Lots of concerns about one chook :( RIP Ezy

kelliecat · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:15 pm

Nice job scoring the hutch. I hope all goes well with your hen. If she is clucky and you don't want her to hatch real eggs, you can buy plastic ones from a produce place. I had a hen that would get REALLY clucky for about 7-10 days, then decide she was done, so we never let her sit on real eggs. But she didn't know the difference with the plastic ones. good luck

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:04 pm

kelliecat wrote:

Nice job scoring the hutch.

Ditto.

You were lucky with the rabbit hutch. There was a chook tractor on the road side near us, someone we know with a trailer promised to pick it up for me and deliver it and then decided that it was so well made and in good condition that he decided to keep it

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Hi, Mrs. M

,

You were indeed lucky with the hutch!

I have two adorable little cockerels with the tuftiest of muffs in need of a good home, not a stockpot

or

roasting pan

if your girls are looking for someone to take care of them...

Elle Jay · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:12 pm

Hi MrsM,

One of our girls goes broody fairly often and we have learned to pick the difference between being broody and just sitting on the nest to lay an egg. When Book goes broody, she really fluffs all her feathers out while she's sitting on the nest, and she grabs bits of straw in her beak and builds it up around herself, making quite a deep nest. She sits on her nest most of the day, but doesn't look at all unwell. The fluffed out feathers are always the big giveaway that she's broody, because she never does this any other time.

MrsM · **Joined:** Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:51 am **Posts:** 163

Sorry, I did write out a reply last night but evidently I didnt click submit :oops:

Thanks for the offer PP but I dont want any roosters. I will keep my ear out and let you know if I come across anyone who wants them.

This is the kind of hutch we have

I am stunned that anyone would just throw that out, especially knowing that our council does not recyle any hard rubbish stuff, it gets loaded into a truck and crushed straight away. The ramp can be closed off so that the chooks are confined to the top area.

I bought 3 plastic eggs today, so since my baby is asleep I will go and give it a clean and set it up for Ezy with the eggs and see what she does.

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:10 pm

Hi, MrsM,

Looks great! You're very lucky, right place, right time...Perfect for a broody hen to sit and hatch her chicks. Your other small coop/run is ideal as a nursery when the chicks get bigger or as a sick bay. Please take my advice, you can never have enough types of chook accommodation to have on hand.

Excel Fencing, Main Street, Lilydale, have the small feeders and waterers, they are much cheaper there. Lots of nesting material for your broody to be comfortable on, just remember when she hops off to go for a toilet break to shovel it out of the hutch, the excrement is rather large and well smelly...

Good luck with your the next stage of your hen keeping! It is so exciting when your first chick hatches, sort of like having a baby without the pain :-D

Makes you all clucky and warm and maternal...Without the projectile vomit, poopy nappies and sleepless nights...

MrsM · **Joined:** Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:51 am **Posts:** 163

I do have a spare waterer like that, so thats a good start.

I set her up in the coop last night but I still dont know if shes clucky. I put her in the left hand side of the top part, and I know she could see the nesting area with the 3 eggs there, but she didnt seem interested and settled down where she was on the left hand side. Maybe she wasnt sure because its a new area that she was unfamiliar with but I would have thought a truly clucky chook would make a bit of a beeline for a little cluster of eggs?

MrsM · **Joined:** Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:51 am **Posts:** 163

Well shes not broody. There is definitley something wrong with her but I am at a loss as to what the problem is. She has been in her hutch for 2 days now (this is the 3rd morning) and its pretty clear that she isnt eating or drinking anything (her food/water bowls do not look touched). She can access them, but it looks like she hasnt ventured to the bottom of her coop at all (judging by the droppings in the hutch). I put some fresh water in a bowl and offered that to her, she had a look at it but decided not to drink. And to make things even more strange, she wont open one of her eyes. I cant see any discharge or gunk anywhere on her, so I have no clue whats going on. I have googled chicken ailments but going by the most obvious symptoms she has (diahorrea, depressed, not eating or drinking) covered so many possibilities it didnt really narrow it down much. Whatever it is, its not contagious because the other two girls are perfectly fine. I dont know what to do with her

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:40 am

Hi, MrsM,

Ezy is the same chook that was ill in your original post that was not well.

So she's not broody,now has a closed eye and lethargic? Is her crop full or empty? How does her breast bone feel? Is her breast bone protruding? No discharges from anywhere beak, bottom...? Any weaknesses in her legs? Any tenderness? Breathing difficulties?

Would she eat some sardines or tinned fish based cat food as a pick me up? Or a bit of mince or steak? Or some warm mash/porridge with molasses?

Hoping some one else can pick up what's wrong with her and offer more advice.

Good luck.

MrsM · **Joined:** Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:51 am **Posts:** 163

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

Ezy is the same chook that was ill in your original post that was not well.

Yes

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

So she's not broody,now has a closed eye and lethargic?

Yes

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

Is her crop full or empty?

It seems fine I think

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

How does her breast bone feel? Is her breast bone protruding?

Its obvious she has lost weight because she is quite bony there.

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

No discharges from anywhere beak, bottom...?

Not apart from her diahrrea, no

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

Any weaknesses in her legs?

Not that I can see, but she does seem reluctant to move (but that could be more lethargy than a leg thing)

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

Any tenderness?

Not that I have noticed. She has been picked up and moved in the last couple of days and didnt seem very worried about that.

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

Breathing difficulties?

None

Hens and Hobbits wrote:

Would she eat some sardines or tinned fish based cat food as a pick me up? Or a bit of mince or steak? Or some warm mash/porridge with molasses?

Right now it seems she wont eat or drink anything.

Whatever she has, it is slowly getting worse, and doesnt look like its contagious. Unless of course it was already affecting her slowly to begin with and we didnt notice any significant changes in her - so I am worried about the other two chooks. Her comb looks a little pale, and its droopy this morning. She doesnt seem to be in any pain, but I dont know how chickens would show they are in pain (they would try and hide it, so the others dont pick on her, right?).

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Lots of concerns about one chook :( RIP Ezy

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