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Emaciated hen - how to fatten?

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Hi, Im new to hens, just got 2 in February at point of lay and have a very poorly girl on my hands this week. We were away at the beginning of the week with neighbours looking after them and when we came back wednesday night we noticed our Rhode Rock was looking very poorly. She had diahorrea, wasn't eating or drinking, standing hunched up. I thought it was worms at first so started her on verm-x, but by that point she wasn't interested in food. By friday I rang the vets and over the phone she suspected cocci, so prescribed Baycox. I started her on that on saturday, she perked up on sunday and was moving around. But by this morning she was hunched again.

 

I took her into the vets this mornign and he was shocked at how thin she was, he said she was emaciated and in appaling condition! I feel so bad that I didn't notice this, she's been standing with her feathers fluffed all the time and the times I handled her to syringe her medicine in I was in such a flap doing it I didn't notice her thinness.

 

The vet has sent off a sample to confirm whether it is cocci but he said she is in such a state anyway it may be a more serious underlying disease and that there is only a slim chance of her recovering. He gave her a shot of antibiotics and Ive more to give her tomorrow.

 

So, Im looking to get her fattened up as quickly as I can, and would like to know what to give her. The vet said she is in such a state that if she will only eat mealworms then let her. So I have! But what else can I give her? She won't touch her normal layers pellets. Im also giving her mixed corn and poultry drink. Anything else? Anything I can do to pull her through?

 

By the way I bought her from a reputable dealer who had her vaccinated against everything.

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Those feathers can really disguise weight loss unfortunately. If she is eating the mealworms, I would carry on with them. There is a risk that if you only give her treats, she will be even less likely to eat her pellets. However, I know when our girls have been poorly and off their pellets, both us and our vet have felt that it is better to get something down them than nothing. In the past I have had some success with porridge (made with water not milk), pasta, rice, sweetcorn and peas. You could try mashing some pellets with boiling water, sometime it appears more palatable to them to be squished, alternatively try mashing them and hiding them in some natural yoghurt.

 

Good luck with her, let us know how you get on. It is heartbreaking to see them poorly and it never gets any easier.

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I would let her eat ANYTHING she will eat... I would also lace eveyrthing with Critical Care Fomula.

That is what I do with mine. once they start to eat something they often start fancying more. I have also discovered with mine only off tint portions and cucumber refused at noon and 1 and 3 may well be a delight at 4 or 5 so I just keep offering a little of each.

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I'd feed her some soaked corn, it will help hydrate her as well as give her some heating energy, very few chooks can resist corn, wheat would also work but isnt as heating

 

Bring her in and put her in a box or cage in the warm

 

The less effort she has to expend to keep warm herself the better

 

I'd also suggest mashed up pellets with some warm water

 

Critical care if you can get it is good, ask the vet

 

Once she iis over the worst get her on a high protein diet to build her back up, chick crumbs or growers pellets are good

 

Take care not to feed medicated food at the same time and treating for cocci as the two things will render each other useless

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Thank you all for replying and giving such useful advice.

This afternoon she has eaten loads of mealworms, mixed corn and our leftover corn on the cobs from dinner which she enjoyed. Ive also tonight tried her with mashed pellets with warm water (no luck), and pasta (loved). Not interested in yoghurt so couldn't get any pellets in that way.

 

So, she is eating and moving around well, just still having periods of being hunched up and sleepy. She has had a very stressful day with a long drive in a cat carrier, sat in noisy waiting room at vets for half an hour with a mad german shepherd beside her, not forgetting an injection and me giving her syringe medicine. She is running a mile every time I go near her so Im going to leave her to sleep in her hen house tonight, its quite mild here right now so I hope she will be OK.

 

The only thing I am struggling with is she doesn't seem to be having any water, unless its when Im not around. Ive tried a poultry drink and apple cider vinegar today, but not interested. Should I be syringing her water?

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grapes, cucumbers . Melon, lettuce. mostly fluid.

I have one girl not laying, (injected to stop)

she drinks almost nothing.

soon as sge starts to come back in lay (natural as over winter or as injection wears off ) as well as other things she starts to drink again.

 

?????????????????????????????????(shrug)

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Sandy makes good suggestions re the fruit. A rather bizarre suggestion I have is try pouring some water on the ground for her to see if she will drink that. A couple of my girls would only drink out of their drinker if they were in the run all day. They love to drink out of puddles, the muddier the better, water drops off the side of the run etc and as soon as I emptied the drinker to wash and refill it they would drink the water as it hit the ground. It might not work with your girl, maybe mine are just a little bit strange but it might be worth a try?

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YOURs only drink from puddles too? Ha Ha, all the advise is to give them clean water everyday - shame they don't read the same books ;-)

Mine love the porridge, and have it every now and again. I found that the pellets soaked in water usually works well, on the floor in little piles, as they tend not to like the feeder when they're under the weather.

HEAL-X also worked well (herbal treatment, and changed each one when poorly, overnight!)

Hope they feel better.

 

Stacey X

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Well Im very pleased to report that she is looking much better today. Running around the garden and wrecking my flower border :D

This is despite the results coming back from the vets as no cocci and no worms. He said it probably wasn't worth continuing with the rest of the antibiotics (engemycin - cant find much online about it for treating hens??) and that it was overall not good news as he didn't know what was wrong.

 

So, I followed everyone's advice, have stuffed her with mealworms, pasta, sweetcorn, basically anything she would eat, and put down poultry drink and apple cider vinegar. She looked ropey yesterday but much more herself today. I don't want to count my chickens just yet (couldn't resist the pun!) but hopefully we are on the mend.

 

Whilst waiting for the results I gave my other hen 1 dose of baycox in case she had it but stopped when the results came back negative. Does this mean I can't eat her eggs for 3 weeks too?

 

On a side note, my other very healthy hen Rachel was spotted chasing a mouse across the lawn, catching it and eating it today, much to the delight and respect of my cat who watched her with awe!

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No is is not like Critical Care. It is a good quality probiotic containing Enteroccocus faecium. It is good for ailing animals and healthy animals alike as is said to enable efficient absorption of nutrients. Critical care is really something to replace nutrients etc for animals that are anorexic. It is a little like Lectade but more species specific. It covers their nutritional requirements. I suppose given in addition to their normal diet when they are eating it will build them up too. Kaytee formula looks good too :)

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