My Barred Rock has a mysterious ailment. Please help.

[HumblechickDad]

I live in Texas and we have a 3 year old Barred Rock. For the past 3 days, she has seemed weaker than usual. She eats and drinks here and there but is not the piggy she usually is. She seems to prefer soft foods as well, like Keefer mash and cheese. Her comb became hunched over, yet still very bright red and healthy looking. Her eyes do not appear to be out of the normal either. Her poop is watery and pasty, being white and greenish. I have found no worms in her poop either.


The other 2 hens of the flock are fine and one would think they would also be sick if there were a virus our Barred Rock picked up. This all happened after a rainy day when they were in their coop for that entire day. If their food was moldy, why aren't the others sick? We put antibiotics in their water yesterday too.


When we let her out to play, she just kind of stands around in one spot and seems tired and will eat if you offer the above favored foods and water. Today when I carried her over to the sunlit area of the yard, she seemed to want to go back to the shade. She doesn't display enough of the symptoms of being egg-bound either.


She just isn't the fiery chicken we have known her as, and she seems like she ate something that didn't agree with her and in this period of sickness, she really hasn't gotten any better or worse. Her appearance is normal aside from the fact she seems tired and a little weak. Her weight seems fine for now as well.


Please help and hopefully this will just pass.

 

[gallusdomesticus]

Your chicken sounds normal. Sometimes they get lethargic, especially in the heat or if they're dehydrated. Keep an eye on her to make sure her crop is empty in the morning and she appears to be passing food normally through her GI track.

 

[HumblechickDad]

Thank you for the fast reply.

I am home all day today and will indeed keep an eye on her. Has not been really hot here lately and it is hard for me to understand why all of a sudden she would become dehydrated. She is a big chicken (10 -11 lbs).

One of the other hens likes to eat the chicken feed, then follow right up with a drink from the water, which leaves some of the food in their water feeder. My wife changed out their water the other day and said it smelled sour. Perhaps our Rock drank some of that and it spoiled her stomach?

 

[HumblechickDad]

So..... no one else has anything to add?

 

[HumblechickDad]

Moved her inside and now she is having trouble breathing. Is this due to stress being moved inside???

 

[Sunflower]

Does she have mites? Check around her vent at night with a flash light. They can make a bird sick pretty fast. And they can effect one bird more than the others.

 

[HumblechickDad]

Hello, Sunflower,


No mites that I can see.

She seems to have a breathing problem (tail bobbing, sitting flat and makes wheezing sounds periodically) and hid that very well from our other 2 hens. As stated earlier, I think bringing her inside made her more relaxed, hence revealing more of what truly ails her and no longer having the need to hide her condition. Would drinking sour water do this to a hen? (spoiled crumble in drinking water)

No gunky or swollen eyes. No discharges of any kind. Just very lethargic and eats and drinks little and little. She eats watermelon mainly and it passes through her just fine and actually had some good poops today.

Currently have her resting in pet taxi by a dish of water spiked with antibiotics and a plate of her regular food with kefir.

We are hoping to get an appointment with our avian vet tomorrow and will have him do all the tests (blood/feces) he needs to do.

We are very attached to this hen and hope she makes it and seems like we are running out of time to save her.

Thanks!

 

[DonJuan]

I have been having this exact same problem. My rooster became very lethargic and tail dragging stopped crowing. It got to the point where he couldn't walk anymore and I had to put him down. Now I have another hen having the same symptoms. I separated them both did antibiotic treatments but nothing worked they just got progressively worse. The hen just died tonight. I can't figure out what is causing this? Please if you find out what is going on post so I know too.

 

[enola]

How long has it been since your chickens have been wormed?

 

[HumblechickDad]

I am sorry to hear, DonJuan. That sounds very familiar, yes. I have lost another hen in the past with same type of symptoms. There has to be a reason for this to be happening and it is scary because it usually results in death.

I will be sure and post what our Vet finds. He basically learns from us, seeing how we are probably the only chicken owners in town who actually care about our hens enough to not mind the vet bills for them.

Our chickens have never been wormed and have had them for over 3 years. No worms of any sort in poop, but the Vet will confirm that tomorrow. I also thought about worms being a possibility, but I doubt it. Will get him to check anyway, just to be sure.