Misfit Homesteader
Hatching
- Aug 4, 2023
- 5
- 8
- 9
Hello there! I suppose this is not an emergency, and I don't know if this is a disease or injury, but something definitely isn't right and this seemed like the best category to post this under.
I have an adorable year-old Mille Fleur D'Uccle bantam hen. She is the sweetest little thing, so friendly and loves to be picked up and follows me around like a puppy (when I let her, that is, which isn't too often - she stays in a closed run 99% of the time since she is the perfect little size for a fox or hawk snack). I must admit she's my favorite of all my hens. She seems healthy (eats plenty of proper layer feed as well as fresh veggies, grass, and bugs, drinks enough, lays eggs regularly, gets enough calcium as well as sunlight, active, aware of her surroundings, breathing normal, poops normal, no mites or parasites as far as I know, vent looks fine, no swellings or bumps, etc.), but the problem is when she dust bathes. She loves to dust bathe in dry dirt, same as my other chickens, and I know how important it is for her skin and feathers, but I haven't let her do it more than a couple of times and I don't know if I can again.
The others dust bathe pretty quickly and move on to other things, but she likes to take her time. She likes to lean over and kick out her feet as well as rub her head around upside down to get her head feathers "clean" too. The problem is that I've noticed that if she bathes for more than a couple of minutes she starts to get lethargic (not just happy and sleepy - she looks peaky). She also starts to shake so hard she's practically vibrating. At that point I try to get her up and moving around, which she doesn't want to do at first - she won't stand up. But once she gets up she shakes herself and starts doing other chicken things. I just chalked it up to her getting low blood circulation while she was on her side and I just kept an eye on her and didn't let her bathe for more than a minute. But this last time was really concerning to me. I had temporarily gotten distracted while she was bathing, so she bathed for about 10 minutes. When I remembered and got back to her, she was really shaking and squinting her eyes. Her comb was also tinged with light purple on the edges. I got her onto grass and tried to get her to start moving around again. She kept pushing herself forward onto her chest to the point that her butt was almost pointing straight up, which she never did before. She also appeared to be straining, almost like she does when she lays an egg (she did lay one that morning so that wasn't it). I just kept gently picking her up and encouraging her to put weight on her legs, and after a minute, she got up and shook herself. She seemed to go completely back to normal - eating, drinking, alert, comb back to its usual color, did a poop. It wasn't a hot or sunny day, so not sunstroke. No gasping or wheezing, so not choking.
I tried to google this but nothing came up, so I thought I'd try asking all you fellow chicken people to see if anyone knew anything or had a similar experience. I love her like I do my dogs and don't want anything to happen to her, but I have no idea what it is or what to do about it. She's my only bantam hen (don't worry, she's separate from the big girls), so I don't know if it could be a breed oddity just like dog breeds can have odd breed-specific issues. I do have a bantam rooster (sweetest little guy), but he is a different breed and I have never had this problem with him.
Thank you so much!
I have an adorable year-old Mille Fleur D'Uccle bantam hen. She is the sweetest little thing, so friendly and loves to be picked up and follows me around like a puppy (when I let her, that is, which isn't too often - she stays in a closed run 99% of the time since she is the perfect little size for a fox or hawk snack). I must admit she's my favorite of all my hens. She seems healthy (eats plenty of proper layer feed as well as fresh veggies, grass, and bugs, drinks enough, lays eggs regularly, gets enough calcium as well as sunlight, active, aware of her surroundings, breathing normal, poops normal, no mites or parasites as far as I know, vent looks fine, no swellings or bumps, etc.), but the problem is when she dust bathes. She loves to dust bathe in dry dirt, same as my other chickens, and I know how important it is for her skin and feathers, but I haven't let her do it more than a couple of times and I don't know if I can again.
The others dust bathe pretty quickly and move on to other things, but she likes to take her time. She likes to lean over and kick out her feet as well as rub her head around upside down to get her head feathers "clean" too. The problem is that I've noticed that if she bathes for more than a couple of minutes she starts to get lethargic (not just happy and sleepy - she looks peaky). She also starts to shake so hard she's practically vibrating. At that point I try to get her up and moving around, which she doesn't want to do at first - she won't stand up. But once she gets up she shakes herself and starts doing other chicken things. I just chalked it up to her getting low blood circulation while she was on her side and I just kept an eye on her and didn't let her bathe for more than a minute. But this last time was really concerning to me. I had temporarily gotten distracted while she was bathing, so she bathed for about 10 minutes. When I remembered and got back to her, she was really shaking and squinting her eyes. Her comb was also tinged with light purple on the edges. I got her onto grass and tried to get her to start moving around again. She kept pushing herself forward onto her chest to the point that her butt was almost pointing straight up, which she never did before. She also appeared to be straining, almost like she does when she lays an egg (she did lay one that morning so that wasn't it). I just kept gently picking her up and encouraging her to put weight on her legs, and after a minute, she got up and shook herself. She seemed to go completely back to normal - eating, drinking, alert, comb back to its usual color, did a poop. It wasn't a hot or sunny day, so not sunstroke. No gasping or wheezing, so not choking.
I tried to google this but nothing came up, so I thought I'd try asking all you fellow chicken people to see if anyone knew anything or had a similar experience. I love her like I do my dogs and don't want anything to happen to her, but I have no idea what it is or what to do about it. She's my only bantam hen (don't worry, she's separate from the big girls), so I don't know if it could be a breed oddity just like dog breeds can have odd breed-specific issues. I do have a bantam rooster (sweetest little guy), but he is a different breed and I have never had this problem with him.
Thank you so much!