[Bev]

 

Geegirl the chicken is poorly. I took her to the vets and they think she is probably having heart problems because her combe has gone a bit blue. She was really good at the vets and didn't flap at all. She is quite lethargic, also very tame.

She has been limping a little bit since Christmas and I have had my Dad look at her a couple of times, he is a vet, he thought that she had a saw foot or a bit of athritis and we hoped it would clear up come the warmer weather.

She is not coming out of the hen house and seems to be very uncomfortable standing up although she can stand up at times, when she does she holds up one leg. The vet said she could not find anything wrong with the legs and has given her an anti-inflamatory injection to see if that sorts her out a bit. She keeps lying down to one side and using a wing to balance.

When I carried her out into the sunshine this afternoon to spend some time with the other hens she just lay down and didn't move until I took her in again.

The positives are that she seems to be quite perky and is eating and drinking. I have been putting a little bowl of food and water next to her and making sure she gets some kitchen scraps and things. I am expecting to go and find a dead hen one morning really, or if she gets much worse I think I will ask the vets to put her down- don't trust myself to pull her neck without making her suffer more.

Meanwhile, naughty Buffy is getting worse at egg eating! She ate Lara's egg today! Maybe I should ask the vet to put her to sleep while she is at it! I wonder if Buffy would get distracted from egg eating if I got a couple of new hens to join the flock?

Bev

[Chickway]

I wish you alot of luck with this its horrible when you have a sick pet.  ~I hope the little love gets better soon. x x x x

[joyfull]

Not really sure if this should be in chicken chat or hen house as you don't appear to be asking for help and seem to have covered all the bases, but have put it here just in case anybody has any ideas.
As your dad is a vet and your have has also seen a vet I assume she has been checked for bumble-foot and possibly been give an antibiotic for this just in case - penicillin is one often recommended for this.
The blue comb may be circulation or a lack of vitamins - try a little piece of toast with thin scraping of marmite (very thin as it is salty) to help with the b-vits or look for a multivit tonic that is high in b-vits to add to her water (look in the aviary section of your local pet shop).
As for the egg eating this needs discouraging quickly so you could make/buy a roll away nest box for them to lay in, or remove the eggs as soon as they are laid and replace with pot ones (hurts their beaks when they try opening them  ) or try filling a blown egg with mustard/chili mixture although some birds do deem to like the taste of these 

[joyfull]

bumblefoot in budgies can occur if they lack vit-a so may be worth increasing her dark leafy greens 

[ManicMum]

You don't say how old she is - our 3rd hand ex-batts are gradually dying off, which is sad but not entirely unexpected as we have no idea how old they are and only 1 has laid us any eggs.

We have noticed that they seem to get blueish combs, sit around but do move round the run with the other girls, eat & drink a bit, not seem unhappy - just not quite with it - and then we find them dead after a couple of days.

We have kept thinking should we or shouldn't we.......but they have died before we felt they were suffering enough to be culled.

[Bev]

Thanks. I suppose I am looking for a bit of reassurance and possible ideas  as to what I should be doing. And I am just feeling really sad too ! They are my first hens although I remember my Mum keeping them when I was younger.

Gee girl is 2 years and 20 weeks old so I don't think she should be dying off yet, she is still with us today but not improving at all. I do know her age as I bought her as a point of lay pullet. I put her out on the grass for a bit again today and still she is happy eating and drinking but not walking around at all.

My hens free range and have access to lots of lawn and are fed layers mash (farmgate) and a handful of mixed corn each and a few kitchen scraps - usually includes some readibrek and cherios, cheese sandwich bread scraps, a little fruit and dinner left overs but not much meat as my dogs have that so I don't think the vitamin deficiency would be the case but I might try a supplement just incase.

The vet has not given her antibiotics and her legs look really nice and there is no problems with reflexes or movement in the feet or joints. She can stand normally with both feet splayed out correctly but seems to prefer to rest on one hip with wing out to balance. When she is standing she holds her wings properly so they are not injured.

Really have tried everything with Buffy, apart from the roll away nest boxes - must do that. She likes mustard and chilli eggs! If I wasn't so soft she would be long gone!

Bev

[jinty1911]

Just a thought. Has anyone tried small white balloons to stop the egg eating? Or is that going too far? 

[shetan]

just wondering....

have you been feeding her any lettuce?

i was told that not all chickens can digest it and my marans cockerel last year developed a blue comb after getting over the fence to the allotments and demolishing an entire row of the stuff.

He got over it in time but it was touch and go for a while. he was lethargic and lost his crow - became more of a gurgle.

the important thing is - he made it.

now i'm no expert but someone more in the know told me lettuce was the reason...
could she have eaten more than a reasonable amount?


hang in there

[Bev]

Hi,

  Amazingly Gee girl is still with us. She is even looking a bit better. She still won't come out of the house in the mornings but if I lift her out and put her with the other hens she even limps around for a while before sitting around for the rest of the day. I have to carry her back to the run and pop her back in the house at the end of the day still though.

She has not had any lettuce but she is getting the new spring grass as she is free range. That wouldn't explain the lameness though would it?

Bev

[shetan]

hi,

glad to hear she is still fighting....

i don't think the grass would have done this. ours pick at the grass daily and i'm sure lots of people here let their girls on grass too but has anything been sprayed/sprinkled on the grass? fertiliser, slug pellets, lawn feed extra? could this been the culprit? not all feeds/repellents etc are suitable for domestic pets.

keeping fingers crossed for her.

[Bev]

Hi, Nothing has been put on the grass. Gee girl is still getting better although very slowly. She can get up and down the ramp to and from the hen house now and get to the food and water. She even got up and came over when I took them some meal worms! I gave her her own little pile so the other hens did not eat them all.

She is not laying, not surprisingly and naughty Buffy is getting worse, there has been one egg each day this week and it has been eaten every time. Do other hens learn the habit off each other?

I still have not had a chance to make roll away nest boxes and don't want to have Buffy executed until she has had every chance but I have run out of eggs! Doh!

Bev

[Bev]

Hi, She did not come out of the house today and still hadn't at lunchtime so I lifted her out and put her on the lawn for a bit.

Had a bit of a break through though. I think the lameness became a lot more severe when I gave the girls some Max Shell Booster in their water. I asked my Mum (a vet but not specialist in chickens) and she wonders if Gee girl might have gout.

I rushed out on her advice and changed the water and have got myself some different feed. The one I was using had Calcium carbonate in it and the new one does not but I am not sure what form the Calcium is in - does ash contain calcium?

It would be ace if she gets better!

Had an egg today too and I think Buffy might have laid it and forgotten to eat it!! Tee hee

Bev