Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Roxanne]

One of my ex-batts (Mandy) started behaving strangely last week. She is the smallest and scrawniest of the ex-batts I adopted in February and has never put on feathers like the others, who are now looking like healthy chickens.

She started off last week standing in the hen house on her own all day, hunched up and I kept removing her, but back she went every time. She didn't seem to be eating much either. Her poo was runny and I thought at first it was an egg problem, but I don't think it was.

When she was out with the others she seemed to be randomly attacked by the big girls so disappeared back indoors.

I separated her in a corner of the stable in her own pen with food and water and a night box and have been giving her water with avipro mixed in by syringe 3-4 times a day and feeding her by hand - layers mash mixed with water and honey/corn/tuna/catfood/yoghurt/melon seeds.... infact anything to entice her to eat which she is doing now, but not in great quantities.

She has been on Flubenvet for the last 4 days and her poo is more normal now, but she still seems depressed and miserable. She is still hunched up although she does walk around her pen. Her comb and wattles are still a good colour.

I think I need to allow her back with the others but I am concerned as she has not eaten or drunk from the glug or grub since being confined, only from the small dishes I have prepared for her.

Any ideas???

Is this the beinging of the end?????

[stoice]

I wondered this about my scrawniest ex-batt - Babs. She's prone to softies and can get quite miserable - maybe Mandy is going through the same? Or is she starting to moult? Babs is always nodding off at the moment but I've put it down to putting all her energy into growing new feathers. I wormed them all too and she's perked up a bit. Still softie prone though so i put limestone flour in a porrdigey mash every other day. Maybe Mandy is suffering from a combination of all of these issues? We never know how bad a time they had in the battery farm so it may just be catching up with her You could try Lifeguard tonic as a pick-me-up in their water too. Hope she's back to herself soon.

[GKH]

I also had a problem with my scraw niest ex-batt katie who also had a broken wing, shortly after i adpoted her. i was very naive and didn't realise i needed to worm her and things like that. i kept her sepaprate from other 2 so she got lots of food and gave her nice things to eat, she did perk up after about 4/5 days, so fingers crossed for your girl. You get very attached very quickly don't you but just think if she isn't recovering that she is living out her days in love and luxury

[Egluntyne]

Has she stopped laying?

 

Have a feel of her tum. Is it swollen and squishy?

 

Can you feel an egg if you gently prod her lower abdomen?

 

Is her crop OK?

[Roxanne]

Hi,

Thank you for your replies. It's good to know someone else has exbat problems...

 

Mandy is still walking around hunched up although eating a bit more - her crop has been almost empty but is fuller today and she polished off half a weetabix, yoghurt and honey with Flubenvet cunningly hidden this morning. I have to keep her separate from the others while she eats.

I can't feel an egg - she is possibly the hen who has laid soft shelled eggs in the past but unlike the Omlet girls whose eggs I know intimately, I have no idea who lays what in the exbat house!

She is feeling heavier today than she was a few days ago so perhaps she is starting to put weight back on - I don't think her tum feels swollen - is it directly under her crop?

She is a sad chicken - never really recovered her feathers and always had a bare breast and wings, but always been friendly and happy to eat from your hand.

I took her outside today and she stayed on the grass for 5 minutes before heading back inside which she tried to do unoticed by the others incase she got pecked (which she did). She has become very much the 'underhen' and I don't know if I have made that happen by separating them.

[Egluntyne]

Maybe a trip to the vet would be a good idea.

 

She could have an infection somewhere.

 

Hens are very good at hiding the fact that they are ill.

[Guest]

could be peritonitis, the sooner she gets checked out by the vet and gets a course of baytril, the better chance she'll have.

[WitchHazel]

Sorry to hear Mandy is unwell. Hope a trip to the Vet helps. xxx

[Roxanne]

Got some Baytril from the vet - but haven't given it to her as her appetite seems to have returned.

She is still keeping away from the others which is a shame and although she does have access to the whole run (about 20' by 15' sheltered) she seems to want to hide and has definitely gone to the bottom of the pecking order. I have found her 2 mornings running in the corner of the nesting box of the cube which is amusing as she was sleeping in the other little house before this incident! The Omlets seem to be quite happy laying with her there!

 

So, the question is... do I give her the baytril or not???? She is still a bit hunched up but actually took a dust bath for the first time yesterday, and her appetite has perked up considerably.

The vet says I am going to lose her but I am not giving up without a fight!!

[The Brown Clan]

Am routing for you and mandy hope she gets well soon x

[Bootscooter Nell]

Sorry to hear that Mandy is unwell but at least she has got a very caring Mum to look after her. I do hope she pulls through, she seems to be a fighter too.

 

I've also got a poorly girl, Maggie who has also been very hunched up and not eating her pellets. Took her to the vets yesterday and she has perked up a little bit today. I think I'll try your weetabix/yogurt/honey mixture on her, it sounds yummy

 

Hope she gets better soon.

[sandyhas3chucks]

give her thae Baytrril, especially as vet thinks she's going to die. Nothing to lose everything to gain. Agree with other posts. could be peritonitis, very dangerous for our girls! nearly lost my ex bat after 3 weeks! got baytril also was given shot of Rymadil (Matacam also used on chooks) also vet gave her liquid food as she had not eaten in 24 hours or drunk in 12.

 

Meal worms a brill at encouraging to eat, as is scrambled egg & grated cheese. Also ready brek watrm goes down a treat.

 

Personally I separated my lowest girl before she died... They will pick on & indeed peck to death especially the weakest & clearly sick. I am no expert but speaking from personal exp, in my short time & hours of ready brill forums on sick & bullied chooks!

 

I reckon priority hs to be get well, by what ever means, there is more chance of reintroducing a healthy chook than sick. If you haven't got or can't borrow, a small dog crate(abot £30 in Argos & loads of pet stores sell them, the all mesh types) is great as they can be apart, safe can eat & drink when they like AND still be next to all her mates!

 

Not many people on right now, sur you will get buckets of advice, but sure they will all say Baytril. Maybe sepatate at night & pop in to sleep, & separate again next morn.

Good luck our ex bats are a real worry.

[Roxanne]

Thanks everyone, for your support and advice!

I haven't given the baytril yet - Mandy was eating quite well this morning without my encouragement (holding her with a small pot of food in front of her beak, and syringing water+ avipro down her mouth has been the procedure for the past week!) so I think she may have turned a corner.

I got a bit of a shock yesterday when I picked her up as her crop felt really grainy, but then I realised she had just pigged out on the mixed corn I had left beside her food!

She used the dust bath again today too.

 

I have had her in a 'dog crate' since she has been ill. It is actually a dog pen with moveable sides and no top and has been extremly useful since I got the hens. It is a piece of equipment I would not be without. I have opened the side up now so the others are going in too, which I hope will encourge mixing again!

[sandyhas3chucks]

great news AND you have the baytril ready incase you ever need it. hope she keeps improving...

[Roxanne]

What a difference a day makes.

Today Mandy was eating and walking round normally, no longer hunched up, although she is still nervous of the others and didnt venture onto the grass.

I picked her up and went to brush off what I thought was earth from the dust bath when I realised 2 things - firstly she has been moulting like mad over the last few days and I was covered in little feathers but emerging from her very bare exterior are loads of new feathers! This little hen has been almost featherless since I collected her in February so this is an exciting step forward. I will try and take some photos tomorrow...

[Egluntyne]

Great news.

[WitchHazel]

That's such good news!

 

If she's going through a moult then she'll need plenty of protein, as feathers are mainly protein and it saps a hen's reserves. Cat food is really good for this; also some poultry spice mixed into pellets/pellet porridge or even into the cat food is really beneficial.

 

Mine go beserk for cat food when I put it down, I'm always a little horrified by how fast it disappears.

[sandyhas3chucks]

great news. briliant

[Roxanne]

Hopefully... here is a photo of Mandy with her new feathers coming through.

And this is Molly with lots of beautiful feathers ... bearing in mind they were both in a sorry state in February!

 

and this little imp is Georgie, the boxer pup at 12 weeks old who likes nothing better than running around the chicken run and poking his nose through the netting - luckily he has grown in the past 4 weeks as when he first did it his head got stuck in the larger holes! You'd think he would have learned his lesson, but no, he regularly gets a peck on the nose!!

[Roxanne]

If she's going through a moult then she'll need plenty of protein, as feathers are mainly protein and it saps a hen's reserves. Cat food is really good for this; also some poultry spice mixed into pellets/pellet porridge or even into the cat food is really beneficial.

 

Mine go beserk for cat food when I put it down, I'm always a little horrified by how fast it disappears.

 

I have never seen such a ferocious moult - there are feathers everywhere and they justcome away in your hands as you pick her up!

 

As for the protien... I regularly give the hens a sachet of cat food - the one with 70% fish.. I think it's Felix? I tear the top off and they fly up at me to eat from the packet so it's obviously tasty as well as beneficial! I throw poultry spice, limestone flour and crushed egg shells into the layers mash so hopefully they are getting a very varied diet.

 

I bought some live meal worms and have been giving them to Mandy every day , but I have to do it when the others go outside or she would never get a look in! She has not been outside to scratch on the grass for the past week - I think she is afraid the others will go for her, so she has had no insect life for breakfast recently.