My silver Appleyard hen who is not even two years old yet has lost weight and was shivering in the cold. Her feathers look ragged too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her actually moult yet… except the very first teenage duck molt. Anyway she’s inside now and I’ve been giving her rooster booster poultry cell and some probiotics , but it doesn’t look like she’s eating her duck food. (I gave her a friend who is eating some of the food so it’s hard to tell. )but she sure does dive into a bowl of peas., lol. I ordered some new tube feeding equipment just in case. I don’t like how thin she got I can feel her keel bone. She’s not lethargic or anything her poops look fairly normal. I mean they are a couple of slightly green ones, but I think it’s from the peas. I checked her body very carefully for parasites and did not find any. Her Oil gland looks normal her feet look good. Her vent looks good. I don’t know what else I can do.
And may I add, she is one of my ducks who prolapsed a couple times last summer when the chickens were terrorizing the ducks, and not letting them relax to lay their eggs ( the chickens have since been separated, and the prolapse has stayed in) but when she was prolapsed, I gave her a round of antibiotics and then I gave her some probiotics after. So I don’t know if that has anything to do with anything or not.
OK now I’m editing to add this.. She is still laying eggs when most of the ducks her age and older have stopped for the winter, and her eggs had thin shells with calcium deposits on the outside until I started giving her extra vitamin D. Then the calcium deposits went away, and the shelves are starting to get a little harder.
During the time she was prolapse, I tried to get her to stop laying by keeping her in the dark for a couple of weeks for 14 hours a day of darkness in a crate but she kept laying and the prolapse stayed in so I quit that I wonder if that tricked her body into thinking that winter ended so she’s laying too many eggs with no break and that’s making her weak or something. I don’t know.
Should I give her a dewormer just in case it’s worms?
Should I give her a broad spectrum antibiotic?
Here’s a poop pic but I’m not even sure it’s hers- could be her friend that I brought in for company.
I’m considering putting her in a crate on a white towel for a few hours to see what exactly she is
Pooping out.
And may I add, she is one of my ducks who prolapsed a couple times last summer when the chickens were terrorizing the ducks, and not letting them relax to lay their eggs ( the chickens have since been separated, and the prolapse has stayed in) but when she was prolapsed, I gave her a round of antibiotics and then I gave her some probiotics after. So I don’t know if that has anything to do with anything or not.
OK now I’m editing to add this.. She is still laying eggs when most of the ducks her age and older have stopped for the winter, and her eggs had thin shells with calcium deposits on the outside until I started giving her extra vitamin D. Then the calcium deposits went away, and the shelves are starting to get a little harder.
During the time she was prolapse, I tried to get her to stop laying by keeping her in the dark for a couple of weeks for 14 hours a day of darkness in a crate but she kept laying and the prolapse stayed in so I quit that I wonder if that tricked her body into thinking that winter ended so she’s laying too many eggs with no break and that’s making her weak or something. I don’t know.
Should I give her a dewormer just in case it’s worms?
Should I give her a broad spectrum antibiotic?
Here’s a poop pic but I’m not even sure it’s hers- could be her friend that I brought in for company.
I’m considering putting her in a crate on a white towel for a few hours to see what exactly she is
Pooping out.
