[zopadooper]

I acquired 6 ex batts last July who settled in well until 1 just keeled over and died in January.  We introduced another 6 in March but last week another of the original hens died in a matter of hours and I now have a third which looks fine but seems to have given up the will to live.  Is it that they are just tired and worn out or might I have a problem?  If there is a problem is there anything I can do?  Thanks for your help.

[Chrysalis]

Can you describe their symptoms, please?  we lost our speckeldy yesterday after a few weeks of being off-colour and rallying.  On Sunday she just hunched up, her comb turned blue and in a matter of minutes she was gone.  She panted a lot and found drinking difficult. Think it was heart, but not sure. 
Other will have more experience and be able to help if you can give us a few details.  Hope things improve and you keep the rest!
Chrysalis

[OpiumEater]

I'd be worried about the blue comb as this is a visible sign of avian flu   

Hopefully someone more experienced will come along and mention some other things it could be a sign of   

Best wishes

Christine

[Beakybird]

If any animals in your care get sick it's your responsibility to get proper medical care for them by taking them to a vet. A forum is not a substitute for veterinary help. It's unethical and unfair to leave them to suffer and then die. If you do not get veterinary help for these poor creatures then they have simply gone from the hell of a battery farm to another life of hell.

Ex-batts don't just die for no reason. There will be an underlying cause. A common problem with ex-batts is that they get a thin shelled egg stuck inside them, which you need to remove. But there could be numerous reasons why a hen gets sick.

Hens go down hill very quickly (and by the time they show any symptoms or signs of sickness they are feeling very poorly indeed as they are very good at hiding how they feel).

When deciding whether to get veterinary help I think it's important to ask oneself "How would I feel if it was me who felt this way? Would I want someone to get me a doctor?". I'd hope that in this instance the answer would be "Yes".

Try to find a proper avian vet. If you cannot find one then phone round your local vets and find one who is experienced with hens. Hens are classed as an exotic and few vets are qualified or experienced enough to treat them.
 
Good luck.

[bramford]

If any animals in your care get sick it's your responsibility to get proper medical care for them by taking them to a vet. A forum is not a substitute for veterinary help. It's unethical and unfair to leave them to suffer and then die. If you do not get veterinary help for these poor creatures then they have simply gone from the hell of a battery farm to another life of hell.

Ex-batts don't just die for no reason. There will be an underlying cause. A common problem with ex-batts is that they get a thin shelled egg stuck inside them, which you need to remove. But there could be numerous reasons why a hen gets sick.

Hens go down hill very quickly (and by the time they show any symptoms or signs of sickness they are feeling very poorly indeed as they are very good at hiding how they feel).

When deciding whether to get veterinary help I think it's important to ask oneself "How would I feel if it was me who felt this way? Would I want someone to get me a doctor?". I'd hope that in this instance the answer would be "Yes".

Try to find a proper avian vet. If you cannot find one then phone round your local vets and find one who is experienced with hens. Hens are classed as an exotic and few vets are qualified or experienced enough to treat them.
 
Good luck.

Might be a little bit harsh, I am shaw they did'nt just stand back and watch it suffer also what about people who keep them for the table

Edited to take poster's reply out of the quote. 

[GrannieAnnie]

blue or purple combs are also a sign of a heart problem.  Ex batts have gone through a lot of stress and by the time they are 18 months old, in real terms they are about 3 or 4.  they are not bred to live a long time, but to lay as many eggs as possible in as short a time as possible.

If you have had your ex batts since last July, and they are just beginning to die now, at least they have had a wonderful normal chicken life for those extra months. 

Sometimes they can live longer, but like people, some are stronger than others, some can survive the stress they were under and some can't.

We've had ex batts that have died after a month, others have gone on for over a year.  I know of one lady who had one of her ex batts until it was 6 years old.

I agree, that you shouldn't let any bird suffer, but you have to weigh up whether you spend loads on a vet, or cull it yourself.

Please don't think I'm being hard, I'm not.  I hate culling chickens, but sometimes it is necessary.

[orchardlady]

I probably fall between the two camps here. If a bird is looking very poorly I remove her from the main flock and give her peace and quiet, food and water. If I think she is suffering I cull her. It is swift, I very much hope painless and free. When you balance the cost of vets bills to the cost of a new POL bird (£6.50 - £25.00) the choice is clear. I adore my hens and wouldn't be without  them but they fall between livestock and pets. I offer them a sound, stable, and clean environment to live in and they have a quality life until the end of their days be it my decision when that will be or them.

You need to look with care on why you have hens, if it is as pets then a trip to the vets is the best option either for treatment or euthanasia. If it is as an egg layer show you are a responsible and capable owner and cull yourself or find someone who will show you how to do it.

It's all a balancing act.

I very much hope your hen recovers. I know very little about ex batt hens but keep the variety or very similar. the do not have a long life span on average unlike pure breeds that can live for donkey years.

Orchardlady.

[shetan]

have they been wormed? are they drinking enough water - dehydration can turn combs blue too.

i hope your girly makes it. my brahma boy is still hanging in there. i'm syringe feeding him twice/three times a day and still giving flubenvet - if in a weeks time he hasn't recovered and hasn't improved, we will be putting him out of his misery.

lots of hugs....

[Chrysalis]

Thanks Grannie Annie and others for your comments.  Our other girls are absolutely fine, so no infection.  Poor old Olga just died rapidly and , hopefully, without too much pain.

I take the point about the vet, but as someone else said, it's a personal judgement call.  The coop has been thoroughly cleaned and hens checked.  She just wasn't as strong as the others.
Is there any more news on zopadooper's hens?  I didn't mean to hijack the post!
  Hope the news is good...

[Beakybird]

Might be a little bit harsh, I am shaw they did'nt just stand back and watch it suffer also what about people who keep them for the table

Edited to take poster's reply out of the quote. 

If you own an animal you must, by law, ensure that its needs are met. This includes birds 'for the table'. These needs include 'its needs to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease' (Animal Welfare Act). You must provide the animal with veterinary care or humanely destroy it if it is sick/suffering.

[evie2]

I've always found this forum very supportive when questions are asked and there has never been any suggestion a sick animal should be left or the forum is a substitute for professional veterinary care, there's even a list of chicken friendly vet available.

For me this is a place to ask questions, share experiences, support one another and laugh together.

Zopadooper hasn't commented again on their own thread, I wonder why.

[Carla]

I'm with you on that one Evie. No need for the harsh answers Zoopadoopa got, I'm sure they fully understand what chicken keeping entails. the last thing anyone needs is criticism when asking for help, especially when its such a sad question. Maybe a bit of humility and gentleness was the order of the day
Zoo, I hope your girl is ok, I have ex-batts and you never know from one day to the next how they're going to be. The BHWT may be able to give you some good advice on life spans..what to expect in old age and the best way to deal with it xx

[GrannieAnnie]

Carla, I only noticed harsh(ish) comments from one poster on this thread.  I don't know why zoopadooper hasn't replied again, but apart from the one, none of us who have kept chickens for a while have hinted that anything zoops done is wrong.

there are people to whom chickens are just livestock, and if they are sick you cull them, and there are people to whom their chickens are like their dogs and cats.  I happen to know that Aunt Sally has spent £100's on one of her hybrids.

Like Orchardlady, I am in the middle here, OH and I breed a few and rears chicks in their 100's to sell at POL, but I will always try to help a sick bird if I can, or to cull it if I can't.  To us, it isn't worth spending many £'s on vet treatment for a hybrid that's worth £8, it's just not feasible, but a lady bought her 2 hybrids to us on Sunday to have them put down because they both had a prolapse.  But when I looked at them, they didn't look as bad as some I've seen, so I asked her if she really wanted to get rid or would she rather help them more.  She said they'd only had the prolapses for a few days, so she has gone off with instructions from here to try germoloid cream and warm baths.  She phoned me today.  One is much better and the prolapse hasn't come out again, but it looks like the other one has an egg stuck and she can't get it out. 

I hope Zoopadoopers bird will be okay, but again must emphasise that chickens shouldn't be left in pain without doing something about it. 

[zopadooper]

I am responding to the comment posted a couple of times "I wonder why zopadooper hasn't responded"
I posted my question at 8.00 am on 17th May and surprisingly had no immediate responses.  Before the first response arrived after lunch I had already sought advice from my local corn merchant - a fount of all knowledge on all things chicken and he gave me a number of tips including the name of the nearest vet some 30 miles away.  We checked out the hen for the symptoms suggested by him to no avail and agreed that we would visit the vet the following day if it made it through the night.  It died in the early afternoon before we could do anything and around the time of the first posting of a reply to my post.
I considered the subsequent postings that arrived some 5 days after my original question to be very aggressive and I decided not to get involved.
I do thank the one person who sent a private message enquiring after my hen but my faith in fellow hen keepers will take a long time to recover from this incident.

[Ice]

Don't let one person that posted harshly without knowing all the facts get you down.  This really is a helpfull, informative and fun place to be.