Bird is sick for the third time in less than a year

[AuntJemima]

We have a five bird 20-month-old flock. Two red stars, a green queen EE, blue EE and a white leghorn. We live in the frozen north of MN. The birds are free-range neighborhood chickens all day long every day unless it is sub-zero then we leave them in the 3x10 coop run. In the winter they typically stay under the camper or on our front stoop most of the day because they don't like the snow much. When there is no snow they have a pretty standard loop through our cul-de-sac neighborhood yards(they like the bird feeder scraps) and woods that they do throughout the day ending up roosting in the coop around 8 or 9pm. We call them in early if we have to leave somewhere, but most of the time they are out.

Last summer the white leghorn Aunt Jemima became very lethargic and inactive for about 3 days with watery green poo. On the 4th day, I isolated her in the house. She slept most of the time and would only drink and eat a small amount when I put her beak in the food/water. On the 5th day, I soaked her in a tub and checked if egg bound and then started Corid treatment. Within 24 hours she started perking up and after another few days, she was back with the flock.

Our winter came hard and early this year and the flock was starting their first molt in November/December. Around Christmas, the birds were cooped up for about a week due to sub-zero temps. One day my son went to check on them and found Jemima sitting in the run near the only open to the outer elements part with an ice chunk hanging from her tail feathers. We think she may have sat there all night long on a day that it snowed. I immediately brought her in and soaked her in a bath to melt the ice and isolated in the house. This time I gave her some probiotics in her water and treated her for parasites. Her poo was green, but not runny. After about 24 hours, she was perking up and back to the flock in a few more days.

This brings me to this week. We are the in middle of another sub-zero cold spell and Jemima was sitting in the nest box when we closed the coop. I waited an hour or so and checked on her and she was standing in the nest box. I grabbed her and put her on the roost and left her for the night. The next day she was in the run with her head tucked for most of the day. I brought her in and isolated her on Monday. I have given her water and food only so far and she has still not perked up after three days. Not sure what to do now. She really hasn't laid with any consistency since her first illness last summer, but can't feel anything in her belly. She is eating well so don't think it is a crop issue.

Does anyone have ideas about what to do next? I was going to try some probiotics in the water.

 

[azygous]

My guess is she has a chronic reproductive infection. Perhaps she's laying internally. I do suspect she's near the end of her ability to live with it.

For this reason, I warn not to expect a miracle from treatment. However, it is worth a shot. If you have any people antibiotics on hand, that can work. If not you can order amoxicillin here. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/ The dose is one 250mg capsule once a day for ten days given directly into the beak.

 

[AuntJemima]

Thanks for the note. I ordered it. Will cross our fingers it can make an impact and is not too late. After some further inspection and a bath soak today, her breast bone is protruding and raw looking. She also gets very wobbly and doesn't like when I push on her lower stomach. After reading about internal laying, it seems possible this is her issue. I stuck my pinky as far as I could into the vent and didn't feel anything blocking, but I also don't quite understand the anatomy so not sure what I should be feeling. Definitely not feeling anything hard or egg-like.

Will followup after the Aqua Mox arrives.

 

[azygous]

Internal laying means eggs reverse course before they get to the shell gland and spill over from the oviduct into the abdominal cavity, where eggs certainly do not belong. There is no way out, so they remain in the abdomen "cooking" from her body heat and accumulating until it kills the hen. It's one of the ways that egg laying can go horribly wrong.

 

[AuntJemima]

How do you know if/when it is time to put them out of their misery? Hate to let her suffer, but want to give her enough time to verify it’s not something else.

 

[KRack]

It likely isn’t worms, but have you dewormed your flock? Just wondering how her weight and poops have been?

I’m sorry she’s struggling!

 

[azygous]

Only an X-ray can see into the abdomen and determine if eggs are accumulating there. It's just a guess given her spotty, inconsistent laying history.

I know when a hen has reached the end of her endurance when she is lethargic, almost stopped eating, doesn't show any interest in her flock pals, stands or sits around with eyes closed at half mast, perhaps with her tail held low and flat, which signals she's in pain. She may be too weak or uninterested in roosting. She will likely be sleeping more than she's awake. This is usually in addition to knowing I've tried to treat her without any sign of improvement.

 

[AuntJemima]

It likely isn’t worms, but have you dewormed your flock? Just wondering how her weight and poops have been?

I’m sorry she’s struggling!

I have never dewormed the whole flock, but I did deworm Jemima the last time she was sick over Christmas and that seemed to get her perked up again. It is -19F this morning and still got an egg from a red star, likely will get another later this morning. They don't seem to care if it is -20 or 100 degrees, those 2 lay most every day. Our biggest problem is they lay at a different time every day and if we don't get the eggs within a couple hours, they freezes and cracks. We have lost at least a dozen due to freezing and cracking in the past 2 weeks.

Only an X-ray can see into the abdomen and determine if eggs are accumulating there. It's just a guess given her spotty, inconsistent laying history.

I know when a hen has reached the end of her endurance when she is lethargic, almost stopped eating, doesn't show any interest in her flock pals, stands or sits around with eyes closed at half mast, perhaps with her tail held low and flat, which signals she's in pain. She may be too weak or uninterested in roosting. She will likely be sleeping more than she's awake. This is usually in addition to knowing I've tried to treat her without any sign of improvement.

Thanks for your thoughts on end-of-life care. She doesn't seem to be worse today. Pretty much acting about the same all week. The poo has been green but yesterday and today I saw a couple of brown poos that look more normal. She keeps eating and drinking so I will keep monitoring and do the antibiotics for 10 days to see how it goes. Hopefully, they get here today or tomorrow. I may do another bath soak today as well.

 

[AuntJemima]

Looks like Jemima is going to live a little longer just not sure how long. The antibiotics don't appear to have done anything as she continues to act about the same. She eats, drinks and poop, but continues to struggle with a pale comb and solid abdomen while sitting much of the day. She is not struggling to breath, but doesn't like me pushing on her stomach too much. It seems likely that she has been internally laying and will eventually run out of room in there. Once she become uncomfortable and has trouble breathing/eating we will likely have to let her go. In the mean time I have an office tenant(squatter is more like it) until the spring thaw.

Thanks again for the responses.

 

[AuntJemima]

Just a follow-up on this thread for those that use any of these type of search terms looking for answers about lethargic sick chickens. After the winter thaw in May, I started letting her outside for an hour or so at a time. She really never recovered fully and the other birds would eventually come around to the front yard and pick on her then she would run to me. One day she did go around to the coop and pecked at the feeder a bit then came out and roamed around. She finally passed a few days after that. She put up a good fight, but this reproductive virus/disease I think had her on the short bus all along. By the end, her belly was pretty full and she started to pass large amounts of clear liquid. I assume it was her body trying to eject the fluid buildup in her stomach cavity or something. I was not able to perform a post mortem evaluation, but am confident the internal laying was the ultimate cause of death.