Sleepy hen, doesn't lay, drinks excessively,watery diarrhea--treat for bacterial infection?

I have a Rhode Island Red about two years old who has been laying around with her eyes closed for the past two days. I'm not sure if she's sleeping. If I move, she'll open her eyes. If I come near her or come with food, she'll get up and act as active as the other chickens. However, I'm not sure if she's hiding her symptoms from them on purpose. She does walk around quite a bit, but I catch her snoozing quite often. She's also the first to go to roost in the evening when it's still light out.

I put down some water with electrolytes and probiotics in it yesterday and she went crazy drinking it. She must have been really thirsty. I did the same thing this morning and she's been drinking it all day.

She doesn't really eat her layer feed, but she will eat anything else. I gave her some bread soaked in olive oil in case she had an impacted crop and she gobbled it up. She also ate yogurt yesterday.

Her droppings are like pure water. They just shoot out. Sometimes they're mixed with white; other times, they're mixed with green.

I'm still treating her for an impacted crop, but I'm nervous she may have a bacterial infection or something else. I noticed another hen had greenish diarrhea today, but she's laying.

Should I try treating for a bacterial infection? Or could it be something else?

Has she been de-wormed with something like Safeguard or Valbazen?

-Kathy

Two years old; lethargic, watery poop mixed with green = worms. I agree with Casportpony, time to worm all your birds.

I use Zyfend A to de-worm, but I probably haven't used it in about 3 months. Do you think Safeguard or Valbazen is a better choice for de-worming?

Zyfend A like VermX are snake oil, a waste of money. Use real wormers; valbazen liquid cattle sheep wormer or safeguard liquid goat wormer.
Administer either product orally undiluted using a syringe without a needle. Dosage for either wormer is 1/2cc for standard size birds, 1/4cc for smaller birds. Repeat dosing in 10 days with either wormer.

Thanks! I hope Tractor Supply has either one. Can I eat the eggs while they are being de-wormed or should I throw them out?

pugasaurusrex said:

Thanks! I hope Tractor Supply has either one. Can I eat the eggs while they are being de-wormed or should I throw them out?

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It's best to toss the eggs in the garbage. There's residue in the eggs after worming, however slight it might be could cause a reaction if a person is sensitive to the product. Toss them for 14 days after the last dosing. A small price to pay for healthy hens.

I had a hen acting the same way but gave them Wazine mixed in water. That was two days ago and she's picked up a bit but still sleepy compared to others. Is the safeguard a better product? Should I wait 10 days an do again? Thanks! Glad I saw this post!

DianaR said:

I had a hen acting the same way but gave them Wazine mixed in water. That was two days ago and she's picked up a bit but still sleepy compared to others. Is the safeguard a better product? Should I wait 10 days an do again? Thanks! Glad I saw this post!

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Wazine only gets roundworms, but Safeguard will get almost all worms when given 3-5 days in a row.

-Kathy

casportpony said:

Wazine only gets roundworms, but Safeguard will get almost all worms when given 3-5 days in a row.

-Kathy

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Thanks Kathy!