Sick Chicken, not moving for food or water.

[Maya122]

Hi, I have a flock of 5 hens, all about a year and a half. Recently one hen, a Speckled Sussex, started going through her first molt, but then she started to get worse. At first we thought it was just a bad molt but after 2 days she’s started to move less and less. Right now she won’t get up for water or food and hasn’t for the past day and a half and her poops are now yellow and pale. She wouldn’t leave the coop this morning either until we moved her. She’s super lethargic and I think her comb looks a little pale. She is weak when she walks if she moves at all. We’ve looked for mites and lice but I can’t see any. We also have 2 parrots that we really don’t want to catch anything either. The other 4 were moving slow 2 days ago but now they’re up and moving again and eating. We live close to Dallas if that helps at all. The other chickens’ poops are normal and below are pictures of the hen and her poops.

This was from yesterday:

Today:

Please let me know what’s wrong and is there anything we can do to help her and if possible prevent spreading to our other birds. Let me know if there’s any more info needed that I forgot or that could possibly help her.

 

[Stravager]

Have you checked if she's eggbound? Is her crop empty? What kind of food does she get on a regular basis?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that your hen is going through a rough time with her molt. That can be a time of great stress, they feel lousy, are less active, and where they don’t feel much like eating. But most hens will still eat a treat of scrambled egg or something like tuna or ground meat. I would also hold a small cat food can of water up to her beak, and if you have some electrolytes or Poultry NutriDrench that would be great. Has she been a good layer of hard shelled eggs in the past? Is her lower belly under the vent enlarged at all? Has she lost weight? Is her crop empty or full, soft or firm?

 

[Maya122]

Have you checked if she's eggbound? Is her crop empty? What kind of food does she get on a regular basis?

I haven’t checked for eggbound. She’s on nutrina feather fixer, and her crop feels like it has pellets in it. Shes also super puffed up.

 

[Maya122]

Sorry that your hen is going through a rough time with her molt. That can be a time of great stress, they feel lousy, are less active, and where they don’t feel much like eating. But most hens will still eat a treat of scrambled egg or something like tuna or ground meat. I would also hold a small cat food can of water up to her beak, and if you have some electrolytes or Poultry NutriDrench that would be great. Has she been a good layer of hard shelled eggs in the past? Is her lower belly under the vent enlarged at all? Has she lost weight? Is her crop empty or full, soft or firm?

She wouldn’t eat and treats we put in front of her. sometime she would lay soft eggs in the past, I don’t think she has lost weight I can’t tell, she’s always been on the skinnier side. Her crop doesn’t feel full full like I can still feel pellets inside of it and it’s more soft. I don’t have any electrolytes currently but I will go get some if needed. I can’t really tell if the lower belly is enlarged. I just looked at her vent and it looks like it’s leaking poop but it’s the same color as the poop from this like the creamy pale yellow color.

 

[Maya122]

Here are some photos of her vent and her. She’s walking really slowly if at all and after she will just collapse.

 

[Maya122]

I haven’t checked for eggbound. She’s on nutrina feather fixer, and her crop feels like it has pellets in it. Shes also super puffed up.

I’m not completely sure how to check if she’s eggbound, she is acting like she could possibly be but I’m scared that I’ll hurt her. If she is, how should I go about it?

 

[Eggcessive]

Her tail is pointed down, and that may be a sign that she has a reproductive disorder. You can use a disposable glove, and insert a finger into her vent about 1-2 inches to feel for an egg. You could try giving her a human calcium with vitamin d tablet. Check her crop early tomorrow morning when it should be empty. You can make some homemade electrolytes by adding a tsp of sugar and a tiny pinch of salt to a quart of water.

 

[Maya122]

Her tail is pointed down, and that may be a sign that she has a reproductive disorder. You can use a disposable glove, and insert a finger into her vent about 1-2 inches to feel for an egg. You could try giving her a human calcium with vitamin d tablet. Check her crop early tomorrow morning when it should be empty. You can make some homemade electrolytes by adding a tsp of sugar and a tiny pinch of salt to a quart of water.

Just wanted to add an update for today. She isn’t looking much better than yesterday. Still won’t walk, the most she’ll do is move two steps before sitting down and closing her eyes. We’ve been giving her some vitamins and electrolytes with water and raw eggs since that’s the only thing we could get liquid enough for her to eat. We tried to feel for an egg last night and this morning but we couldn’t feel anything more than liquid. When we did that poop started to leak out. When I felt her crop this morning it didn’t feel hard but not super empty either, just squishy. We’ve been trying warm epson salt baths but i don’t think it’s helping. She still won’t poop and kinda just lays with her eyes closed. Her lower stomach feels bloated but not hard. She also can’t move her legs very well. Any more suggestions on what to do?