Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[Miggy]

What a day....Scruffy our small ex-bat of just one week didn't come out of the coop yesterday morning. We opened the hatch to find her lying on her side legs stiff, breathing heavily, wings and head floppy, as good as dead. We thought it was her final hour so made her comfy in a box with some hay in a separated part of the run. I had to go to work so left OH to let me know when she was gone. One hour later she was still in the same position but OH had to go to work for a couple of hours also so she was left. When OH came home her head was not so floppy and she tweeted a little when stroked. OH went out again for a couple of hours and on return found scruffy on a perch that is about 5 foot off the ground, still looking a bit under the weather but alive. OH removed the grill deviding the WIR and she jumped down and went in the coop. When we checked a few hours later she had laid her first egg since she joined us. The other weird thing is that our old girl has been picking on Scruffy since she arrived but yesterday when she was not well Mrs Doyle left her alone. Today Mrs Doyle is back to giving her a peck and Scruffy looks non the worst for yesterday...I'm not sure I can take the stress.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Guest

[Ain't Nobody Here]

How peculiar . Lovely news that she's come "back to life" though . I wonder if the egg was pressing on nerves or something (don't even know if that's likely or not ).

[Tweety]

Someone else posted a very similar story on the forum quite recently and the hen concerned seemed ok after laying an egg.

I hope Scruffy continues to thrive

[Miggy]

It has happened again today. As I write she is showing the same symptoms. I am now starting to think of Merak's disease. Does anyone know if the symptoms can come and go or once the symptoms of Merak's show themselves are they permanent?

Miggy

[Tweety]

Sorry to hear that. I think it is unlikely to be Marek's - battery hens are usually vaccinated, and it is a disease that affects younger birds on the whole.

 

I would take her to see a vet.

[Miggy]

Well had her to the vets. By the time of the appointment she was able to sit up again. The vet doesn't think it is Merak's. He kept her all day and found a small amount of worm eggs and signs of infection in a blood test. She is coming home with some antibiotics and a jab for the worms. She is as right as rain again and I have a whopping bill......

[counturchickens]

Good news

[Miggy]

Well if you have read this post you will be up to speed.

We are now on the third occasion of Scruffy being as good as dead and then making a full recovery. The connection is an egg. Each time she goes limp she lays an egg soon after. This time it was within a few hours of illness. Previously it hadn't been so soon after. I have searched the net for an answer and found one person in the USA that described the same thing. His (or her) chicken got over the condition after several months.

Has anyone on this forum had anything like this?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

How strange . At least you have an idea what's causing it now and can just hope that it passes like it did for the hen in the US.

[gongladosh]

how weird!