Please advise, hen sick and not getting better!!

[Djgm]

My frost white legbar, Eva, is only 10 months. She had been fake broody for a bit, staying in the nesting box for hours before laying and then she would get out of the nesting boxes. About 3-4 weeks ago, I am pretty sure a soft shell broke inside her. I was able to pull the soft shell that was hanging half way out of her after her soak, and after a few days in the ICU, her poop was normal and she was back to herself so I put her back with the rest of my girls. She hasn't laid an egg since or even gone near the nesting boxes. This past weekend, she did go back into the nesting box for the first time for a very short amount of time, but didn’t lay an egg. Then on Monday, she was just standing by the water. I noticed her comb & face were pale and her tail was down. We were in the middle of a heat wave where it was 95 degrees, so at first I assumed she just was too hot. I would like to note: I have 2 small fans in the coop and a box fan in front of the run going all day long to keep the air moving for them. I also make sure their water stays nice and cold by putting ice in it throughout the day. I even put a frozen gallon of water in the coop in case they get too hot and want to sit next to it. They are under constant shade, but the chicken coop itself does reach 90 degrees on super-hot days even with the fans going 24/7. This was the first hot day for my newbie chickens and most of them seemed to be hot with their wings drooping and open mouth breathing, which is why I assumed she was hot like the rest of them. All my older (and much heavier) birds were 100% fine. Every time I went into the coop, she would run away like normal, so I left her in the coop overnight. Then on Tuesday, around 6am, she was back in the run standing in front of the water just like the day before, but it wasn’t that hot yet. I brought her inside and first thing I did was I soaked her in an epsom salt bath in case she had an egg in her again. I put my finger inside and didn’t feel anything. When she pooped, it didn’t have the typical yolk coloring to indicate an egg broke in her, but it was just pure water with a pale yellow/clearish look to it. I have her back in the ICU, with a fan blowing on her and have been giving her some nutridench since Tuesday. Her poop has been consistently just pure water, not like diarrhea. I figured this is because she is just constantly drinking water. She's pecks around at her feed, but not eating as much as she is supposed to as I can't feel her crop at any point of the day, but when I've taken her out, she will forage and devour anything that's not the regular feed (purina layena crumbles). Unfortunately, in my town free ranging isn't allowed, so the flock has only had whatever feed and treats I give them. Her poop now has green bits amongst all the water, so I'm assuming that's from foraging outside. I am not sure if it matters, but she still hasn't had a cecal poop since I have isolated her a second time. Lastly, I have been checking her over completely for the past 2 days for mites and such, but I have not seen anything moving on her or any eggs at the base of her feathers. I'm really not sure what the heck could be going on. All my other girls are fine, any ideas what it could be? Anything else I can do?

Attached you will find the photos for her. The first picture of poop with the square tile is the poop she took after her epsom salt bath. The other 2 poop pictures were from her overnight. The last photo of her is how her coloring looked this morning. Ignore the brown on her as she doesn't like nutridench and wanted to wear it lol.

 

[Djgm]

Now she's doing that open mouth breathing on occasion, like they do when they're hot, but she's still in ICU and it's only about 70 degrees in my garage (where the ICU is,) does anyone have any clue what could be going on?

 

[Mrs J]

Now she's doing that open mouth breathing on occasion, like they do when they're hot, but she's still in ICU and it's only about 70 degrees in my garage (where the ICU is,) does anyone have any clue what could be going on?

Sorry to be of no help but I will tag some of our members that can hopefully help. @azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @casportpony Good Luck

 

[azygous]

Open mouth panting can also be from stress. All chickens will hold their beak open slightly when feeling uncomfortable being confined or held.

The issue is a possible oviduct blockage. The lack of cecal poop is a huge clue since the cecum are blocked off when there's a blockage. This causes a large amount of bodily fluids to be discarded in the poop instead of the cecum distributing the fluids throughout the body tissues as is normal.

So, I suggest treating for a blockage with concentrated calcium such as this.

Give one whole tablet directly into the beak. No, she won't choke. Just pry open the beak and shove it in. This will help contractions to push out the blockage. Give her plenty of water to drink as this can cause dehydration.

 

[Djgm]

Open mouth panting can also be from stress. All chickens will hold their beak open slightly when feeling uncomfortable being confined or held.

The issue is a possible oviduct blockage. The lack of cecal poop is a huge clue since the cecum are blocked off when there's a blockage. This causes a large amount of bodily fluids to be discarded in the poop instead of the cecum distributing the fluids throughout the body tissues as is normal.

So, I suggest treating for a blockage with concentrated calcium such as this. View attachment 3133572Give one whole tablet directly into the beak. No, she won't choke. Just pry open the beak and shove it in. This will help contractions to push out the blockage. Give her plenty of water to drink as this can cause dehydration.

Thank you! She's drinking lots, so hopefully she continues to do that!

 

[Djgm]

Sorry to be of no help but I will tag some of our members that can hopefully help. @azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @casportpony Good Luck

Thank you!

 

[Djgm]

@azygous Just got it (similar to the brand in your pic) and gave her one. Thanks for the heads up that she wouldn't choke lol. I was wondering, how often do I give it to her? Thank you again for your help!

 

[azygous]

She should probably have a tablet each day for the next several days. What you want to see is one good quality egg per laying cycle(25 hours). Keep up the daily citrate until any eggs are normal.

If this is caused by a reproductive infection, we would expect her to decline further, but if this is a simple obstruction, she should start behaving normally again as soon as it is expelled.

 

[Djgm]

She should probably have a tablet each day for the next several days. What you want to see is one good quality egg per laying cycle(25 hours). Keep up the daily citrate until any eggs are normal.

If this is caused by a reproductive infection, we would expect her to decline further, but if this is a simple obstruction, she should start behaving normally again as soon as it is expelled.

She passed overnight

 

[Djgm]

What the heck, today my Cream Legbar was similar, droopy wings, just standing there, not going for the morning treats with the rest of the flock. Again, same batch of babies, so she's 10 months like Eva. Put her in ICU, and she laid a soft shell, but still droopy wings and just standing there. What could possibly be going on?? All my other older girls are fine, there's been no issues (knock on wood) it's just this batch of 10 month olds. I should mention back in April, I lost one (my other cream legbar) very quickly, she was just laying down, puffed out, tail down, and within 24 hours she was gone.