- Sep 24, 2013
- 5
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hi, my name is kerri angel and i just joined byc. i have one pet chicken. her name is Chicken too. she is an english game hen and i don't know how old she is. infact, i don't know too much about chickens at all.i have had her about 1 year. she stays the night in the garage in a large dog carrier with blankets that are steamed and changed every other day so that she's nice and clean and safe.she is free range in the daytime and comes to the door each evening. during this past june, she disappeared and i couldn't find her for 3 weeks.i thought that a hawk or eagle had gotten her as we live rurally on a mountainside. we used to have a bunch of ducks and it happened fairly often. i know all this info doesn't apply to disease but i'm getting to that. i did manage to find her and she had hidden herself in some tigerlilies by the side of the road. she had laid about 16 eggs and was on a sweetly built nest. ofcourse, they were'nt going to hatch because there are no roosters here! however, she was so mean and would not let me near her. i am a disabled person and became very ill fo a couple of months. so she got left to brood on her non viable eggs for the better part of the summer. she got off everyday but only awhile to come eat and go down to the stream and drink. i finally got over my bad spell and took the nest away while she was off and she came right to the door that evening like nothing ever changed. but it had. she had lost weight and now a month after, she is losing feathers at an alarming rate. she only has one tail feather left. and her comb and waddle are shrunken and off color. i'm worried about her. it's starting to get cold now and although she comes in at night it can be brutal during the day in the winter. what can i do to put weight on her and promote some fast feather growth?is she just getting old? is it a sickness? i give her snacks and chicken food and cracked corn. she's very friendly and i love her so if anyone has any advice i would appreciate it a great deal. thanks and thanks for this forum too. i look forward to being a part of it.