Sparkle has moments of looking back to normal then she looks really poorly again.
The table is Sparkle’s favourite place when she doesn’t feel well
I think her problem is that she isn’t eating enough but I also know that a hen that’s not eating enough must have something wrong. If she was well she would eat properly.
She seems to have lost her appetite and therefore will eat treats, corn, sunflower hearts and greens but I hardly see her at the pellets. I have been putting mash in the run each day to try to tempt her but I hardly ever see her go to it. The problem is I can’t force her to eat.
I think that because she isn’t eating properly she can’t make egg shells. I have put her in the cat box three mornings running with a little dish of fish with limestone flour mixed in so that I can be sure she has taken it. Despite this I think she is still laying eggs with no shells.
The first egg with no shell was the one I photographed in the nest box. After that it’s down to detective work. One evening she looked poorly again and when I went in to put the girls to bed there was a dried on patch of yellow on the storage cupboard beneath the high perches. I think it may have been a second egg with no shell and had probably been eaten just leaving a yellow stain.
A few days later she looked really poorly again at bedtime. In the morning when poop picking the run I came across another dried on yellow patch on the bottom rung of the ladder where she likes to perch. I think she may have been perched further up the ladder and it dropped to the lower rung. Again there were no remains just a yellow stain so I can’t be sure but I think it may have been egg yolk as it was too yellow for poop.
If this is the case then that’s three eggs so far with no shell despite her having limestone flour. I really wish she would just stop laying and have the chance to get better but she has always been a good layer. She seems well in between then goes down hill before the next egg is due.
I just don’t know what to do for her. I feel so helpless. I know the vet can’t help as he doesn’t seem to know any more about chicken health than I do.
I also need to start worming the girls again on Friday as they need to be wormed a second time after three weeks to break the worm and egg cycle when worms have been found. This is going to be another problem because as she isn’t eating properly it will mean that I will need to put her in the cat box each day to make sure she takes her dose.
She is very cautious now of me picking her up which makes the whole thing quite tricky. I feel I must get her through this next course of worming and then see how she does. Every time I think she looks better I am soon concerned about her all over again.
I think at the moment I can only continue as we are and keep a close eye on her and hope she gets better. I really hope she may stop laying soon and have a chance to recover but I know that she is not out of the woods yet.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Aww, poor Sparkle! I hope she gets better soon, and starts eating again. I remember when my Princess Peach was sick, we put her in a dog crate in the basement with little dishes of food and water for her. We also gave her the “spa treatment” mentioned on Hencam.com, complete with soapy water and a blowdryer! 😉 However, we didn’t use the oil on her. Would that work for Sparkle?
How has Topaz been? Still broody?
You also told me to tell you when my eggs hatch, and we now have 2 chicks! I have no clue which eggs they came from, but they both are a silvery white and yellow mix. We have 2-3 more eggs to go as of 9:00 am (CST), but we’re anxious for more! 🙂 Speckles is being such a good little momma, even when they pecked her wattle! (They were hungry, so she promptly showed them the food.) Peach is very curious too, but she hasn’t gotten too close to the chicks. The rooster is probably too stupid to care. :p
I have had Sparkle in the cat crate with little bowls of food to tempt her but she hates me keep picking her up and as I will have to start doing this again Friday for round two of the wormer I will leave it until then. Once she has had wormer I will try to tempt her with more food items.
Topaz is still sitting on any eggs she can find but is more normal the rest of the time. Only Peaches and Barley are laying at the moment so there are less eggs for her to find.
Wow, two chicks, how exciting. Let me know when you have more. I bet they are just adorable.
Can you find a different vet for her? That’s what I did for one of mine because our normal vet doesn’t have any chicken experts.
This is the only vet centre in our area and the vet I have been seeing is the only one with some chicken experience. Despite being the one and only chicken expert, I have found that he knows only as much as I know through researching the same material that I have researched. The only difference being that he can give me antibiotics. That’s been his only input for all my chicken problems and it’s only a chance if it works. I have researched a wider area and come up against the same result. That’s why I feel it’s not worth going back. He can’t do anything more for me.
Oh dear and there we were thinking she had turned the corner.
I don’t think you can foo any mo re tha n you have .
Gillian’s idea of the shampoo and blow dry I s a good I one.
I have done that a few times in the past ( not recently though) and they love it !
Even the girls who didnt like being picked up enjoyed it.
You know you feel so much better after having a bath or shower.
At the moment she is so wary of me keep picking her up and I know I have another week of having to pick her up to get her wormed again so I am going to concentrate on getting her through that first. It does seem every time I feel she has turned a corner she goes back down hill again.
sHE SEEMS TO BE HANGING HER WINGS SLIGHTLY, WHICH IS ALWAYS A SURE SIGN THAT ALL IS NOT RIGHT. I DO HOPE THAT SHE’LL TURN A CORNER DEFINITIVELY BEFORE LONG. TWO OF MINE ARE UNWELL/OFF COLOUR AT THE MOMENT AND NOT LAYING; SOME DAYS THEY DON;T SEEM TOO BAD AND OTHERS YOU JUST FEEL SO HELPLESS SEEING THEM LETHARGIC AND NOT THEIR NORMAL SELVES. AS WITH YOU, THE VET HAS PROVIDED ANTI-BIOTICS, BUT THAT’S ALL. ON A MORE POSITIVE NOTE, CHICKS ARE DOING WELL AND ETON, WHO IS ON 7 EGGS, HAS HATCHED ONE (DUE TOMORROW) AND ANOTHER IS PIPPING. Just spotted the caps lock – Sory!
I know what you mean, I only have to look at her and the wings down and the look in her eyes tells me all is not right with her but the vets don’t do more than a course of antibiotics and I am now helpless. I know something is wrong but don’t know what else I can do. I don’t want to see her suffer but I also don’t want to give up too soon in case she can recover. I feel that I have to worm her again and try to get her to eat something and see how it goes from there. I feel a bit useless but what else can I do!
Great that you have one hatched. Keep me posted. Don’t worry about the caps lock, we have all done it. I once called Steve (eldest son and my I.T. guy) to say that my password no longer worked and I was locked out of my computer. Turned out it was because I had hit the caps lock. Once I took that off normal service was resumed. Sigh! Computers hey!