After a month long vacation to Peru and Ecuador and then back to work it's been a busy couple of months. So an update of what's gone on, we got back from vacation and all was well. My good friend Gina pet sat for us while we were away and she did a great job. The garden was looking good and the girls were all still kicking.
We had found homes for half the chicks on a farm in Paonia and then one of ours turned into a rooster and was crowing at 5:30am! EARLY!!! So we placed him with our friends down the road along with some other chicks. They're getting so big and are almost full grown. They're combs are coming in and their wattles too.
About a month ago we lost one of our layers. We came out one morning and she was out of the coop on the ground with her head tucked under. Penelope's comb had never come in after a year and a half. So we're not sure if she was just runty. No answeres on that one. We were all really sad about it. Then all seemed to be well. We slowly tried to introduce our chicks which are now huge to the other girls. In the garden they don't pay much attention to each other but when we placed Franny near the other coop she was attacked by Victoria and Sylvia. We're not sure if was stress or a stroke or a heart attack or what happened but she stopped eating and drinking and had a hard time moving her legs. We were completely beside ourselves. We thought maybe she was going lame so we tried oyster shells to treat against calcium deficency, we treated the girls with vitamins and she just got progressively worse. We separated her from the flock, heating pad, hand watered her and fed her mash but she didn't make it. She passed away today and we're having a hard time not blaming ourselves. I've been on some forums asking questions and talking to other chicken owners and the best we can come up with is that she had a stroke and then refused water and food because she was having seizures and then lost her strength. I called vets up and down the valley and there is no poultry vet. We are crushed. We've lost two girls in 2 months and are just distraught. If anyone has had similar experiences we would appreciate some feed back. We're going to treat the girls for worms again to rule out that.
1 comment:
So sorry about your losses. I've lost some hens recently, and I know how hard it can be. Especially since it's tough to find good answers about what went wrong.
Could it be possible your laying hen had Marek's disease? It often stunts growth. Slow growth was actually the first symptom I noticed in my pullet who eventually died of Marek's. Then she started limping and eventually just passed away.
I had my new chicks vaccinated for Marek's as a precaution, and you might want to look up the symptoms just to see if that's what your girl had. It's a really common disease, but also pretty easy to vaccinate against.
Again, sorry for your losses. Good luck with the rest of your flock.
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