[Ben_H]

Evening.

Buffy the Pekin has been spending a lot of time in the coop over the last few days whereas before she was always out bossing the other hens around. She's even staying in there when I put the food out which worries me that she's getting enough to eat and drink - hard for me to monitor when I'm at work all day.

She's not laying yet though I expect her to start soon as the weather inproves and the days lengthen. She's in good colour with no sign of mite issues but I have several thoughts on what may be causing this:

a) She's getting ready to lay (can birds get broody before they start laying?).

b) I had to remove some large clumps of mud from her foot feathers yesterday by soaking them in a bowl of warm water before gently blow drying her feathers. She could have been hiding due to reduced mobility for a few days and now still be in shock from the cleaning process. I checked her feet after the cleaning process and will have another look in the morning when I go out to feed them. She had quite a lot of broken feathers on her feet but I believe that is normal.

c)I've just spotted someone's recent pekin thread where frisky cockerals were mentioned. Our cockerel (Cochin) is getting rather excitable  and I have seen him pick her up by the neck and wave her around. She could well be hiding from him, especially if the mud has been slowing her down.

d) When I brought her into the house to clean her she was in a cardboard box with straw in. She kept turning in an anti clockwise direction and seemed more distressed than when I was holding her in my arms or on my lap to dry her off. She also seemed tilted at a funny angle. Is this usual behaviour? I would have imagined her going in both directions.

Could well be any or all of the above or none at all. I'm probably being a little over cautious given we had our first hen loss before Christmas and I don't want to miss anything.

I probably have space in the coop to put some food and water in there if people think that would be a good idea but otherwise unless anyone has particular things to suggest I look for I'm just going to watch her carefully.

Cheers

Ben

[joyfull]

before we start checking on her could you please let me know what your other hen died from - if you have no idea were her symptoms the same?

[Ben_H]

It was a prolapse unfortunately so postive this is unconnected

[joyfull]

oh that's good (not good that she had a prolapse but good that it wasn't something infectious).
If she is broody she would fluff up and even make a growling type noise when you go to meet her. Some even become quite aggressive and will try to peck you.
Clumps of mud would probably make her limp, the bathing would provide such a relief rather than send her into shock.
Do you have a separate coop/run to put the cockerel in for a while? this would allow her to recover better if it is because of him being too amorous.
My dogs when getting comfortable only go round in circles one direction so not sure that is an indicator.

If she is just coming into lay she may be a little unsure of things until this has been laid.
Check her temperature by placing you hand under her wing and then using the same hand feel another healthy bird to see if they are about the same.
What are her droppings like?
When were they all last wormed and what with?

[Casey76]

To be honest I would try and separte the bantams from the cochin cockerel at least until the first flush of hormones has decreased.  the size disparity in this case is so great, he could do a LOT of damage to bantams

[Ben_H]

Agree re the cockerel. We're going to have to move him on anyway but were waiting till slightly warmer weather as the girls will rattle around in the coop without him. Also once it warms up the neighbours will start sleeping with their windows open and his popularity will plummet. I will do what I can to keep Herbert away in the meantime. If only the load of free chicken wire I'm waiting for would arrive it would make life much easier as I couldcomplete my run extension and put the Pekins in the fruit cage

As for Buffy I've had a really good look at her this morning and her left foot seems to have a growth next to one toe. I didn't spot this the other day, possibly as it's the same colour as the rest of her skin so it could be the start of bumblefoot. This might be why she keeps going round widdershins and is hiding though she is bright red this morning so might be coming in to lay just to complicate matters. I've left some water and food in the coop this morning but she seemed most put out when I plonked her on the food bowl and hopped up onto a perch which is something I've not seen her do for a while so that seems a good sign

Just had a quick search of the site and people seem to do a lot of self treatment with calendula cream but also lancing boils, cleaning and anitbiotics. As I'm still a newbie to this should I get her to the vet first until my experience and confidence increases?

Cheers

Ben

[joyfull]

If you suspect bumblefoot then yes go to the vets, whilst there watch and ask questions - if necessary ask them to show you how to lance (my vets are very good and only to pleased to show and chat about problems - but when I first had chickens they had no-one experienced so I went armed with stuff I had printed off from the internet, books and my thoughts. Now they have seriously experienced chicken vets who look after big poultry farms round here).
Don't wait too long to get rid of the cockerel as they are very difficult to rehome.

[Ben_H]

Hmm, don't know now. The more I look up on bumblefoot the less it looks like it. The "swelling" is along the outside of a toe, not underneath. It's not red but yellow, the same colour as the rest of her feet. I'll have another look this afternoon and take her to the vets in the morning if no improvement.

[ANHBUC]

Could it be scaly leg mite, have a look at some photos.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=scaly+leg+mite&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=cVQYT9-mMuiO4gTQmeTZDQ&ved=0CEsQsAQ&biw=1249&bih=595

[Ben_H]

Buffy's foot seemed to get a bit better at the end of last week and she picked up over the weekend and was out and about though I had to go and check a couple of times to see if the others were picking on her. With everyone out all day Mon, Tue,Weds this week we've not seen a lot of her but she was bright and chirpy when picking her up each night for a fuss and checkover.

This morning though she was going round in circles again and seemed to be staggering a bit so booked her in to the vets tonight. Bird was very lethargic in vets. The vet thinks the foot issue is a red herring though there is a bit of inflamation (not bumblefoot). She diagnosed some sort of virus or ear infection and asked me whether the birds were vaccinated as thinks it could be Marek's. Apparently the Marek's vaccine isn't 100% effective? She has pumped Buffy full of AntiBs just in case and given her some isotonic fluids into the crop and I've been told that she thinks it's 50-50 whether she'll last through the night. If she does I've got to keep her separate from the others for now and see what happens. The vet said I could use some of the Tylan AntiB left over from a previous infection back in August if I want to so I guess she's really not sure what the problem is.

Fingers crossed

[ANHBUC]

Sorry to hear that things have got worse.  Hope that she improves quickly.