[camelliagirl]

Buttercup seems poorly at the moment and would be grateful for some advice.

Over the past few weeks, her comb has gone from bright red and very fleshy-looking to dry, browny red and shrivelled looking.  She is the last out of the coop in the mornings and generally seems stiff and arthritic looking.  She has had messy feathers around her bottom which I have washed off twice over the last couple of weeks and is generally out of sorts.  She seems to be eating and drinking although when I let her loose in the garden with the others she is often found sitting with her head down into her neck rather than pecking around like the others.

She is a brown hybrid bought in June 2010 as a point of lay along with two others although she was already laying when I got her.  She went into moult late Aug last year and has not come back into lay since. 

I'm not sure what's wrong with her and therefore what to do for her.  Please can anyone help.  Thanks very much.

[Tony H]

she could be older than they said or she may have a caught a chill, there are so many things that could cause them simtoms   when any of my chucks get like that i always check the crop first as that seems to make them off quite quickly, also have you wormed them latley ? sorry couldnt be more help but the symtoms always seem the same for most illness   hope she gets well soon

[joyfull]

I agree she could be older than you think, often brown hybrids (warrens etc) will often only live for 3 years, however a trip to the vets may be in order to get her checked over. Her messy backend is a bit of a worry especially if this isn't normal for her (some birds do get mucky rears as they don't seem able to shoot their pooh out far enough) so yes clean her up worm her with flubenvet and if everything else is in order get her to a vet.