Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[catriona]

Hello,

 

Wondering if anyone can give me some advice.

 

One of our hens has been having quite a bad moult for the last couple of months, and we've been trying all the normal stuff - from previous chickens we know that in time it will get better. Possibly unrelated, for the last few days she has seemed a little odd. She's been staying in the house a little more than usual, and when their out free-ranging, she tends to stand round the edges of the garden, sometimes looking quite sleepy and with head drooping.

 

I've checked her crop which seems normal, can't see any problems with vent, and she has been eating and drinking plenty. I've been adding in extra food like porridge everyday and watching closely to make sure the other two hens aren't keeping her from eating - she looks like she is getting plenty. We wormed them recently and no sign of mites. We've been adding poultry tonic to water.

 

Any suggestions?! Could it be due to moulting, or, I wondered if it might be due to the very hot weather we've been having in the south. We only recently moved the chickens down from where we liked in the north of England and this is probably the warmest weather they've ever experienced - could she be too hot/dehydrated?

 

Many thanks for any suggestions!

Cat

 

[Beantree]

The added poultry tonic may be putting her off drinking, so she could be dehydrated? Not sure about the value of porridge this time of year? What are her poos like? She needs extra protein during the moult. Stuff like mealworms and sunflower hearts. What did you worm her with?

[catriona]

We've used Flubenvet. They have two watercoolers , both filled fresh and only one has the tonic in it. They have mealworms daily but am going to add in extra tuna for protein.

[catriona]

Just checked my calendar and we finished the last working cycle 5 weeks ago, so is it worth doing again just in case that's the problem?

[parmaviolet]

One of our hens seemed to be in a state of continual moult last summer and was looking very sorry for herself. We gave her a little tuna in spring water (rinsed again to be on the safe side) and this seemed to perk her up. Is your girl still laying? If she's staying in the house, it won't be red mite so at least that's one less thing to worry about. She could be staying in the house because it's cooler.

 

I'm in SW London & it has been really hot so I put extra water bowls round the garden for them & encourage them to drink when I'm outside. My 'moulty' hen then went on to become broody. It was her first broody period and she was acting a bit odd too. Have you checked her temperature compared to the others?

 

Def' worth worming again if you thought it might have been an issue. My instruction leaflet says to do a secondtime after 3 weeks if you suspect worms as they can get re-infected. But I am now using feed with flubentvet added.

[catriona]

Thanks for all the advice. She'd had tuna this evening, seems to be drinking ... think I'll keep giving extra protein, begin another cycle of worming and just keep an eye on her drinking for the next day or two She's standing alone at the side of the garden looking very down!

[Dolly]

If she's still looking poorly and it's been a few days now, I'd take ger to the vets if she was mine, they are very good at hiding illness until its really advanced. It could be something that with the right medication, she might feel better quickly but equally she could be suffering and it might be kinder to say goodbye if that's what the vet advises.

 

I hope she is better soon, let us know how you get on

[catriona]

I'm really pleased to say Ginger is looking so much better today. On letting her out to free range she was going round the garden as normal (still a little away from the others) and was even playing by our patio doors looking in at me which I've really missed over the last couple of days! She didn't hide by the fences at all, and no droopy head which is a big improvement from yesterday. She had plenty food and I have her more tuna. I have put her in a seperate nest box for tonight to make sure she's ok, and so I can check poo looks normal in the morning. Depending on how she is tomorrow we will decide about the vet but I am hoping she is getting back to normal!

 

Thanks everyone for the advice and I'll post again after I see how the next day goes.x

[catriona]

Just a little update ...

 

Thankfully Ginger seems pretty much back to normal health wise, but we've noticed that there is some quite bad bullying going on towards her by the other two hens. It's strange because I've been watching them all so closely, but saw no signs of it until the last day or two - this may explain why she was hiding away and keeping to the edges? Could the weird behaviour be caused by stress?

We've dealt with this before - when we introduced these three birds Ginger was always at the bottom of the pecking order but it calmed down after a little while - they have lived together over a year now and I see no reason why such bad bullying should start up now!

We've been separating her from the nest box so she can get her strength up, and will continue with extra protein to help with her moult but also anti-peck spray to try to avoid any more s"Ooops, word censored!"s... It's all just quite odd!

 

I'm just so relieved she is back to her happy little self we had a very worrysome few days.