ailing chucks

[BUFFS]

lost a bluebelle the other week and now we have problems with one of the blackrocks,gone from being a rowdy scatterbrain to a pathetic wimp,feathers plucked and out of condition,not eating as good as she was,cant see anything obvious,but is she now the bottom of the pecking order?,it seemed to start a few days after we lost the other bird.temperature has been 0 or below for over a week now,but other birds seem fine.her comb is very pale,not like her at all .any ideas or suggestions most welcome.

[Eco-Chic]

Is she moulting? Stupid time of year but many are, possibly due to the warm autumn. You could put Poultry Spice in the food and ACV in the drinking water to pep them all up. Maybe feed her little dishes of warm mash (I put boiling water on pellets, poultry spice, cod liver oil, raisins and corn)to check what she is eating.

There was recently a thread asking if Chooks grieve when a friend is lost. The conclusion is that they do appear to miss their friend for a few days but do get over it in a week or so.

[CoraxAurata]

Uping her protien ration might help too if shes moulting, was she a buddy of the bluebelle - if they were 'a pair' she may have gone from being one of the cool kids to the loner .... and in chooks that often means victim, if poss bring her in to warm and isolated (incase its what happened to bluebelle) - she may even pick up for getting thoroughly dry - one of my boys insists on standing in the wet all the time, and with the last few days of snow/melt constantly (thats what I've got here anyway) I've ended up bringing him in for a dry (towel and yes hairdryer), private feeding, vaseline on his comb and have now tucked him back out in the nice warm house with his mates he was just so busy being wet and pathetic he wasn't standing up for himself at the food....

[BUFFS]

Thanks for the advice,as its christmas eve,she said that if the hen was brought in the kitchen,it might end up in the oven.dizzy lizzy is looking the same,but is eating well enough now,they get pellets with boiling water on @7am, then some hot rice/sweetcorn around midday,then plenty of the same@3.30 plus the cabbage/greens portion with a handfull of corn.sounds a lot but the temperature has not gone above 0 for nearly two weeks(they only report it when it affects london/edinbourgh..where the "important people" live...anyway ,the very best to all you folks out there and i hope next year is better for all.