Sick hen

[amberh5064]

Hello all…I have a hen that’s 3 years old, hasn’t laid in about a year and has been acting off the past month. The vet said she had worms so we treated her and gave her antibiotics, which helped for about 2 or so weeks and now she’s back to sitting in the house all day. She has a slight swollen belly that’s tight feeling, barely eating or drinking but still seems to perk up. Her comb has fell over from not drinking and I’ve tried forcing water in her. I’m stumped as to what to do next. I checked on her this morning and saw her trying to eat some squishy mass that was in the nesting box I found her in this morning. We’ve dealt with lash egg before but since she doesn’t lay I wasn’t sure she would have that problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated! The picture was after I had cut into it to see what it was

 

[azygous]

It does appear to be lash material. This stuff is pus and indicates reproductive infection. It would answer why she isn't laying eggs. You can try to treat the infection with an antibiotic such as amoxicillin, but by the time you see pus sloughing off, the infection is usually pretty far along.

 

[amberh5064]

It does appear to be lash material. This stuff is pus and indicates reproductive infection. It would answer why she isn't laying eggs. You can try to treat the infection with an antibiotic such as amoxicillin, but by the time you see pus sloughing off, the infection is usually pretty far along.

She was heavy layer in the beginning and it slowed down then she stopped. I have another one that did that too and they have been fine since they stopped laying. She hasn’t had any issues ever. I started her on baytril 2 days ago but she was on sulfatrim from the vet and we finished that up. My concern is of course everything going on but also trying to get her to eat and drink, it’s getting in the 80s this week in nc. Also nc it’s hard to get any type of antibiotics and there’s very few avian vets that seem to know anything.

 

[azygous]

When a hen is not eating or drinking and it's making her weaker by the day, tube feeding may be necessary to get nourishment and hydration into her. I usually tub feed once or twice and that usually gets the chicken eating and drinking again. Tube feeding is strictly a short-gap intervention, not meant to keep a sick chicken on life support.

Tubing is easy, but you need the necessary kit. You can order it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095J7PFV..._csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&tag=backy-20