Can I save my chicken?

[DangerChickenHouse]

My two year old girl started showing signs of strange behavior (illness) before we went out of town on Monday (6 days ago). She separated herself from the others, wasn't excited when I brought treats, and stood in the corner of the run while everyone free-ranged.

Fast forward to 5 days later (yesterday):
We came back from our mini-vacation to find her laying in the corner of the run and she was very lethargic. As I let the others out to free-ranged, she stood up and pooped a very watery green/white poop. After searching on the internet, I discovered that was because she probably wasn't eating. I decided that she must be egg bound because I did not see bloody stools anywhere and she has a clean beak and face. In fact, her comb is still red. However, her comb is flopped over into her eyes. I soaked her in the kitchen sink and she drank water and seemed content. I tried to feel her body for signs of swelling and hard spots, but I honestly have no idea what should be hard and what shouldn't.

Last night/this morning:
I went out there after dark to find her laying in the run. The other girls were roosting outside, so I put her in the coop by herself in a nesting box. This morning I found her in the run floor again. There was a broken egg in the coop. Not sure if that was her's or not. She pooped when she saw me and it looked like watery scrambled eggs. I brought her inside and using the information on the internet that I found (here and youtube), I did the following:
1. Soaked her butt
2. Crushed up TUMS for calcium and fed it to her with yogurt. She ate it!
3. Put on latex gloves and stuck my finger in her butt to feel the egg. I felt NOTHING! I'm so confused! But, the finger caused her to poop, which was still scramble eggy and watery.
4. Put KY Jelly around the inside of her vent.
5. Put her in a quiet dark place in the house to sleep it off.

Advice? I am afraid my chicken is dying.

 

[BantamLover21]

My two year old girl started showing signs of strange behavior (illness) before we went out of town on Monday (6 days ago). She separated herself from the others, wasn't excited when I brought treats, and stood in the corner of the run while everyone free-ranged.

Fast forward to 5 days later (yesterday):
We came back from our mini-vacation to find her laying in the corner of the run and she was very lethargic. As I let the others out to free-ranged, she stood up and pooped a very watery green/white poop. After searching on the internet, I discovered that was because she probably wasn't eating. I decided that she must be egg bound because I did not see bloody stools anywhere and she has a clean beak and face. In fact, her comb is still red. However, her comb is flopped over into her eyes. I soaked her in the kitchen sink and she drank water and seemed content. I tried to feel her body for signs of swelling and hard spots, but I honestly have no idea what should be hard and what shouldn't.

Last night/this morning:
I went out there after dark to find her laying in the run. The other girls were roosting outside, so I put her in the coop by herself in a nesting box. This morning I found her in the run floor again. There was a broken egg in the coop. Not sure if that was her's or not. She pooped when she saw me and it looked like watery scrambled eggs. I brought her inside and using the information on the internet that I found (here and youtube), I did the following:
1. Soaked her butt
2. Crushed up TUMS for calcium and fed it to her with yogurt. She ate it!
3. Put on latex gloves and stuck my finger in her butt to feel the egg. I felt NOTHING! I'm so confused! But, the finger caused her to poop, which was still scramble eggy and watery.
4. Put KY Jelly around the inside of her vent.
5. Put her in a quiet dark place in the house to sleep it off.

Advice? I am afraid my chicken is dying.

I do not think your hen is egg-bound, unless she is walking around upright like a penguin. Have you felt her crop? If not, do so in the morning, and check if it is large/hard or abnormally large and squishy.

Also, try to get her eating something, and make sure that she is drinking. Entice her to eat by giving her mealworms, applesauce, moistened layer feed, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, or anything else that she will eat. Get her to drink by dipping her beak in water, holding a spoon filled with water up to her beak, or dripping water on the side of her beak. If you have any, put some probiotics and vitamins/electrolytes into your hen's water to boost her energy and digestive tract health. If she will not eat/drink on her own, you might have to tube feed her or get her to eat some other way.

Also, as you are doing, make sure to keep your hen in a warm, clean place. Try to minimize any external stresses, such as house-hold pets wandering around, lots of activity nearby, or extreme temperature fluctuations.

It is possible that she could have worms or Coccidiosis. If she doesn't improve soon, I would get a good wormer and worm her. Some choices include Wazine (however, this only works on roundworms), Valbazen, SafeGuard, Ivermectin, or the Worminator (you can purchase it from here: http://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=584), which contains Flubenvet. You might also consider purchasing some Corid, and treating for Coccidiosis.

 

[DangerChickenHouse]

Her crop IS enlarged and mushy. Does this mean she has Coccidiosis?

 

[BantamLover21]

Her crop IS enlarged and mushy. Does this mean she has Coccidiosis?

No, it means that food isn't moving along properly in the crop, or she could have just eaten. Have you seen her eating anything? If not, she likely has sour or impacted crop. I would give her some olive oil, and then massage the crop's contents. If it is impacted crop, this will usually resolve the problem. Sour crop is a fungal infection. I don't have any experience with sour crop, so I can't help you there.

 

[mithious]

It won't hurt to try corrid, it is for cocci. Atleast you would have ruled it out if she has no change and you can usually see a change faily quickly. Corrid dosage is, liquid 2 tsp per gallon, powder is 1/2 to 3/4ths tsp per gallon. Some people use 1 tsp per gallon of the powder if the chicken has been sick for a while to get them started, If she won't eat, you can mix up the solution, in the water. the way mentioned, and pour over some feed, ( enough that they can eat it in about two hours) my chickens LOVE this and it gets the corrid into them, so they will start eating and drinking on their own again. Treatment is 5-7 days. I am doing the 7 day treatment, as mine were pretty sick.( we had no bloddy poo's, just medium brown and very runny in ALL chicks) We are on day 6 and there is a HUGE improvement in ALL the chickens. If you find it IS cocci, you will need to clean out their bedding and sterilize the coop. I am going to use ammonia, as I have read that works best to kill the cocci.

If you find this works for her, I would recommend treating all the chickens. But that is a personal choice and must be determined by the owner. Cocci is a parasite, and they can get an overload of them in their systems, that is when they get sick from it. Hope your chicken gets better soon!!!

 

[DangerChickenHouse]

Okay! Thanks for the suggestions.

I will get Corrid today and treat all of my hens and clean the coop. We recently had a bad rat invasion in the run and I finally got rid of all of the rats. I wonder if they diseased my chickens.

I hope this works!

 

[DangerChickenHouse]

I bought Corrid and she drank some. I really appreciate the dosage suggestions. The label was hard to read and I would have rationed it incorrectly if it wasn't for your suggestion. She drank some water, had a few bites of a few things I had set out for her, and then she went to lay back down. Hopefully she will regain strength through the night

 

[BantamLover21]

I bought Corrid and she drank some. I really appreciate the dosage suggestions. The label was hard to read and I would have rationed it incorrectly if it wasn't for your suggestion. She drank some water, had a few bites of a few things I had set out for her, and then she went to lay back down. Hopefully she will regain strength through the night

I know, the directions for using lots of antibiotics/medications are sometimes so difficult to figure out! Its a good thing that there are places like BYC where you can find correct information.

 

[Eggcessive]

Be sure and check her crop first thing in the morning. It should be flat and empty. If not, you still need to massage the crop several times a day, and feed her soft food like yogurt and applesauce. With chickens you never know exactly what is wrong unless you rules out each thing. They also can have more than one problem at a times. The treatment for cocci will not do harm, but if she has it may save her life. While you are examining her crop, check her body for lice and mites especially at the base of feathers around the vent.

 

[DangerChickenHouse]

There is very little change today. I started the Cocci yesterday afternoon, so I am still trying to be optimistic.

I looked at this site: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html
The poop that matches her's is the poop of the chicken with ovarian cancer.

Her crop looks good. We are on day 6 of illness. No mites. She doesn't move - even if tempted by meal worms. She'll drink and eat very little. I am offering various treats throughout the day to provoke her appetite.