Aged Care for old chook

[Couchie]

Hi wonderful forum members. I have an apricot pekin bantam. We got her at an auction so I am not sure how old she is but we have had her for about two and half years.

I am wondering - what are the characteristics of a chicken that is about to die of old age compared to one that is unwell?

She has lost her appetite, not completely but weight is down and she is hard to entice to eat anything except a little fruit. She sleeps a lot!! A few metres moving followed by a nanna nap. A few weeks ago she was jumping hip high fences to get into yards so I am wondering if she has hurt herself or it is old age. She seems pale in the face when sleeping but gets redder when picked up etc

She is also unable to get up a step half a foot (20cm) high so I am wondering if she has damaged a hip or something. She is able to walk.

Can anyone can tell me if this sounds like old age?

 

[sourland]

Has she still been laying ?

 

[azygous]

I'm running an "assisted living" service for old hens, (ages ten through twelve years) so I can tell you that chickens don't die of "old age". https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/issues-with-advanced-age-chickens.1379757/ Their immune systems do weaken and they are more susceptible to disease, but they can be expected to enjoy reasonably good health until a pathogen or cancer takes advantage of the situation.

One, not so obvious, cause of behavior such as your hen is exhibiting is simple hunger. My twelve-year old hen has a slow growing tumor over her eye that has rendered her mostly blind. She has trouble seeing to eat and drink. She manages all right, but she requires time to get what she needs. However, this isn't always possible in a flock of much younger chickens who are all competing to get as much as they can get away with eating. I feed fermented feed twice a day, so there is no on-demand feeders.

I've noticed that some days she sleeps a lot. It was natural to assume she is just napping a lot due to old age, but she perks right up if I segregate her with a dish of food so she can take her time and eat all she needs without a one-year old swooping in and eating it first.

So, first try food. But she may have an infection that could benefit from an oral antibiotic. What does her poop look like? Also, check her crop to be sure it isn't going yeasty. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Reproductive issues are not uncommon with this older set. My eleven-year old Wyandotte still tries to lay eggs. She hasn't got much calcium left, and while she laid a perfect egg this summer, most of her eggs lack shells and get stuck after collapsing inside. The result is infection, complete with vent prolapse. I've had to treat her twice this summer for this dreadful issue.

If your hen has recently had some issues with shell quality, as @sourland alludes to, this could be a possible reason for her subdued behavior. This can easily kill an old hen if infection arises from a collapsed egg inside her.

Then there is cancer of the reproductive system. This is probably one of the most most common causes of death in an old chicken. It can also be the cause of organ failure that leads to death.

 

[Couchie]

Thank you so much for your replies sourland and azygous.

I should have said that she has not laid for a long while. I am not exactly sure how long it has been but I think at least six months.

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts there azygous. I guess what you say about not old age is somewhat true of humans too. Since writing this thread it seems Apricot is getting a little appetite back. This morning she found the first worm of the morning and was able to keep the others away to eat it. She does seem to struggle swallowing. We have made little ramps to get around the popular spots in the back yard and I think otherwise she couldn't get up some of the steps around the place. We do isolate her from the others (of which there isnt many) to entice her with a variety of foods but without much success. Hopefully her appetite is improving and with it her health.

Thanks again.

 

[Couchie]

She died yesterday. Just as a point of reference.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Aw. I’m sorry.

She died yesterday. Just as a point of reference.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

 

[happychicken2435]

sorry for your loss, she was a beautiful bird

 

[Couchie]

thank you. She had a great life for a chook. And was well cared for her last few weeks. We would pick her up sometimes to take her to the flock because she couldn't get up the small steps etc. We made sure she didn't have to fight for food and had water from an eye dropper. The last evening I checked on her in her house, I asked how she was going and she looked at me through half closed eyes, made a whimper and quickly shoved her head deep into her feathers. She knew it was coming. She died during the night and was buried in the vegie patch in the morning.