4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Minnie&Moose]

I've come home this evening to find our gingernut obviously not very well. She's mobile, will take corn when offered, but heads back to bed at the first opportunity. She's currently sitting in the nest box looking miserable. There were traces of egg in the nest box (shell fragments and yolk smears all over the only other egg) but I don't know if this was a soft shell egg, either from the gingernut or one of the others. Her crop is pretty empty, her vent is clean, and there is no smell from her vent or her beak. She's very fluffed up, a bit hunched, and is walking very slowly, possibly slightly more wide-legged than usual (though that might be my imagination). They were all wormed with flubenvet in late May/early June, and there were no signs of any crawlies when I checked them all on Sunday.

 

If she's not better in the morning I'll take her to the vet first thing but my question is - should I leave her where she is, with her 2 friends or should I bring her in for the night?

 

Any advice much appreciated. Thanks, Kate

[gemschooks]

Hi kate

 

I'm not a much of an expert on these things, but I guess the things i'd look out for now are just make sure they have enough food to keep them going over night - it is good that she is eating a little corn. the herd has a helpful tip if they are a bit under the weather - mixing layers pellets, porridge, garlic, yoghurt together with hot water to make a runny mix - as this ensures they are getting some water too. If this is made into a runny paste it can even be syringed if they really won't eat. I suspect other things with high water content like pasta and fruit are also good.

 

I have tended to bring mine in for the night if they are really struggling, but generally i wonder if it stresses them out - especially being separated. If she is eating and just looks a little down it might be ok to keep her out - unless she is being bullied of course.

 

hope this helps

 

Gem

[Minnie&Moose]

Thanks Gem. They're all tucked up asleep now so I'll leave them for the night - Minnie's snuggled in between her two friends and looks pretty comfy. But I'll try sloppy pellet porridge for breakfast. We had our first chicken death in June and it all happened so fast so I think I'm probably being a bit more 'anxious' about Minnie than I would normally be - neither the cats or my 9 yr old get this kind of treatment from me!

 

cheers, Kate

[FoxFighters]

Dear Kate,

 

My Gingernut went very much the same way and laid a couple of soft shelled eggs!

I'm not sure if all things are well now, but make sure she has plenty of oyster grit mixed with her normal grit, and if it persists perhaps get some ZolCal D?

It took a couple of days for things to sort themselves out!

Good luck!

 

Jackie

[Chucky Mama]

Sounds like it could be softie related.

[Minnie&Moose]

Thanks FoxFighters and Chucky Mama - looks like it was a laying problem with Minnie. My son went to check on her first thing this morning and reported back that she was still in the nest box, but laying an egg and chatting to him (yesterday she wasn't chatting with anyone!). Sure enough a couple of minutes later she produced a very rough shelled egg, bounced out of the nest box, and fell on breakfast with her usual enthusiasm. Hopefully we won't have any more dodgy eggs for a while.

 

Kate

[Chucky Mama]

Great news!

[Plum]

Glad she's perked up. It's amazing the difference once they've laid a softie isn't it.