Foggy eye, missing feathers, fluffed up chicken isolating herself.

[Lyris]

I adopted a flock yesterday from an old retired couple. I don't blame them at all for the state of their flock - they are in their 80s! There's eight hens, and I think they're about a year old? It's either a year old or four years old. Not helpful, I know. There's one specific hen who clearly isn't doing well at all. She's puffed up, isolating herself from the flock, bald and covered in scabs. She's got "the squirts" when she poops. Last night I noticed her right eye has a few white dots by the iris. This is definitely not a happy girl. I have zero experience with sick chickens - my expertise is in cats and dogs. I don't even know where to begin with her. She has some alertness, and today she was picking at the grass a little bit. She will move around a bit, then go back to puffed up. Yesterday her head kept listing to the side, although she seems to have control of it today. She also keeps bobbing her head up and down like there's something in her throat. It's definitely not a normal chicken walk. The rest of her flock seems to be okay aside from assorted feathers that have half fallen off.

Can anything be done for her? Should I just see if I can find someone to put her down? I've never had a chicken this unwell before. I'm completely over my head. And poor, so I can't afford $50 on medications...

 

[Tookie]

Aw, poor girl! She's not well at all.
I would start by getting some good food into her, some things like chicken feed soaked in water, meat, fish, and eggs.
If you have something like Nutri-Drench, you could give some of that to her.
For that head bobbing, could be neurological or a deficiency, so it would be good to give 1/2 a B Complex tablet and Vitamin E daily for a few weeks or so and see how she does. Also would be good to give eggs with that to help her more easily absorb the Vitamin E.
It may be a good idea to deworm her and the flock.
For that eye of hers, I'm not too sure what to do. I'd start off by rinsing it out with saline, and then apply some terramycin eye ointment. It looks like she could be going blind in that eye, and she could have puss in there.
Also, it would be good to check her and the flock over for lice and mites.

 

[coach723]

The eye looks swollen. It may be a respiratory disease. Is vet care an option for you? She may already be blind in that eye. If it's infection it would be good to take care of that before it affects the other eye.
I think there are probably multiple things going on with her. I would also give her a good going over to check for lice and mites, and treat for that if needed, they can really weaken a bird. There may be some raised scales on her legs and feet, so possibly scaly leg mites also. I would weigh her, and do some observing to make sure she's eating well and drinking well. Weigh her regularly to make sure she's not losing weight. She may have been bullied and kept from food, or her vision may be impaired enough that she's not finding it. Vision impaired birds need to have food and water in the same place all the time so they can find it. Feel her crop, see if it's empty, full, hard, soft, squishy, etc. Then check again first thing in the morning before she's had food or water and see what it feels like then, it should be empty first thing in the morning. The feather loss on her could be from over mating by a rooster, or feather picking by flock mates. So I would watch for that also. She's going to need some TLC for awhile, hopefully you can get her healthy. You may need to crate her for a time to keep her safe from others while you try to get her stronger and healthier.
Some links that may help:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

https://the-chicken-chick.com/chicken-checkup-diy-physical-exam/

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

That looks like a respiratory infection to me too. She will most likely need antibiotics, so I’d say it’s vet time for her. If you can’t afford the vet, there’s no shame in putting her down. That would be more humane than trying to treat her without the proper antibiotics.

If I have to euthanize a chicken I take them off the roost at night and keep it as dark as possible and use the broomstick method. She will be confused but not be able to see enough to be very scared. Here is a good tutorial on the method.

 

[Lyris]

I've been worried about partial blindness for her. She responds well to noises, but is iffy on seeing me. I'm not sure if she's just not feeling well or is blind yet, though. Another chicken in the flock is starting to show the same symptoms, which is worrying. Today I saw her walking around nibbling at grass, which is good. She definitely has raised scales on her legs. I noticed that earlier. She absolutely lost the health lottery. Basically name an illness and she has it. Can I do anything for her scabs? They seem to itch and she's taken up picking at them. The other chickens also have scabs on there heads. I have Terramycin leftover from when my cat got an ulcer I can use. How do you treat mites? Do I need to worry about my cats getting them as well? I have chicken electrolytes if that would help her? Today I'm going to see if I can maybe syringe feed her a little bit. She doesn't seem to be eating or drinking much. Where she's got such runny poo I'm worried about dehydration setting in. I'm also worried about her staying warm. It's still over 65f at night here, but where she isolates she's not getting a lot of insolation. I keep finding her in the dead center of the yard for whatever reason. I've also noticed a bit of attacking between the birds. I'll monitor it and see if it gets worse. Right now I'm out there a lot anyone since one of the hens thinks she's got a beautiful voice and everyone needs to hear it.



Hypothetically, someone might have saved some antibiotics that were called in for them, but they didn't work for them. This person might have saved them for use on their illness prone cat who appears to be immortal. Google says chickens can have the saved antibiotics, although there might not be enough left to make a huge difference. There definitely wouldn't be enough to treat a flock.

I don't think I could cope with putting down chickens unfortunately. After my late husband passed death has become a bit difficult. But if worse comes to worst I'll see if I can find someone. Unfortunately a vet isn't an option since I already spend $300 a month on an antique car who thinks she's immortal.

 

[Lyris]

I convinced her to eat a bit earlier. She definitely has weird head actions. And a few times she appeared to peck at the air next to the can.

I also kinda moved my hand around her a bit to see her reaction. She definitely gets more alert with sounds. I was able to walk up to her without much fuss.

 

[coach723]

Most common treatment for mites is permethrin products. You have to treat the birds and the coop, instructions for treatment are in the link I gave before. Plain triple antibiotic ointment that you can get at any pharmacy or big box store, in the first aid section can be used on any wounds or open skin areas. Respiratory illnesses are usually treated with Tylan or Tylosin, you can get that online from pigeon suppliers, without a prescription. Many antibiotics that we use can also be used on them, amoxicillin, cephalexin, clindamycin, etc. So sometimes leftovers can be used if dose can be figured. Many of them can also be purchased online as fish medications without a prescription. For the eye, it really does need to be cleaned out, chicken pus is firm and cheesy, not liquid like ours, so has to be manually removed or it will just continue to regenerate. Infection can't be resolved until it's all out. The terramycin would be good for the eye, once all pus is removed. Without testing it's hard for us to say whether you have a virus affecting the flock, which may be the case since you have another with similar symptoms. There are video's on youtube, if you search for them, showing the removal of pus from chicken's eyes. If you are squeamish, it may be more than you want to see.
This may all be more than you thought you were getting into when you took them, it's up to you how much you want and can do for them. Sometimes, depending on what all is going on, you lose them despite trying to save them. If possible, you might try asking the people you got them from, about historic health problems they might have had in their flock, if there was a known respiratory illness, etc. If you approach it as if you are learning and asking for knowledge so you can help the birds as best you can, not being critical or judgemental, they may be willing to help without feeling defensive.
If the flock have a virus, and testing or necropsy is the best way to know that, then some of the virus's are chronic. You can treat the symptoms, but it's not cured and will recur during times of stress. This bird, and likely the other with blindness, have been this way awhile, it didn't happen suddenly.
This is one source for Tylosin:
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder?_pos=1&_sid=bdebf237f&_ss=r

 

[coach723]

Just saw the video's, I think she is either blind or very limited vision, maybe only in one eye. You can try using a small flashlight, take her into a low light area, see if she reacts to that, if there is any pupil changes to the light also. Do both sides, see if either reacts. You may have to keep her in a smaller area to keep her safe and so she can become comfortable knowing where everything is. And keep things always in the same place. Definitely get a weight on her, you will need to monitor to make sure she's eating enough. She seems pretty willing to eat, so that's a good sign.

 

[Lyris]

I'll get my pet scale from the attic tomorrow, and see about some antibiotics. Removing gunk from the eye sounds horrifying, but I bet I can find someone to help me with it. The other chicken seems to have shaken out of it for now. I don't mind a rescue chicken - the Betta fish I just bought from the pet store is sick, and I knew that buying him. (And they tried to talk me out of it) all my cats and cockatiels are also rescues. They currently don't have a coup since I wasn't planning on getting them yet - lady literally said she's on her way with eight chickens after I asked her about them. If she's blind I have tons and tons of fencing I can use to make her a smaller free range area. (yay for cat fencing the yard to keep the cats in!) She doesn't seem to be able to find pellets, or understand them anyway. She's not the brightest bulb in the batch. Any suggestions for feeding her? She seems attracted to the can if I get it really close to her. Maybe I can train her to eat out of the can? I don't know that she could find it though. How much food should she be eating a day? I doubt picking at grass and the little amount of liquid she got from me is enough.

Does she need a heat lamp or anything to stay warm at night? She really doesn't want to be around the flock. I'm pretty sure the alpha hen has been beating her up. The alpha hen is going to be lucky to not be dinner - crowing all day and strutting around with her second in command. She seems to have formed a new flock with her second in command. Maybe if they go do their own thing I can get the flock to accept the blind girl back. I'll see if I can dig up a flashlight to check her eyes. She's definitely got white spots in the center of both eyes. The one eye seems to be better at seeing than the other. I think she can only see from the one eye if it's very close. The other eye seems like it can only see three or four feet at a maximum.

Oddly enough, I've always wanted to adopt a blind cat. I saw one years and years ago and absolutely fell in love. It's not that I want a "special" animal or anything, they're just so sweet. I guess I get my blind animal after all.

Good news is I work from home and have all the time in the world to devote to her. I'll have to teach my cat not to play "bowling for chickens" with her, but I'm thinking since she can't see the cat she won't get nervous and make the cat happy. (on rare occasions the cat likes to glare at the chickens until they're in a huddle, then run through the center of the huddle. No chasing or clawing is involved. It's very rare that she does it these days)

 

[coach723]

I would use larger, shallow dishes, raising them up off the ground some might help, will be easier for her. The bigger target she has, the better. Make sure they are stable and can't be dumped or turned over. You can also mix some water into her feed, you can use crumbles or pellets for that, and make a mash, it will help with hydration and make it easier for her to pick it up. Experiment with how thick or thin to make it, whatever works best for her. Gooey chunks may work best, but experiment. You may have to move her to the dish(s) several times throughout the day, until she knows where they are and looks for them herself. I would do the same with water, open wider dishes that are easier for her to find. I would make the space fairly small, so she doesn't "get lost".
If she can get out of wind and weather, and she's healthy, she should be able to warm herself. If she has trouble roosting, then she can sleep in bedding, but check her keel/breast often and keep the bedding clean and dry. When they don't roost they can be prone to breast blisters from pressure and irritation.
I also have rescues, so I understand. Got a kitten (tiny stray/feral, probably 6 weeks old) early this spring that cost us big $$$ almost right away. We thought she might lose sight in one eye. After big bills, she's recovered and is doing fine. Stuff happens. We sacrifice.
Hope you can get her feeling better and she can have an enjoyable life.