DESPERATE for ANY help. Infection, pin feathers, vent, doing everything I can to keep her with us.

[Helens_Hens]

So we have several chickens and they all stay in the coop and attached run... With the exception of Free range Frida. She is an 11 month old Andalusion hen. She somehow manages to escape the run several times a day since we've had her for the past 6 months we have done everything to keep her in the run but she is Houdini chicken and that's not where she wants to be so we just let her free range hence the name "Frida the free range chicken" She always puts herself back up at night, has always seemed healthy other than her comb being completely laid over. But since she is always free ranging during the day I don't see her as often as I do my other girls so I don't get to look her over and look for physical changes or see any signs of behavior change. But day before yesterday my husband noticed that she was acting lethargic she wasn't active at all she was hiding in weird places behind pallets under the house and she wasn't running whenever he tried to pick her up. so I was looking for her all day yesterday to try to take care of her and find out what was going on with her but I could not get to her because she was underneath my house...the deepest darkest depths of the underworld that is underneath my house. I laid next to my foundation with a flashlight staring under my house watching her for 2 hours last night trying to get her to stay awake but I could tell she was slowly fading and finally I saw her take one big last breath and she put her head down and never lifted it up again as I was constantly screaming at her stay with us, she never flinched and the visible signs of breathing stopped so I cried and broke down. My husband said he would get her out the following morning from underneath the house since it was so late last night. So we went to bed and woke up this morning and he went to go get Frida and lo and behold Frida is still alive she was barely alive but she was still alive so he gets her out and brings her in and I immediately thought she was egg bound she has red around her vent swelling feather loss so I soaked her in a warm bath. She's very lethargic and hanging her head down sleeping. She did manage to drink a little bit of water and eat just a few nibbles of some cornbread muffin. I have forced some egg and electrolytes down her throat with a large medicine dropper and as I was inspecting her vent while soaking her I realized that it is not her vent, she's not egg bound like I thought she may have been. The problem is above her vent and there is a large and highly infected spot that I think may be infected pin feathers. But I have no idea. I cleaned her wound extremely well and ever so gently then sprayed it off with some hydrogen peroxide and slathered it with Neosporin and honey. I know honey is amazing for home remedy's such as antibacterial and also anti-inflammatory properties. I have her inside the house in a dog crate still trying to get her to eat a little bit and drink some but she will not lift her head. I have been inspecting the rest of Frida a little bit more and I have found a few large holes and other wounds, closer to the back of her neck. And underneath her on her belly, it's greenish blue! I couldn't get the best photo but I think you can definitely see the color I'm referring to.

Her skin honestly looks so horrible there's so many spots on her that absolutely break my heart how could I have let this go unnoticed I just always thought Freda the free-range chicken was happy and healthy but has something been attacking her out there has she gotten into something or is the whole reason she gets out of the run everyday because she is trying to get away from the flock? maybe are they picking at her but I have never seen them do it. I don't know. I'm just so disappointed in myself that I did not have a clue she was in this shape! I just thought she loved free ranging and she was good at it because nothing ever got her, no predators or anything so we felt it was the right thing to do, let her be herself. I'm doing everything I can to keep her with us. We love her so much she's a very brave and feisty girl and I swear I saw her die three times last night and for her to still be with us, she's got a lot of fight left in her so if y'all could please help me fight I will take any advice.

WARNING the pictures below are pretty gross. But I have since cleaned the wound.

 

[Tookie]

How's your hen doing?

 

[nuthatched]

Put her down, I'm sorry but if the blue greenish is gangrene, it's too late. To attempt to keep her alive in this state is cruel. Your screaming at her likely didn't help as chickens stress at loud noises. Terribly sorry.

 

[Eddie12109]

@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[azygous]

She's likely suffering from infection. She needs an oral antibiotic. What's your location? That will let us know how difficult it will be to find an antibiotic. Or you can use any people antibiotic you happen to have on hand. Let us know what it is and the strength so we can calculate dosage.

She needs to be revived. Add sugar in her water. It will elevate her glucose and give her strength to eat.

Is the honey you used Manuka honey? If not, save it for your biscuits.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Once its blueish green its already to late the infection already spreaded to prolly her organs had this with a hen that was torn from a rooster I culled her.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would spray her wounds with chlorhexidene 2% (from the drug store, Amazon, and sometimes the feed store,) and keep applying the plain antibiotic ointment twice a day. Offer electrolytes or sugar water often, and watery feed with scrambled egg. Hopefully, she will get better. You may need to sepearte her inna dog crate with her food and water once she can got back with her flock.

 

[Helens_Hens]

Put her down, I'm sorry but if the blue greenish is gangrene, it's too late. To attempt to keep her alive in this state is cruel. Your screaming at her likely didn't help as chickens stress at loud noises. Terribly sorry.

I wasn't screaming at her for Goodness sake! She was extremely far away and in a hole under my house directly under an air unit. When I said I was screaming It wasn't in a literal sense I wanted her to know she wasn't alone and she was under the air unit in the house so if I didn't yell or at least raise my voice she wouldn't have known I was there. We just found her like this today and wanted advice, I'm not about to prolong her suffering ... To insinuate that I would let her live in pain and die a slow death, blows my mind. I have never lost a chicken my husband and I have always raised strong healthy chickens. They are part of our family. The only thing they do for me is bring me joy and happiness and eggs. So I think I do pretty well. I didn't want to give up if there was a chance. I knew it was bad and I already knew I would have to put her down. So I'm sorry , but I have already beaten myself up for this, I don't need any help with that. I just wanted to know what I was up against.

 

[Helens_Hens]

I would spray her wounds with chlorhexidene 2% (from the drug store, Amazon, and sometimes the feed store,) and keep applying the plain antibiotic ointment twice a day. Offer electrolytes or sugar water often, and watery feed with scrambled egg. Hopefully, she will get better. You may need to sepearte her inna dog crate with her food and water once she can got back with her flock.

This is exactly what I've been doing. She has gotten up enough strength to try to fight me when I feed her. My sister is a vet tech and I got some vetrymicin from her. She has actually pooped too it's weird it looks like runny egg yolk with dark firm poop in it. She isn't really improving and I know she is suffering. I know recover doesn't just happen overnight so I will see how the night goes.

 

[Helens_Hens]

Once its blueish green its already to late the infection already spreaded to prolly her organs had this with a hen that was torn from a rooster I culled her.

So the infection on her rear by her top tail feathers isn't blue or green... The picture that shows the blue green is under her but there's no wound there. I wasn't sure if that was normal as I have never had Andalusians before and didn't know if it was relevant to her being sick. Does that mean the infection Is that spreading?