Worms and Sudden Illness??

[Kittymomma]

Hi,

Sorry to hear your girl is so sick. It looks like you've been getting great advice! I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned (quick break and only read the last couple of pages) but another thing that has worked well for me with sick hens that don't want to eat is wet cat food. It has too much salt for it to be good to use for an extended amount of time, but my girl LOVED it and scarfed it down even when scrambled eggs wouldn't tempt her. I only used it for a couple of days, first on its own and then mixed with the scrambled eggs, but I really think it made all the difference for her. Also, as the others have mentioned, do bring a buddy in for her. I did that too and it really seemed to help. Best of luck with her, she's lucky to have such a good chicken mommy!

 

[KCNC06]

Well, I stopped and picked up some tuna, plain non-fat yogurt, oatmeal and corn (along with a few other things for my poor sickly husband who has been neglected while I tend to my sick Hawkface). I figured since I hadn't had any luck getting Hawkface to eat solids so far I'd mix up a tuna, yogurt, egg smoothie. She wasn't interested. Actually, she ate a little bit then stood up, hopped out of my lap, turned around and gave me a nasty look, and laid back down. I tried getting her to drink some plain water from the dropper and only got about 1/2 a teaspoon down.

I brought Chicken Little in to hang out with her. As soon as I brought Chicken Little in, Hawkface stood up and looked at her. But she quickly went back to huddling in the corner. Chicken Little seems a little confused about why she's inside, and doesn't seem like she's being very helpful at all. Of course, I'm not a chicken so I wouldn't really know it's a sign of affection to wipe your beak all over someone. It doesn't look very affectionate to me though. I brought a little dish of canned corn in, hoping that would get Hawkface's attention. But Chicken Little knocked the dish over and then ate the corn out of my hand that I was holding out for Hawkface. It's so frustrating! Oh well. I'll give them a little more time. Try to take care of my hubby for a bit before I go back to the chickens.

 

[suebee]

So funny about C.L.
I know this sounds far reaching and really odd, but while Hawkface is laying down, place an egg in front of her on the floor. Leave it there for a few hours. If she tucks it under her, well we know whats going on.

 

[KCNC06]

Really? What does tucking an egg under her mean? The last time I saw her before I found her sleeping under the coop on Monday afternoon she was sitting on a pile of eggs in the coop, not really sure who's eggs they were but I know they weren't hers. I'll give it a shot.

I checked on them a little bit ago, Chicken Little is standing beside Hawkface and Hawkface is still huddled on the floor sleeping. By looking at the poor creature I'd guess she was trying to die. I keep reminding her of the rule we have in this family - Don't lay around looking like a corpse unless you are one, and if you are one don't lay around my house! She doesn't seem to care to follow my rule.

 

[suebee]

For cryin' out loud! If she was sitting on a pile of eggs she is broody. That means she wants to hatch babies!
Do this right now, place an egg or 2 in FRONT of her......not under her. If she scoops them up under her then she is broody..........and now, worm free...........and parasite free.

Let me know what happens...

 

[KCNC06]

Man, I'm pretty dense! Yeah, Monday morning before I left for work, one of the other hens (Mabel) was getting ready to lay her first egg and Hawkface was standing right next to her the whole time. Occasionally sticking her face right in Mabel's butt. When I got home from work there were three eggs in the nest and Hawkface was sitting on them. None of them were her eggs though, there were two cream eggs and one brown one.

Oy! Well, I went out and collected the eggs from the coop and put two on the floor in front of Hawkface. Chicken Little pecked at one of them. She's such a chow hound.

Oh I hope this does it!!!

 

[suebee]

Well if she's broody, this is the reason she's not eating or drinking much, wanting to be alone. It's not sickness or depression, she's saying "leave me alone with my eggs....I'll get off them when I want to eat and drink and poop!" Sometimes they won't get off them for days! She probably got up when she saw C.L. because C.L. could lay her an egg! They absolutely do not care who's eggs they are when broody. I'm crossing my fingers this is your "problem".

 

[KCNC06]

One of our Seabright's went through that recently. She spent about two weeks sitting on whatever eggs she could find. She'd leave the nest for a few hours to eat and drink, but she was back on that nest by 4:00 every afternoon and slept there all night. I noticed Sunday that she was roosting at night again instead of sitting on the eggs. Funny that they get over it like that. I've got my fingers crossed...I'm going to give her a little while longer though before I check!!

 

[KCNC06]

Well, I went to check on her and she had an egg tucked under her and the oatmeal and corn were gone. I decided to move the eggs back out in front of her and put some more oatmeal and corn out to see what would happen. It looks like she may have accidentally gotten the egg under her the first time, she stood over it for a couple seconds but it was just when Chicken Little got too close to her and she was moving away. Then Chicken Little ate all the oatmeal and corn. I stood there watching them for a couple minutes...and Hawkface came over and sat on my feet. I'm guessing more because I happened to be standing where she wanted to sit.

 

[suebee]

In my opinion, she didn't "accidentally" have the egg under her. She moved it there on purpose. Most hens need their perfect nest in order to brood. I would put her back out tomorrow. If you don't want chicks then make sure she doesn't sit on any eggs. Always check under her and remove any eggs at the end of the day.

Don't feel bad removing eggs. I've got the broodiest type of chicken in the world...Silkies. If I remove eggs, they will still sit there for days, weeks even.... until the "broodiness" gets out of their system. I don't feel guilty.

Also, remember that broody hens don't eat a lot, so don't be concerned.

I'm just glad she's not sick.