- Thread starter
- #11
- Jul 9, 2012
- 46
- 2
- 34
Thank you, everybody. It's been a strange day.
The hen still is not eating her feed. She devoured some grapes I gave her, though, and seemed interested in foraging a bit so I let her out of the tractor we put her in to keep her from the others chickens. I picked her up and was shocked at how light she is. Her breastbone is quite prominent - she's lost a lot of weight (and considering she's a lightweight breed to begin with, that's not good!) I was unable to feel anything that seemed like a stuck egg. She hasn't laid an egg in I don't know how long but I'll bet it's been several weeks. She still moves about freely - she's lethargic - low energy - but capable of moving when she wants to. She scratched at the ground a bit and tried to catch a few flying insects (but didn't try to run to catch them).
I just don't know what to do for her. Is it bad to keep giving her grapes? That seems to be what she eats most willingly although I'll bet she'd also eat strawberries or watermelon. She ate some of the egg and rice yesterday but not as much as I had hoped she would. I think she's drinking at least a little water but don't know for sure. So I like the higher water content of the grapes since I am not certain.
Is it okay to give garlic to chickens? I'm not concerned about garlic-flavored eggs at the moment! I know that garlic is a natural antibiotic. I ought to add some ACV to her water, too, but don't know if she'll get it since I don't know if she is drinking or not. I don't really want to give her a pharmaceutical antibiotic unless I know what the problem is but have no problem giving her natural antibiotics.
We haven't had much experience with sick chickens. We had one chick die this summer - heat, we think. We lost another to what we suspect was Marek's because his progression was very similar to the descriptions I've read of that disease. We couldn't do anything in either of those situations - the chick was gone before we even knew there was a problem and the one with Marek's we cared for the best we could until he died. But other than those, we are quite new at caring for sick chickens.
The hen still is not eating her feed. She devoured some grapes I gave her, though, and seemed interested in foraging a bit so I let her out of the tractor we put her in to keep her from the others chickens. I picked her up and was shocked at how light she is. Her breastbone is quite prominent - she's lost a lot of weight (and considering she's a lightweight breed to begin with, that's not good!) I was unable to feel anything that seemed like a stuck egg. She hasn't laid an egg in I don't know how long but I'll bet it's been several weeks. She still moves about freely - she's lethargic - low energy - but capable of moving when she wants to. She scratched at the ground a bit and tried to catch a few flying insects (but didn't try to run to catch them).
I just don't know what to do for her. Is it bad to keep giving her grapes? That seems to be what she eats most willingly although I'll bet she'd also eat strawberries or watermelon. She ate some of the egg and rice yesterday but not as much as I had hoped she would. I think she's drinking at least a little water but don't know for sure. So I like the higher water content of the grapes since I am not certain.
Is it okay to give garlic to chickens? I'm not concerned about garlic-flavored eggs at the moment! I know that garlic is a natural antibiotic. I ought to add some ACV to her water, too, but don't know if she'll get it since I don't know if she is drinking or not. I don't really want to give her a pharmaceutical antibiotic unless I know what the problem is but have no problem giving her natural antibiotics.
We haven't had much experience with sick chickens. We had one chick die this summer - heat, we think. We lost another to what we suspect was Marek's because his progression was very similar to the descriptions I've read of that disease. We couldn't do anything in either of those situations - the chick was gone before we even knew there was a problem and the one with Marek's we cared for the best we could until he died. But other than those, we are quite new at caring for sick chickens.
