Poorly Fluffy

[Anonymous]

Hi there, I am new to chicken keeping and have had 5 rescue hens from a commercial farm for about a month now. One of my hens, Fluffy, is feeling very sorry for herself and has been for a few days. She is eating very little, seems to be drinking ok, and is just hunched up with her eyes closed most of the time. She is also only passing the white urine part of her poo. I am keeping her indoors, isolated from the others. We took a vet trip this morning and she has been given an anti-inflammatory injection and a long lasting antibiotic injection. But no real diagnosis. I thought it could be that she is egg bound but the vet has ruled that out, as she had a feel around and couldn't feel an egg anywhere inside her. Although she did say it is possible that it may be stuck further up. She hasn't laid for the couple of days she has been isolated. I am hoping the antibiotics might perk her up a bit in a couple of days but was wondering if there was anything i should be doing for her in the meantime. I am concerned about how little food she is taking. is there anything super tasty and nutritious I might be able to tempt her with? I have tried mine on treats previously (various fruit) and they seem completely uninterested, even when in good health. I'm guessing as they are only used to getting just bog standard chicken feed. So I was wondering what might be completely irresistible to tempt her to eat?

Also I should probably mention that I had one die a couple of weeks ago, however she went within just a few hours of me noticing her being ill, and had different symptoms (sleepy and heavy breathing) so I am hopeful they are not related.

Thanks, Nicola

 

[podstable]

Hi Nicola----sorry Fluffy is not well.As her symptoms just really indicate illness in a non specific way I am sure you have done right in getting her seen by a vet.Antibiotics and anti infammatories will help if she has something like a respiratory infection etc which may not be evident on examining her.Now its just a case of keeping her warm,safe and comfortable whilst you give them time to work-----I hope they do. Worth also considering mites,lice ,worms etc at this time of year.Not all commercial/rescue hens make it sadly ,I think their bodies are often 'spent' after the intense laying and the conditions they have lived in.Let us know how she is.Ros

 

[Rebelodicus]

You could try "Poultry Nuti drops from NetTex.... £9.65 though. A small bottle with pippet. A couple of drops and they pick up a bit. Might be able to fight it off then ... It's also suggested for when a bird goes through the stress of anti Bacs.....

 

[Sue]

You could try mealworms, preferably live ones. I only suggest this because if my hens find a worm in the garden they go mad, chasing each other around to get it, so it must be a much prized food item. She may have already been a bit unwell before you had her, but with the stress of moving, this has made it worse.

 

[Chuck]

You've done all the right things & had a few good suggestions but the reality is that birds from some commercial situations are so run down at the end of their laying that they are prone to all kinds of illnesses and have little resistance to the germs in the new environment.

When I get new batches in, I always make sure that I feed them what they've been used to i.e if they've been on layers mash, I give them mash for a month at least, if pellets, ditto. Then I make a gradual switch over. This I've learned from experience and I find that birds that have been fed meal/mash for most of their lives need time to adjust to even pellets.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your advice. She seems a bit perkier in herself now, but is still not really eating. When I got them I was advised to feed them ex batts crumb. They were on this for about a month but they made such a mess with it, it attracted mice (i found one drowned in their water trough), so I have switched them onto pellets. I made sure I did it gradually by mixing it in in gradual increasing concentrations. They seem to much prefer the pellets and were picking them out first and leaving the crumb. Fluffy has a mixture of the two on offer to her but she's not very interested in either. I will try her on some mealworms. Where would I get some from?

 

[Tim]

Here's a page on insect treats for chickens (including mealworms) that may be useful with some links to buy.

Good luck and let us know how she gets on. Unfortunately as has already been said, Ex-Bats commercially are 'spent hens' and can ofen lead quite a short free range life poor things.