A
Anonymous
Guest
I’m still a novice and can’t understand what could be wrong with one of our two-year-old hens.
We have seven hybrid hens. Four Goldline were purchased at POL in February 2009. Three Lohmann were purchased in May 2009 from the same free-range egg producer, and at that time had already laid for around 52 weeks. All seven moulted starting in the late summer and through the autumn and all seven looked really healthy again afterwards with their new feathers. The four Goldline started laying again and possibly also one of the Lohmann but for at least a month none of the three Lohmann laid a single egg, until last Wednesday.
The two groups of hens are kept in two identical arks (the two groups sometimes swap arks) and they are managed in exactly the same way. We feed layers pellets and they are free-range for most of the day. Although there was an egg from one of the Lohmann last Wednesday, one of these three hens has been unwell for a number of days. She has had no appetite, although I have seen her drinking. She has had her head drawn to her body and tail down (feathers fluffed up), soiling below her vent, pale if not slightly blueish comb and wattles. Some nights she hasn’t taken herself up to roost, even when it was dark she has had to be put up to roost, and on Thursday morning it was a while before she set foot outside the ark. Instead of scratching about as usual, she was pretty much sitting and standing around all day although she had obviously moved around the garden at times. Her crop looked and felt large, but it also felt soft, rather like a partially inflated balloon, as opposed to hard, so I didn’t think she had an impacted crop. On Friday morning she didn’t come down from the roosting area and when I opened the nesting box she seemed almost to fall off the perch and through into the nesting box towards me and seemed to be coughing and spluttering. When I picked her up she started to expel liquid from her mouth until it seemed to pour from her continuously for some time. Coincidentally, this hen was the first to moult and there was a noticeable increase in weight afterwards. Although I didn’t expect her to live on Friday, she has survived but is barely eating or drinking and is probably very weak. Does anyone have any idea what may be wrong with this two-year-old hen?
The only difference that I can think of between the Goldlines and the Lohmanns is that the Goldlines aren’t much more than a year old and would have had vaccinations more recently than the Lohmanns, which must now be nearly two years old. Are these two-year-old hens likely to lay again, or would it make more sense to replace them with some at POL?
We have seven hybrid hens. Four Goldline were purchased at POL in February 2009. Three Lohmann were purchased in May 2009 from the same free-range egg producer, and at that time had already laid for around 52 weeks. All seven moulted starting in the late summer and through the autumn and all seven looked really healthy again afterwards with their new feathers. The four Goldline started laying again and possibly also one of the Lohmann but for at least a month none of the three Lohmann laid a single egg, until last Wednesday.
The two groups of hens are kept in two identical arks (the two groups sometimes swap arks) and they are managed in exactly the same way. We feed layers pellets and they are free-range for most of the day. Although there was an egg from one of the Lohmann last Wednesday, one of these three hens has been unwell for a number of days. She has had no appetite, although I have seen her drinking. She has had her head drawn to her body and tail down (feathers fluffed up), soiling below her vent, pale if not slightly blueish comb and wattles. Some nights she hasn’t taken herself up to roost, even when it was dark she has had to be put up to roost, and on Thursday morning it was a while before she set foot outside the ark. Instead of scratching about as usual, she was pretty much sitting and standing around all day although she had obviously moved around the garden at times. Her crop looked and felt large, but it also felt soft, rather like a partially inflated balloon, as opposed to hard, so I didn’t think she had an impacted crop. On Friday morning she didn’t come down from the roosting area and when I opened the nesting box she seemed almost to fall off the perch and through into the nesting box towards me and seemed to be coughing and spluttering. When I picked her up she started to expel liquid from her mouth until it seemed to pour from her continuously for some time. Coincidentally, this hen was the first to moult and there was a noticeable increase in weight afterwards. Although I didn’t expect her to live on Friday, she has survived but is barely eating or drinking and is probably very weak. Does anyone have any idea what may be wrong with this two-year-old hen?
The only difference that I can think of between the Goldlines and the Lohmanns is that the Goldlines aren’t much more than a year old and would have had vaccinations more recently than the Lohmanns, which must now be nearly two years old. Are these two-year-old hens likely to lay again, or would it make more sense to replace them with some at POL?
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,so sorry Henny Penny 