Claireabella

I think they probably can see in colour as mine always peck the yellow spots on my wellies. I'm sure they think it's sweetcorn Sorry I can't be more help with the egg eating...

Just thought I'd post an update: I don't want to jinx it but she seems to be on the road to recovery! She's spending more time out with the other girls and is slowly getting her appetite back...baby steps at the moment. She will have finished the Coxoid on Monday morning and will have had the full seven day course. I'm still don't know for sure that it is coccidiosis but I've sent a sample to Retfords Poultry who were very helpful on the phone and much more reasonable than the £80 I was previously quoted! I've read that she will need vitamins once she has finished the Coxoid as it's quite hard on them and she really needs to put some weight on (she was wormed right before this too,had 3 days of baytril and is molting). What could I give her for all this? Sorry, I have another question too. She's had a couple of baths to clean her dirty bottom (it's getting better) but it doesn't seem to get all of it and it dries hard. Should I be using anything other than water? She's got a small bald patch there wher she's molted and the pin feathers are coming through so don't want to keep touching it really as I've heard it quite uncomfortable for them. Any suggestions? My other hen keeps trying to peck either her bald patch or her dirty feathers, they can be really mean sometimes can't they? She did get her back though with a good donk on the head Don't think she's lost her place in pecking order just yet. Thank you as always for all the help

I'm so sorry to read this... we've had trouble with foxes too. They do tend to visit at night time and rarely come out during daylight hours unless they have young during the winter months. I eventually fitted a security light with a sensor to the outside of the chicken run facing the way I've seen them enter the garden. This is not a deterrent to a determined fox though. More to alert me of them in the garden xxx

There's no blood in her poop today... Just been quoted £80 for a faecal sample!

I'm cautiously going to say I think there has been a slight improvement today *touches wood*. She is still disinterested in food overall but I came downstairs to find her on the dining table pecking the apples and after I'd peeled one she pecked it all around the dining room floor and ate about half of it Not an ideal diet I know, but giving her whatever she will eat at the moment. She always has fresh pellets available and tried soaking some too but she's not bothering with those. I've been scouring the internet for days trying to find answers and it keeps coming back to coccidiosis or worms. She's been on coxoid for 2 days now but her poops are still the same. (My OH now thinks I'm obsessed with chicken poop as I keep saying "it looks a bit like this one doesn't it" or "it definitely looks like that one" ) If she shows improvement again tomorrow I'm going to get a faecal sample to the vet ASAP. At least we should find out what we're dealing with then for definite. I desperately want her to get better I feel so sorry for her and she's molting too which can't be helping. She's having a really tough time of it lately.

Thank you, what a good idea! She's always been the one who prefers the worms and bugs! I couldn't get my hands on any white fishing maggots but I managed to get some live meal worms and she's eaten lots of them! yay! She is still clearly poorly though and the poop situation hasn't improved but she seems to be walking about a bit more. I'm praying that's a good sign. I don't know if this will mean anything to anyone but I also noticed today that the part of her eye that is normally yellow looks quite red. Hard to describe really but looks bloodshot I guess?? Thanks for all the help, I'll keep you updated. Oh, I almost forgot Happy New Year to everyone too!

Thank you so much for your reply. It really does mean a lot. Pepper is still with us this morning and was moaning to come out of the dog crate when I got up. She had a drink and then started pacing up and down the door and tapping on the glass again to be let out into the garden, which I did and she seemed to enjoy it. She is back in the house again now though and still not looking very good. She is refusing to eat anything, not even her usual favourite treats (sweetcorn, grapes, mealworms etc). I'm going to give the coxoid a chance but if she is no better once the vet reopens after the new year, I think you are right, it will be time to let her go. I'm sorry to hear about your hen too. I had to have my ex-batt PTS in July and it broke my heart but she was 5, which my vet said was an excellent age! I'm really hoping Pepper picks up soon... I'm going to try and get her to eat something...

This is my first post and not a very good one I'm afraid. I will apologise for the long post in advance but I should probably give some background info here. My hen (Pepper) has lost a lot of weight recently (she is also molting) and I had spotted what I thought was tapeworm in her poop. The vet recommended a course of flubenvet which finished on Xmas day. All four of my hens had been wormed with flubenvet four months earlier. On Boxing day, it all seemed to go downhill and she stood in the garden all day hunched and looking very sorry for herself. I'd also noticed that she wasn't doing any solid poop, it was very watery. My vet was very good and gave her a thorough examination but couldn't find anything wrong apart from a poorly looking hunched hen with watery diarreah and not eating so she prescribed Baytril for a week but said the prognosis didn't look good. Her poop is still just like cloudy water but appears to have blood in it now. I sent my OH to buy coxoid today although I am aware that this product is not licensed for poultry use, my vet does not stock Baycox. The vet has advised me that if there is not any improvement from the antibiotics by now (day 4) I could try the coxoid but she thinks coccidiosis is unlikely. Pepper is very poorly now although she did perk up a few times today and pecked the door to go outside and went free ranging for a bit (even snatched a worm from another hen!) but came back in the house and hunched up again. If it wasn't for these times when she perks up a bit I think I may have had her PTS by now but I just want to give her every chance but don't want her to suffer if that makes sense?! I'm out of ideas of what else to do now. Any advice or experiences of this would be greatly appreciated and apologies again for the long ranting post!