![\"Sparkle\"](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/SDC15987.jpg\")
<\/a>The table is Sparkle’s favourite place when she doesn’t feel well<\/p><\/div>\n
I think her problem is that she isn’t eating enough but I also know that a hen that’s not eating enough must have something wrong. If she was well she would eat properly.<\/p>\n
She seems to have lost her appetite and therefore will eat treats, corn, sunflower hearts and greens but I hardly see her at the pellets. I have been putting mash in the run each day to try to tempt her but I hardly ever see her go to it. The problem is I can’t force her to eat.<\/p>\n
I think that because she isn’t eating properly she can’t make egg shells. I have put her in the cat box three mornings running with a little dish of fish with limestone flour mixed in so that I can be sure she has taken it. Despite this I think she is still laying eggs with no shells.<\/p>\n
The first egg with no shell was the one I photographed in the nest box. After that it’s down to detective work. One evening she looked poorly again and when I went in to put the girls to bed there was a dried on patch of yellow on the storage cupboard beneath the high perches. I think it may have been a second egg with no shell and had probably been eaten just leaving a yellow stain.<\/p>\n
A few days later she looked really poorly again at bedtime. In the morning when poop picking the run I came across another dried on yellow patch on the bottom rung of the ladder where she likes to perch. I think she may have been perched further up the ladder and it dropped to the lower rung. Again there were no remains just a yellow stain so I can’t be sure but I think it may have been egg yolk as it was too yellow for poop.<\/p>\n
If this is the case then that’s three eggs so far with no shell despite her having limestone flour. I really wish she would just stop laying and have the chance to get better but she has always been a good layer. She seems well in between then goes down hill before the next egg is due.<\/p>\n
I just don’t know what to do for her. I feel so helpless. I know the vet can’t help as he doesn’t seem to know any more about chicken health than I do.<\/p>\n
I also need to start worming the girls again on Friday as they need to be wormed a second time after three weeks to break the worm and egg cycle when worms have been found. This is going to be another problem because as she isn’t eating properly it will mean that I will need to put her in the cat box each day to make sure she takes her dose.<\/p>\n
She is very cautious now of me picking her up which makes the whole thing quite tricky. I feel I must get her through this next course of worming and then see how she does. Every time I think she looks better I am soon concerned about her all over again.<\/p>\n
I think at the moment I can only continue as we are and keep a close eye on her and hope she gets better. I really hope she may stop laying soon and have a chance to recover but I know that she is not out of the woods yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sparkle has moments of looking back to normal then she looks really poorly again. I think her problem is that she isn’t eating enough but I also know that a hen that’s not eating enough must have something wrong. If … Continue reading