[tammyc]

Hi - I'm a newbie and I'm looking for advice on my poorly chicken

We have 2 ex bats that are about 3 years old.  One started to lose weight a few months ago and after talking to a POL lady near us she suggested they had worms as she wasn't eating, sitting in a corner, shaking her head and runny poos.

I was giving them verm x every 2 months but she said that if they don't like it they will intentionally pick it out.  So i went to the local farm store and we bought flubenvet.

Unfortunately she wasn't eating at the time so I had to mix their pellets/flubenvet with water to make a porridge then syringe feed her at breakfast, lunch and dinner. 
After 7 days of this she did start eating her food but she is sooo skinny.

Then today she did the weirdest poo i've ever seen.  I've attached a picture of it.  It was a light pink rubbery consistency on the outside and when we cut it open ( ) it was a darker pink inside. - IS THIS NORMAL!! ? :blink:

She really is skinny so any advice on feeding her up would be helpful and if any one has seen a poo like this before it would be great to know if there is anything wrong with her.
Her comb is floppy as well at the moment but I'm not sure if that because she not been eating much.

Many thanks in advance

Tammy x

[Aunt Sally]

Hi Tammy

I've moved your post to the Hen House forum where you will get some very good advice.

[joyfull]

Hi that is not a poo but a lash - which is part of her reproductive tract. Two of my hens have passed these recently and it means that your hen and mine will no longer lay any eggs. At 3 your ex batts are rather old and sadly they may be coming to the end of their time which is more than likely the reason they have become skinny and not quite themselves. You obviously have been caring for them very well for them to reach this age  .
Welcome to the site by the way 

[tammyc]

Thanks for the advice,
i think we've assumed we'd have no more eggs anyway and although its sad to hear you think they may be on their way out I'm glad it is just old age getting to them rather than some horrible disease that i could have treated :-(

at the end of the day we rehomed them as pets and any eggs were a bonus.  We are now addicted though and will definately replace when they do eventually go to chicken heaven.

Thank you 

[bantam novice]

Welcome to the fourm  .  There are a few fellow addicts here!  Well done and good luck in your ex-batt rescue

[joyfull]

at least you know they have had a wonderful life since coming to you and hopefully they may go on for a while yet, still doing the normal chickeny things like dust bathing and scrathing around without having to bother with the egg laying business  
When the time comes will you get more rescues or consider point of lays?

[tammyc]

I'm not sure really, problem with ex bats is they don't seem to last very long and it seems to take a long time to get them in a good condition and then they get old and start going downhill again.....BUT....at least they aren't in cat food, they are in our garden.

We have 'cotswold chickens' down the road, and the lady there has always been helpful and she has some beatiful chickens, very tempting, but we don't want to upset our old ladies now.  A friend mentioned about getting ducks as we have quite a big pond but I'm not sure how to look after them (Although we've learnt as we went on with the chickens as well!)

What breeds do you have and what breeds would you suggest?

thanks for making me feel welcome, i've learnt so much just searching the forum this evening!
Tammy

[joyfull]

I have allsorts, some hybrids - bluebelle, blackrock, gold line, black pearl, lots of silkie crosses, some pure breeds - araucanas, cuckoo maran, spekled sussex, welsummers, sablepoots and some rescues. Plus some guinea fowl. The pure breeds tend to live longer and lay eggs for longer but they don't lay so many a week. The trouble is there are so many pretty ones that you can get carried away 
Ducks are wonderful and very amusing, there are lots of people on here who could offer you advice should you decide to keep some as well as chickens (I had some ducks about 15 years ago so not really up on duck care now).

[tammyc]

There are lots of lovely looking ones that are very pretty but need to try to not look until our ladies have gone!
 

[joyfull]

true, just keep encouraging them to eat and to enjoy this lovely weather we have been having recently 

[tammyc]

Today she looks a ghostly pale, comb floppy and has a slightly purple tinge and her face is also very pale and just looks so white! normally a bright red. 
Tail is also hanging down instead of sheerfully pointing up...any ideas anyone?

Shes becomoe very agressive towards the other chicken and after eating nothing is trying to eat everything!

I could try worming her again but only did this 2 and a half weeks ago and don't want to overdose her.

I'm worried we're gonna lose this one :-(

[Flowerpower136]

Oh Tammy.  such a worry.  Poor you and poor chook.

Don't think she'd need worming again so soon.  The fact that's she's eating again is good, but failing colour etc doesn't bode well.  Don't know what to suggest.  Do you have a chicken freindly vet?  Does the chicken lady down the road have any ideas?  Wouldn't be something as simple as mites?  Can't be, cos the other one would be affected too.

If she's not in pain, then I woudn't give up on her just yet.

I've had my ex batts just over 12 months now.  I think 3 years is a reasonably good age for an ex batt, I'd be very pleased to have given her that length of extra time.

Keeping fingers crossed for you, let us know how she does.

[TJ63]

We've had two of our ex-batts for over two years now.  We lost another two along the way.

Anyway, back in May we decided to get some more girls to replace the two we'd lost, and it's brought the "old girls" back to life - we're pretty sure one of them is laying again after a year off!

They are easily as fit and boisterous as the "new girls", so it may be an idea for you to try, Tammy.


Trevor