Possible Sick Chicken - Please Help

Hi All,

I have a light sussex chicken who is about 9 months old. She is a broody girl and has been broody twice this summer (we are in Australia), she was broody for a week or so - not leaving the coop, we would get her out and shut the coop up and she would mainly just get on with her day following her crew around, as we have a Plymouth rock and isa brown also. It has been about a week or two and she still has not laid her first egg but is no longer showing any broody symptoms. The Plymouth rock was broody at the same time as the light sussex and she is now laying again.

We have had warm/humid weather here for a week or longer however when it is hot she is usually the only chicken showing no signs of discomfort during the day, she usually would only pant of a night.

I was out and about yesterday for a couple of hours and when I got back, the temp was about 30 degrees and quite humid, most of the chickens were sitting down in a cool spot however Edna (The light sussex) was sitting behind a tree by herself which seemed a bit weird, at this time she was also panting which I also found odd as she doesn't usually pant in the heat, she only usually pants when she lays her eggs or at night as mentioned before.

I kept an eye on her throughout the day and noticed that she was also doing very runny poo's, which are white and green in nature and very watery, it sort of looks like food which hasn't been broken down completely. She has had issues with this in the past but it has cleared up after a day or two,

So today, she is still panting and still has runny/smelly poo's. Today it is raining and much cooler, about 24 degrees Celsius. She is getting around but is panting 95% of the time, just now I went outside to check on her for any other symptoms and at this stage she looks all good in terms of any respiratory symptoms - breathing looks good, no discharge, eyes look clear. She was picking out a few of her feathers when I was out there with her but stopped after about 10 were plucked out, Her crop looks normal but I haven't physically touched it yet or checked her over yet.

Does anyone have any ideas of what might be going on?

Have you recently de-wormed your flock? She may have a worm infestation....

Yes we did it around 3-4 months ago so they would probably be due now

I agree with the worm idea. Ascarid (large intestinal roundworms) is the most likely culprit. One major symptom of these roundworms includes reduced ability to absorb and process the nutrients from the food they eat, similar to what you described. Most de-wormers would cover the worms as they are fairly common. Good luck with her.

Okay thank you both.

I will worm them tomorrow, how quickly should you see an improvement?

I have given them electrolytes today to help Edna out whilst we figured out what was going on, as she is panting alot

I don't know exact timing. It probably depends between each chicken as well as the level of infestation. I'd expect a week or so though.

Hi All,

So we wormed the chickens and there seemed to be some improvement in terms of the colour of her comb and wattles, they are more red now. However, she is losing weight, is sleeping during the day and seems to just stare into space for minutes at a time. She is still getting around and eating and drinking but moves around slower and will just sleep by herself in the dirt whilst the other two girls are wandering around picking around. We wormed them about two and a half weeks ago now.. Any ideas of what could be going on here?

Hi. Are you saying that she has never laid an egg but has gone broody twice? It is unusual for a hen to go broody without laying any eggs.

Have you checked the coup for red mites. They hide in the cracks and crevices during the day and crawl out onto the hens at night to suck their blood. This would cause her comb to be pale and her to be under the weather and can lead to death. I use a soft brush to dislodge debris from under the ends of the roost bars onto a dustpan and then examine it for red mites. They are tiny but if you squish them you will clearly see blood, so there is no mistaking them. I use the same brush to dip into a tub of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) and then dust into all the cracks and crevices with it and it works really well for me. Make sure the chickens are out and you wear a mask. Other people have found DE ineffective but I think perhaps it's how you apply it. The soft brush works great for me. Other options are Sevin dust or permethrin if you are comfortable using insecticides.

Anyway, just something else for you to check out.

Best wishes

Barbara

No she has laid many times before, she is only about 9 months old though and has been broody twice, at the end of the second broodiness, this happened.

It sounds to me like Clostridium: undigested food, stinky, diarrhea. Treat with Tylan , 1 tsp powder per gallon. If you want to cover her for a potential e.coli as well add sulfadimethoxine 1 tsp per gallon as well. Sometimes clostridium damage lets other bad bacteria in as well.