NineChickens
Songster
- May 23, 2017
- 112
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I have a Rhode Island Red hen who is about 4 years. I moved about a year ago and unfortunately i lost 2 female ducks to predators we didn’t know were around. That left my one male duck with my flock of hens. He has shown a lot of interest in my Rhode Island Red hen, Lucy, and started trying to mate with her. I though nothing of it and he’d eventually leave her alone, but it went on for awhile, I’d say about 6 months on and off. Last week I was hand feeding the birds some treats and I noticed Lucy’s aim was way off, she couldn’t quite peck where she wanted to. I went then went on to a road trip for several days and I when I came back I see she is way more unbalanced. She is having a hard time walking, still having a hard time aiming. She even fell off a perch when one of the other hens tried to go past her. I examined her today; I didn’t feel anything broken, wings and legs looked fine. I didn’t see any *new* bugs (I also noticed the other week the flock had developed some mites/lice, but ive been treating them). she’s also been eating and drinking, it’s just been harder for her to aim to peck it. So, i tried doing some research and I came to the solution it could be botulism, lymphoid leukosis, or from my duck penetrating her (I learned that was deadly ): ). Any suggestions? Anything I can do to help treat her?
Ive been trying for awhile to find a pair of female ducks to adopt, but they havent been very common in my area, and I don’t want babies.
Other than trying to mate with Lucy, my drake is very friendly with the hens. He’s very protective of them and tries to keep things in order.
To answer the questions on the guidelines:
1.) she is a Rhode Island Red, 4 years old, and weights about her normal weight
2.) she is very unbalanced when she walks. It’s sort of like a limp. She uses her wings a lot to help her walk. She also can’t peck in the right place, her aim is very off, almost like she’s blind, but I see no problems with her eyes.
3.) shes had these symptoms for about a week I believe.
4.) no other bird is having these problems.
5.) no injuries that I can see. She does have a small faint line of missing feathers from my duck pinning her
6.) my duck or older age is all I can think of that may have caused this. We also have a rat infestation we’ve been trying to deal with. They live under the coop and steal the chickens scraps and food. Some small birds also come and visit them sometimes, this is what I think the lice/mites are from.
7.) I feed my chickens Purina starter grower (so my drake doesn’t eat layer food), they get Putin’s organic scratch everyday, and oyster shells whenever They need it. They also get some scraps like fruit and sometimes have dried fly larvae treats. they have 4 water buckets and a kiddie pool for the duck.
8.) Im not sure about her poop. I havent been able to quarantine her yet because I don’t have any extra pens/cages since we moved.
9.)no treatment since I’m not sure what’s wrong.
10.) I’d like to treat completely myself; my family doesn’t believe in taking to chickens to the vet and we don’t really have money to spend on her like that, sadly. They are also going to a new home since I will be off to college and my parents don’t want them.
11.) I will see if I can get a video tomorrow.
12.) they are housed on tractor supply fine shavings.
Ive been trying for awhile to find a pair of female ducks to adopt, but they havent been very common in my area, and I don’t want babies.
Other than trying to mate with Lucy, my drake is very friendly with the hens. He’s very protective of them and tries to keep things in order.
To answer the questions on the guidelines:
1.) she is a Rhode Island Red, 4 years old, and weights about her normal weight
2.) she is very unbalanced when she walks. It’s sort of like a limp. She uses her wings a lot to help her walk. She also can’t peck in the right place, her aim is very off, almost like she’s blind, but I see no problems with her eyes.
3.) shes had these symptoms for about a week I believe.
4.) no other bird is having these problems.
5.) no injuries that I can see. She does have a small faint line of missing feathers from my duck pinning her
6.) my duck or older age is all I can think of that may have caused this. We also have a rat infestation we’ve been trying to deal with. They live under the coop and steal the chickens scraps and food. Some small birds also come and visit them sometimes, this is what I think the lice/mites are from.
7.) I feed my chickens Purina starter grower (so my drake doesn’t eat layer food), they get Putin’s organic scratch everyday, and oyster shells whenever They need it. They also get some scraps like fruit and sometimes have dried fly larvae treats. they have 4 water buckets and a kiddie pool for the duck.
8.) Im not sure about her poop. I havent been able to quarantine her yet because I don’t have any extra pens/cages since we moved.
9.)no treatment since I’m not sure what’s wrong.
10.) I’d like to treat completely myself; my family doesn’t believe in taking to chickens to the vet and we don’t really have money to spend on her like that, sadly. They are also going to a new home since I will be off to college and my parents don’t want them.
11.) I will see if I can get a video tomorrow.
12.) they are housed on tractor supply fine shavings.
