Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Shelley Cockell]

Two of my hens had a small moult a few weeks ago - just lost feathers under their bellies. The third has been having a really hard time of it. She has been a bit off colour for a few weeks - not her usual piggy self wiht the food and taking a while to get out of bed in the morning. The last few days I have opened the coup to a mass of feathers which I can see literally dropping off her. She just sits there looking so sorry for herself. I've just given them some porridge with an egg and tuna mixed in to try to get some protein into them and now they are out in the garden. As Doris walked past me she did a big runny white poo (urea) with small bits of green poo in it. She is quite lethargic. Do you think this is all down to the moult or is something else wrong?

[Egluntyne]

Have you wormed them recently?

 

Maybe a course of Flubenvet might be a good idea.

[mostin]

My Priscilla has been doing a few runny white poos over the last few days as she has just started to moult really heavily. It's always been just before she's passed a softie which has made her even more miserable than just the moult on it's own has. Poor thing .

 

I hope your girl passes the worst of it and perks up soon. Keep us posted.

[chelsea]

My old girl Ella is moulting. Some days she has been looking less perky than normal (it takes a lot of energy to grow new feathers). I think quite a lot of things affect them this time of year (change of clocks, cold weather, less daylight etc) and with a moult it must be pretty hard on their systems.

 

If you havent wormed them, as Eglutine suggested a course of Flubenvet wont hurt and then you can be doubley sure its not worms.

 

Keep an eye on her, im sure she'll be feathering up and back to normal soon.

[Shelley Cockell]

Well this morning she looks a bit brighter, quite keen to get down from her roost although the coup looked like there had been a battle with the amount of feathers in there (annoying as i only cleaned it yesterday!).

I gave her some cat food yesterday which she wasn't interested in at first but then had a go at . I've got a boiled egg for her today which she laid last night (I think it is hers as it was on the roosting bars this morning and the shell was not formed properly - a bit rough and sand paper like and she does have problems with softies etc at times.

Anyway will let you know how we get on. I wormed them in February (huge doses as I thought they all had gape) but not convinced its worms. I will try it our though.

[Shelley Cockell]

Well the feathers are falling fast!!!

 

The new quills have already appeared so hopefully she will feeling all glammed up again soon!!

[chelsea]

shouldnt be too long now,

 

Ella had a bare neck last week, this week she's looking very posh with lovely glossy new neck feathers.

[Rachel H]

One of my chickens is in the middle of a big moult and yesterday she wasn't her lively self. She plodded rather than sprinted up the garden for her afternoon treats and seemed a bit lethargic.

Today she's just been standing under a bush and has no interest in her treats or any other food. She tried to get into her house but couldn't jump onto the ladder so gave up and went back under the bush. I've lifted her up and put her in the house where she's standing 'hunched' on the bars.

I'm getting really worried about her - especially as she's not eating or drinking. Do you think it's just that she's a bit exhausted with all the moulting or is she sick?

I've put some VermX in the food just in case it's worms but if she's not eating that's not going to do any good. Any suggestions please???

[mostin]

Sounds like a softee could be on the way. They often lay those when moulting as the amount of calcium required for egg shells and new feathers is just too much for them. Once my prissy had layed her softee she perked back up again but I've been putting zolcan D in the water since.