if I can get her to eat). I would hope to get her weight up and not lose her

 

[Eggcessive]

Since they have been exposed, why not add her to the rest of the flock, but separated in a dog crate with food and water? That probably would perk her up, and she wouldn’t be sharing germs in her water.

 

[LaFleche]

I shouldn’t have ever gotten this attached to my hens.

Don't be so hard on yourself, as getting attached just happens when caring for them.

The hen that is now alone is losing her feathers. I don’t know if she is molting (she just finished) from the stress of the last week or pulling her feathers out for the same reason.

Inspect her carefully, she might have gotten attacked and injured while roaming in your yard.

don’t know if a chicken can grieve itself to death or not. She is 6 years old and she had lived with Lilac all her life.

They can grieve and often do, sometimes even die from grieving too hard.

Is there any food I can give her to help her put on weight (I mean if I can get her to eat)

You could try scrambled eggs with fine oatmeal and millet or some minced meat with oatmeal. Grated carrots and apples adding some germ oil and sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.

When did you last deworm her? Being skinny and light-weighted can still be the after-effect of moulting as they lose up to one third of their body weight when molting.

And just like the others already suggested several times: You can let them all mingle together in your yard as they most probably have been exposed already because of the close and adjoined housing.
But stay with them for some time so you can stop any possible bullying of the grieving hen. She will be very vulnerable and the other chickens can sense this and take advantage.

ETA:
What temperatures do you have? She might be huddling in the nestbox because of feeling too cold, as one moulting chicken alone will hardly be able to warm up the coop to a comfortable temperature.
You could try to provide some extra heat for her and see if this helps.

 

[unbaked pegga]

Don't be so hard on yourself, as getting attached just happens when caring for them.



Inspect her carefully, she might have gotten attacked and injured while roaming in your yard.


They can grieve and often do, sometimes even die from grieving too hard.



You could try scrambled eggs with fine oatmeal and millet or some minced meat with oatmeal. Grated carrots and apples adding some germ oil and sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.

When did you last deworm her? Being skinny and light-weighted can still be the after-effect of moulting as they lose up to one third of their body weight when molting.

And just like the others already suggested several times: You can let them all mingle together in your yard as they most probably have been exposed already because of the close and adjoined housing.
But stay with them for some time so you can stop any possible bullying of the grieving hen. She will be very vulnerable and the other chickens can sense this and take advantage.

ETA:
What temperatures do you have? She might be huddling in the nestbox because of feeling too cold, as one moulting chicken alone will hardly be able to warm up the coop to a comfortable temperature.
You could try to provide some extra heat for her and see if this helps.

We have had a few cold nights in the low 20s before t it is usually in the 30s. but January is when it gets cold and stays that way for a couple of months. She has always slept in the nest box and I put a lot of straw in there but she scratched it out. I put a stuffed animal in there and she wouldn’t sleep in there at all, she slept on the floor of the coop. She is clearly distraught and I am worse than she is. I have never seen any worms in her poop but I did worm her about 3 months ago. I usually worm them(her) no more than once a year. I know how stressful molting is on their body and she just finished molting, actually she still is on top of her head. To go through molting again so soon and add the fact she is grieving and eating so little. I am going to try scrambled eggs. I used to feed scrambled eggs to her but after a while she got disinterested in them so I may try them again. I also have some whole oats. When I let her free range I sit out side the whole time and watch what is going on, She will walk up and down their fence and they seem curious but tense. I thought about removing one of the pickets and fence off an area inside their pen so she could walk in and out of there but they couldn’t. The 5 hens (about 9 months old) are as wild as cranes. Once they are out you can’t catch them. So if Scarlett has an area where she can go in there but they can’t come out. It might help her adjust. I just feel such compassion for her because she doesn’t understand. It’s supposed to rain today. I apologize for rambling on I am just thinking out loud. I have found that quite a few people do not understand people who love chickens. I have two daughters that whenever I get to going on about my girls, I can see them exchange a look between themselves. Yesterday as I was talking to my daughter about the grieving Scarlet my daughter said “mom she’s just an animal”. When posting here I feel am around others of like mind