The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: madchickenlady on March 20, 2014, 07:13:18 pm
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Technically not a new topic as I know I have seen it somewhere on here before but I cannot find it.
I noticed yesterday that one of my copper marans was standing around in a hunched position. Managed to catch her today and she is all feather and bone, I have brought her into the house and put some tonic in her water and poultry spice in her food, she has taken a little of each but not much. Any help would be much appreciated but I am not holding out much hope for her, she is so thin, can't believe I didn't notice. Poor Mars, she isn't even a year old yet.
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Could be all sorts of things but, yes, I wouldn't have thought she'll have much hope. Try the vet if you want but it's hard for them unless it's something very physical - they'd do tests and it'll all take time. Try worming as well so anything that she eats helps her.
H
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Worms, crop impaction, sour crop are the usual reasons Madchickenlady. Then there are the more obscure ones. Important she drinks, whatever the underlying problem. Without more information I can't help much.
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How would I know if she is egg bound? She has stopped laying but I put this down to her being ill.
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Clues are a pulsating vent and repeated visits to the nest box Madchickenlady. Sometimes you can see the egg. Could try a wipe of vaseline inside the vent. I did that last week with one of ours and the egg popped out minutes later. She was making a hell of a racket- in and out of the nest box continually. But she is a TNN and they can be as noisy as Wyandottes.
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I hope she is doing OK.
One of our young hens went light in November. It was pretty touch and go about whether she'd make it, I was worried it could be any one of a number of things. I made sure she was wormed (with the rest of them), checked for signs of being egg bound, gave her treats and in the end when she had lost all interest in any food or drink started gently hand feeding her porridge, bananas and raisins. A few days later she was fine. A month later she started looking off again. I started the regime again immediately and she perked up almost straight away and has been in rude health ever since. Fingers crossed for your hen.
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Unfortunately Mars died last night. Still don't know what the problem was. She was drinking to the end but not eating. Sad but I was expecting it really. Thanks for all your help.