2 sick and injured hens, help *pics*

Ema

Songster
9 Years
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
1,960
Reaction score
17
Points
143
Location
N. Ontario CANADA
1) 2 Rhode Island Red, 8 months old
2) sitting a lot, not moving very much. Feather picking herself on the abdomen area. No mites.
3) 2-4 days
4) no one else is acting this way at all
5) one has an infection on her foot, and its swollen, does not look to be bumblefoot and the other hen is limping
6) they were locked up in their coop due to -43C weather, they got agitated and there were a couple fights. they have also been fighting over nesting boxes.
7) Been eating layer food, boss and scratch, sometimes scrambled eggs, and fresh water all the time
8) Poop is runny on one and the other semi runny
9) Hen with infection has had her belly and feet soaked in salt water, and scrubbed in salt water until clean, then applied poly and bandaged, her belly is pretty bare. the other hen got a salt water foot soak, no idea how to treat a limping hen, no visible injuries can be seen.

10 ) I am attempting to treat my birds, at home, hoping this will work, they seemed pretty stressed out from being away from the rest of the flock.
11) I have pics will post as soon as I can upload them to the computer.
12) the hens live in a 12X11 in barn-coop plenty of room and they have a covered run for exercise. I use straw for bedding and inside the nests, I clena the coop every week and add fresh straw, they receive clean food and water.

I need help in figuring out what could be the issue with the runny poop. I will post pics real soon, I am still in the middle of treating one hen, the rest of the flock is as usual, blabby and loud and looking for treats....will treating the foot with polysporin with the no pain killer in it be a good way to continue her treatment. her foot is pretty swollen and I could see several cuts no idea how those happened, any help would be appreciated thanks

Ema

59578_2011_0205chickenssick0025.jpg


59578_2011_0205chickenssick0026.jpg


59578_2011_0205chickenssick0027.jpg

her feet are muddy from the run

In the first picture you can see a bit of blood on her right foot right in between the toes, there was some pus coming out so I made sure to scrub it clean before applying poly and bandaging. poop pic coming soon. I should mention that the one with the swollen, infected foot feels rather thin. I Inspected the chickens last weekend after cleaning the coop and she was certainly not like that. then there was a fight her comb was all bloody a couple days later but I never noticed anything else wrong with her cause she was running to get away from me so I wouldn't pick her up.

the one that is limping....as previously stated I see nothing wrong externally but she prefers not to move around, so I am thinking she was having issues getting to the feeder..sigh....
 
Last edited:
could the hen thats limping jumped maybe from the roost and hurt her leg? maybe just some epsom salt soaks might help there. And I was wondering if the one whose pulling out her feathers might be broody? they will do that when their broody. As for how you've treated looks like you have it covered pretty good. might have to find something like blue kote to spray or apply to the wounds for healing but mostly to cover any open places which will draw the others to peck at it. My little frizzle did that to herself when she was broody, if you've checked for lice and mights and can't find anything like that then I'd say thats what it is.. I'd watch them all real close the next few days and if you see one picking on the others then remove her for a few days to see if all settles down.. keep a close eye on the infections just in case you might have to give something internally, hopefully it won't come to that.. this winter alot of us BYCers have had problems with our chickens being bored because of having to be cooped up for long periods of time. your doing it all right by giving them things to do. It's just that time of year, and we all know how we can get when we can't get outside after a while.. as for the runny poo maybe give them some probiotics in the form of plain yogurt, butter milk or kefir it helps the gut issues.
 
well it will not let me upload my last pic of the runny poo
sickbyc.gif
keeps telling it its the wrong format but its not so maybe the pic itself was no good. anyhow, it was gren and runny very runny.

I also forgot to take pics once I cleaned her feet in warm salt water, so I will take some tomorrow,

How do I stop a chicken from picking her own feathers out??? she is makign herself all bald on her tummy.....I have been sick last three days with the flu so my dh was going out to feed them I think he must have missed the signs, but I doubt she was able to move around meaning she was likely sitting in the same spot and maybe her feathers got dirty and so she picked them off??? could this be it? either way she got a good cleaning to get rid of the stuff on her belly and then I gently blow dried her and she is not by a heater cause she was shivering. they are ina medium dog crate...all I had, tomorrow I will have to figure something else cause they don't have much room at all.
 
Quote:
Miss Lydia, I think you might have hit the nail right in the head, prior to the coop fight she was giving us a hard time about taking her eggs, she was getting a bit nasty, as for the other one it certainly is a possibility that she hurt herself jumping off the roost, half of them are crazy, they see us coming and they all jump down in a frenzy and rush the door, so now before we go in we open up the run cause they are just nuts...

tomorrow I will be going out to buy some more ointment and I am going to see if one of the vets has some sort of spray like blue kote, I cannot buy it up here so the vets might have some.

At first look I though ohh no bumblefoot but it isn't presenting itself in that manner, no scab no nothing...with the bandage on she refuses to to put weight on it, so she is in my dining room complaining with all the dogs staring at her...lol
 
Being broody will make a hen pluck out her feathers. why are they in a med. dog crate? the one with the plucked feathers is sick too? the green almost makes me think someone isn't getting much to eat, could they be keeping each other from eating? If the one hen has just plucked out feathers then I'd put her back in with the rest of the flock... that would give the other 2 more room.
 
there is only two, one has the infection on her foot with the plucking of the feathers, the other is limping. nothing else wrong with her. since she is limping I thought I would keep them together so it would be easier on both of them and they would both get some rest. they are both thinner than the rest, I doubt both of them could get to the feeder in the coop as they were being picked on and were keeping to themselves. They both have runny poo. So I do think they haven't been eating much at all too. I am goign to give them some plain yogurt.

they are in a medium dog crate because I didn't have anywhere else to keep them. I have cats (indoor) which are locked up in the bathroom for now, and 6 dogs, which I do not trust around them, the crate is safer for them at this point since they cannot be in the coop
sad.png
 
do you think that is limping should go back in the coop with the rest of the flock? leaving just the one with the pulled feathers and infection here in the house?
 
Okay I misunderstood you I thought you were talking about 3 hens sorry. good idea to keep them together. still what you are saying makes since. they need nourishment, since you have cats why not give the hens a little canned cat food mixed with yogurt. Cat food will give them protein and the yogurt will help with the gut... also scrambled eggs or oatmeal anything to get them eating and get some weight back on them.. I have been giving my chickens canned wild salmon once a week since it's getting closer to sitting time. but your girls need the extra food right now to get their immune systems back in line
 
Last edited:
well she left me no choice but to put her back....she was complaining real loudly and had all the dogs going and she would just not quiet down or even relax. So I gave her some food which she ate rather quickly, some water and a bit of yogurt. then we brought her back to the barn.

One hen flew off the roost at her, but didn't get a chance to get too close before a whole bunch of them came to defend her, not real sure what that behaviour is but this limping hen means something to the flock for them to defend her. Either way she quieted down immediately once she was back in her coop. gave them some BOSS and they had a snack before bedtime.

the one with the missing feathers and foot infection has been quiet and didn't even fight me at all when treating her, unlike the other one
roll.png
lol either way, she is content, just sitting there and she has food and water within her reach and of course a little yogurt. Tomorrow, like every sunday I plan on cleaning the coop, but I think this time I am going to take everything out and put all new stuff instead of doing a surface clean.

thank you Miss Lydia for your help I really appreciate it, this is my real first issue with injury or sickness in my flock, I know it won't be my last but I can hope at least. :-D
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom