Not eating

M

Merryski

New member
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
One of my girls seems to be not eating stood over feed but not eating all the other girls are OK and eating well seem to be getting through a lot of grit but laying quite well so no cause for concern however Henrietta is very subdued and feels as though she has lost some weight and lethargic
Is there anything I should look for or anything I can do
They have treats of corn and sunflower hearts and as I say all tghe other girls are very happy
Thanks in advance for any help
 
It is a hard time of year for chickens, what with the wet weather, cold and snow we have had.

She may be under the weather, caused an imbalance in her digestive health allowing some opportunistic bugs ( gut bacteria ) to bring her down. It is difficult to tell what the problem is as chickens hide ill heath very well due to a very well developed "prey" instinct.

Are they are other symptoms? eg: sniffles, sneezing or a watery bottom.

Going back to my first point, a good preparation for birds that are under the weather is Beryls

http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/shop/view/index.aspx/product/beryls-12-bird-sachet--75

Then follow this with regular apple cider vinegar in their water to keep things ticking over.

Regarding worms if they are new birds, it is unlikely they have a high worm burden, you can check with a faecal sample to see if they need worming, they can pick up other indicators of health from samples too.

If there are any other symptoms, or her condition deteriorates it may be a good idea to pop her down to a chicken friendly vet for an examination especially another in your flock develops similar symptoms.
 
Loss of appetite can be the onset of sour crop Merryski. One of ours didn't eat feed, just grit and drank water. Crop was all soggy so separated and no feed at all for 24 hours and 10mL water 4 times a day sorted it -just needed a flush through. Any feed was just souring and perpetuating the problem. He's fine after needing a second treatment a week later.
 
Trying to get some Beryls as suggested from a store today, but she is very week stands looking at feed but not eating drinks a little very concerned as she is so week and has difficulty in walking
Just don't know what to do for the best
Always have garlic and apple cider vinegar in the water, and treats every day of sunflower hearts but she will not touch anything
Is there anything to look for sour crop ?
 
A soggy crop Merryski, as opposed to a firm one. Poos will be small and runny with a slimy appearance. Best of luck with her. The Beryl's will be excellent once the problem is resolved as it replaces the gut flora and dramatically improves digestion in our experience.
 
I would suggest going to the Poultrykeeper site (see link at bottom of the page) and search for Sour Crop and also Impacted Crop. These conditions are different, and the descriptions may help you to diagnose what is wrong. Also, if you go to YouTube and search similarly, there are several videos of the conditions and how to treat them. There is a good one showing a man holding a chicken upside down and draining off the fluid from sour crop, which shows you how to do it, if her crop is soft and doughy (rather than hard and lumpy, which might indicate impacted crop.) hope this helps.
See. http://youtu.be/fkiVnHWK_p4

When one of mine had impacted crop, I tried syringing olive oil into her mouth and massaging her crop as it went down. The idea is to soften the impaction and help to break it up. It worked on my hen, after several treatments, but she also needed antibiotics from the vet to treat an associated gut infection. This wouldn't help sour crop though. Maybe a trip to the vet tomorrow for your hen?
 
Hi everyone and thanks for your input I am pretty sure it was sour crop, unfortunately too late in picking up on the symptoms and we lost Henrietta,
Thanks again
 
Sorry to hear that Merryski. Make sure your feed is fresh and dry as it starts to rot very quickly when damp and that can cause the problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top