Extremely thin hen, with voracious appetite and thirst

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hollilynn

hollilynn

Songster
8 Years
Sep 16, 2013
71
3
101
Hello,
My 1.5 yr old hen stopped laying this summer for no apparent reason. She has been eating, drinking and pooping normally up to about a month ago where I noticed runny poo under the roosting board and occasionally, pinkish fleshy material. (not intestinal shedding, Sorry no pics) I have never been positive it came from her, as I have had another hen with laying issues, who after taking her to the vet, I treated successfully and she has recovered, however never resumed laying:(
Anyway, the sick hen has been quite lethargic for about 2 days, so I brought her in the house. Noticed right away that she is very thin!! I gave her some electrolytes in her water, mixed some crumble with scrambled egg and warm water and she ate and drank all of it. I have noticed that she is drinking A LOT!! When she has pooped I can hear it explosively coming out of her, no odor really. It looks like pure water with small bits of dark green. Difficult to add pictures of it as she is in a dog crate and it is all being absorbed by the pine shavings. I will attempt with her next poo to get a pic of it. I have massaged her very full crop, without difficulty and the crop seemed to be fine and respond to a reduced size after massage. No breath odor noticed.
In spite of her eating, she is not absorbing any nutrition and literally wasting away.
Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks for any help!
 
hollilynn said:
Hello,
My 1.5 yr old hen stopped laying this summer for no apparent reason. She has been eating, drinking and pooping normally up to about a month ago where I noticed runny poo under the roosting board and occasionally, pinkish fleshy material. (not intestinal shedding, Sorry no pics) I have never been positive it came from her, as I have had another hen with laying issues, who after taking her to the vet, I treated successfully and she has recovered, however never resumed laying:(
Anyway, the sick hen has been quite lethargic for about 2 days, so I brought her in the house. Noticed right away that she is very thin!! I gave her some electrolytes in her water, mixed some crumble with scrambled egg and warm water and she ate and drank all of it. I have noticed that she is drinking A LOT!! When she has pooped I can hear it explosively coming out of her, no odor really. It looks like pure water with small bits of dark green. Difficult to add pictures of it as she is in a dog crate and it is all being absorbed by the pine shavings. I will attempt with her next poo to get a pic of it. I have massaged her very full crop, without difficulty and the crop seemed to be fine and respond to a reduced size after massage. No breath odor noticed.
In spite of her eating, she is not absorbing any nutrition and literally wasting away.
Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Hi Hollilynn,
I am not really an expert (only have had chickens for a little under 2 years) but I had a chicken with the same symptoms as yours so I wanted to share what I found. My chicken was a bit younger (about 10 months) and a bantam, but had been normal and then suddenly was weak and rapidly loosing weight. She had no other symptoms of anything I could pin down. I wormed her but it didn't change anything.

I live in a very remote Mexican village without a vet. But my neighbors have had birds their entire lives. I trust their advice and always go to them when I can't figure something out. My neighbor found that this bird had an extra "thing" growing underneath her tongue that was preventing her from eating properly. I have no idea how to describe it but it was an extra flap of skin with the rigidity of a fingernail growing underneath her tongue. He said it happens but is not common. He put her under his arm, opened her beak, turned her tongue over and got his fingernail up under the rigid part toward the back of her beak and it pulled off just like a sticker peels off. He then sprinkled a little bit of salt under the tongue and let her go. (the salt seemed a little cruel but who I am to say??) There was a tiny bit of blood, but just 1 or 2 drops. Within 1 hour she was eating crumbles mixed with water like crazy. The next morning she was 75% normal energy level. It took almost a week for her to get back to 100% normal and gain weight. I have now had 2 chickens that have had this.

If you can check her tongue by comparing its rigidity to your other birds, she may have the same problem as mine. I'd definitely worm first, though.

I hope this doesn't sound too crazy! There is some real "jungle medicine" happening here but sometimes it's my only available option.
Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck, I hope she's doing better.

Iron Eagle
 
No she has not, other than DE in their food occasionally and crushed garlic. None of the other 5 have her symptoms.
 
hollilynn said:
No she has not, other than DE in their food occasionally and crushed garlic. None of the other 5 have her symptoms.
Click to expand...
Worming is something you should think about doing. If she were mine and I couldn't take her to a vet, that's what I would do. Can you post a picture of her poop?

-Kathy
 
Interesting about the tongue growth! would never have checked there. However, she has no problem eating. She eats and drinks normally and as much as she can gobble down. Her last poo is slightly thicker and smells:( phew I put her out in the garage rather than in my laundry room.
I just fed her some scrambled egg with some buttermilk? Found that info on this sight too.
Thanks for your help!
 
hollilynn said:
Interesting about the tongue growth! would never have checked there. However, she has no problem eating. She eats and drinks normally and as much as she can gobble down. Her last poo is slightly thicker and smells:( phew I put her out in the garage rather than in my laundry room.
I just fed her some scrambled egg with some buttermilk? Found that info on this sight too.
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Check every square inch of her for anything odd.

-Kathy
 
i will try to post a pic. on her next one if I can catch it in time. but the pine shavings she's on kind of absorb most of it. HOWEVER:) the stinky last one is light brown and thicker, like a cecal. Is that a good sign I hope?
 
hollilynn said:
i will try to post a pic. on her next one if I can catch it in time. but the pine shavings she's on kind of absorb most of it. HOWEVER:) the stinky last one is light brown and thicker, like a cecal. Is that a good sign I hope?
Click to expand...
It's always good when their poops look normal.
big_smile.png


-Kathy
 

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