Momma Hen Under the Weather

[Super Admin]

Our hen has been a mother of 6 chicks for over two weeks now. Today I have noticed that her comb and wattles are very pale pink. She also seems lethargic. We tried giving her some trivisol but she would only take a drop and spit it out. What's wrong with her? She has been a strong mom and maybe now she's just tired. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

bump

 

[caralouise1974]

The comb and wattles will be paler than usual as she isn't laying, but if she is also lethargic, perhaps she is working too hard at mothering or has had problems with mites?

Our BO is a momma right now, and she is painfully thin. Her initial problems stemmed from being attacked by red mites whilst brooding, so that by the time she came off the nest with the chicks, she was at death's door from anaemia (pale comb and face, total lack of appetite, extremely thin, bleeding from nostrils, a little dazed).

Our chick (only one remains) is now almost six weeks old, and she's only just starting to eat like her old self again, despite spending all day every day foraging like crazy to feed the little one. It has taken a lot of coaxing from me - scrambled egg, farmed maggots from the fishing tackle shop, mealworms, bread soaked in oil, sunflower seeds... anything she might be tempted by.

What really brought her back from the brink was giving neat aloe vera juice and Battles Poultry Drink dribbled down the side of her beak. There's plenty of iron there, so it got the anaemia under control and her appetite started to come back.

(Needless to say, eradicting the mites was actually the very most important thing we did to save her life, and the lives of the chicks, but that's a whole different thread... we worked very hard for several hours one afternoon, and took every possible precaution against the mites returning... ask me if you need full details of what we did...)