Abruptly sick hen, feedback please!

[Houdini56]

One of my 2-1/2 year old Golden Comet hens has become ill pretty much overnight. Fine yesterday, eating, scratching, socializing
during their supervised free range time. Today, came out with the other two but seemed dazed and in slow motion. Got to my chair
and just stood there, almost nonresponsive. She's the friendliest of the group and interacts a lot with me. Her name is Patience.

I put her in the hen house by herself and offered yogurt and some water with a bit of yogurt in it. She did take a few bites of yogurt and
took some sips of water...but basically sat herself down, not moving much at all. Her butt feathers were a bit messy with poo but not the
worst I've ever seen....still, we got some warm water with mild soap and took a look at her vent. It is clean appearing and it's usual fleshy
color. There was obviously wet poo on the back feathers so she is still putting it out. I trimmed her feathers and put her in the chicken
tractor for some quiet time.

The other thing that may be pertinent is they are in what we call a mini-molt.....some chicken feathers are laying around for the last week,
and when we usually get 1-3 eggs a day with 2 being average, we have only had one egg a day for the last 3 days. These hens don't ever seem
to have the type of significant molt I expected, just go through these times where they get a bit scraggly looking and it never lasts too
long. Egg production usually goes down at the same time. I assume this is just the way it is with hybrids.

I palpated very gently around her vent and didn't get any sense of an egg. She didn't seem particularly bothered by me doing it. I know
they can get egg-bound, but really don't know a lot else about it.

I'm not sure what else to look for or what I can do for her. I was hoping that washing her vent would perk her up, but she was pretty
much the same when I put her in the tractor afterwards.

Patience and I would appreciate hearing your thoughts or suggestions. Thank you!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is she pooping? What's that like?

Check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight.
She may be going through a full molt, which can make them a bit droopy, but still should not really be lethargic.

If she's not laid an egg recently, she may be starting to exhibit some signs of a reproductive disorder. See that she's drinking well and eating. You can offer her calcium like Caltrate for 3 day along with a poultry vitamin to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Houdini56]

This morning her crop appears empty. Yesterday when I had her by herself I only saw one fresh poop and it was small but seemed normal. She didn't seem to be pooping as much yesterday.

This morning she appears no worse and possibly a little more chipper. She went after the scratch, though with less excitement than usual. I've put her in the chicken tractor again because last night she was hiding behind the roost bars. She is on the bottom of the chain of command, and the other two hens can be aggressive at times towards her.

She immediately was drinking water and pulling a bit at grass when I put her in the tractor. I will sit with her a little later and see what I can about her pooping this morning.

There were no eggs so far today, so I'm thinking she may just be having a harder time with a molt than the other two are. At least she hasn't gotten any worse since yesterday.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I will update on her later today.

 

[Houdini56]

Things don't look good for Patience. After 6 hours in the tractor I can't find any sign of fresh poop. She does continue to drink actively and also to eat yogurt and some mealworms. I took her out and we went on a short walk where she seemed to be looking for bugs, but not at all her usual level of interest and activity.

We had noticed that she is not holding her neck in a normal position but rather seems to have her head pulled in close to her body much of the time. When we let her out to free range with the other two hens this afternoon, she suddenly kind of fell to the side, stretched one of her wings out wide, pulled her head in close to her body, and just sat there, opening and closing her eyes. I watched her for 5 minutes then went over to pet her and she stood back up and pulled her wings in. Before long she just sat back down again.

She has been in the tractor all day today and no egg. I believe this is third day in a row though might only be the second without her laying.

So the big red flag right now is that it doesn't appear she is pooping even while she continues to take in food and water, and she is having some obviously abnormal body postures (for lack of a better word!). We are keeping her away from the other hens who have no sympathy.

I am a little worried that if she has a GI obstruction I'm only adding to the situation by giving her any food at all...?

 

[Houdini56]

I just used some KY jelly with a gloved hand and got my index finger almost 2 inches inside her vent....no egg to be found.

When I picked her up to position her she pooped -- it mostly went in the grass so can't tell much but it was very watery and clear, nothing formed and nothing white.

As an aside, I do think I've strained our friendship....after the exam when I went to put her down she tried to peck me, something she never does. Female to female, I don't blame her one bit.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Have you tried boiling or scrambling an egg and offering it to her? That helped one of my hens that was having a tough time molting.

 

[Houdini56]

I haven't tried anything except yogurt and meal worms...her two favs...but I will definitely do that. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I would separate her from the others to enjoy her egg. You want to make sure she gets as much as she'd like.

 

[Houdini56]

I'm keeping her by herself in a chicken tractor on the grass during the day. She loved that scrambled egg! So did the other two....I figured if it was good for her then it was good for all. And they seemed to agree!

 

[Houdini56]

Well, Patience made it through the night, but after reading some other posts with similar symptoms I don't feel as hopeful as I would like.

Her symptoms -- Now drinking LOTS of water, and her poop this morning was large, very runny, and yellow, like yellowish water. She eats but does not scratch around. She walks a little bit but mostly sits or stands and is fluffed up. She keeps her head pulled in close to her body most of the time, though extends her head normally when eating or drinking. She will eat most anything I offer that she likes. Fairly certain there has been no egg for at least 48 hours, probably longer, though they are in a mini-molt right now and the other two aren't laying as much either. Yesterday when I checked in her vent no egg to be felt.

I am keeping her away from the other two during the day. I noticed last night that one of the others was going after her more aggressively than usual-- Patience is on the bottom of the pecking order, and usually just takes it in her stride, but I want her to be able to rest as much as she needs. The tractor isn't secure enough for the night, though, so at that time I put her in the henhouse.

I didn't think to check her crop this morning and will try to do that before I start work. Today the temperatures have dropped after being in the 70s and I think I will set her up a box so she can be warmer if she's inclined.

Another day with fingers crossed.