3 year old hen shivering and barely standing. Please help

[Zaxby's2]

My 2-3 yr. old hen was fine this morning when I let them out, but now she's holding her legs far apart, shaking, & every now and then looking like she'll fall over backwards. It's a cold, rainy day today but nothing they've never been fine with. I think she might be eggbound. What do I do? Just checked again and now she's on the ground with one wing extended. Now she's got spit coming out of her mouth, need help immeadietly!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Poor Hen! Bring her in and put her in a warm spot in a box or dog crate. I doubt that it is the weather, but keeping her warm when she is not feeling well is good. My first thoughts are that she is egg bound or an egg broke inside of her or that she ate some thing that is sharp. Watch her and see if she seems to be kind of contracting her vent area repeatedly. If so then she is probably egg bound and putting her in a basin and gradually adding warm water can relax her muscles and help pass the egg. Also lubing her vent with vegetable oil can help.

 

[Zaxby's2]

She doesn't seem to be trying to push, and has stopped shivering too badly, but I don't think she's feeling any better. I put her on a heating pad with some water near. Is there any kind of food she'll take? Right now she won't eat feed, and I'm wondering if she'll be more likely to eat certain things or if something we'll give her an energy boost. Do you think she ate something poisonous? Should I try to force some warm water down her throat or something? Thanks for replying!

 

[un-named543]

Did you notice how she was yesterday? Was she eating? drinking?

 

[fc]

I may be way off, but when a body decides to heat up to a new temperature (reset to fever level), it shivers to help generate heat.

 

[Zaxby's2]

She was fine yesterday, in fact an hour ago didn't show signs of anything, but now she won't eat or drink. She's not really shivering, and has her head down so she's probably lost the energy to even keep her head up.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Is sound like she is in pain and she may not be interested in eating anything at the moment. The heating pad was a good idea. Watch her and gently examine her to see if there are any sensitive spots on her that cause pain. massage her crop a little and see how she reacts.

Eventually offering her some scrambled eggs or even any favorite treat to see if she will eat would be good. At this point it sounds like you need to watch her so that hopefully you can figure out what is going on with her. Let us know if you notice anything else, maybe someone else will reply with more ideas.

 

[Zaxby's2]

Sorry it took so long to reply. Despite our best efforts, she died.

She was the last of the first chickens I ever got. Thanks for the help you guys, I don't think she would have made it anyway.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I'm so sorry. It sounds like there wasn't anything to be done that could have helped. For all we know, she could have died due to a heart attack or embolism.