Chicken acting weird

[Hrobinson98]

So my almost 2 year old chicken has been acting odd past couple of days. I don't want to panic but just want an opinion. She had bumble foot and a dirty butt so we cleaned her butt and took care of her foot that was kinda when this all started. She is slow, tired a lot, drinking A LOT of water and barely eating. She makes noises, scratches at things from time to time but sometimes she just stares off into space. My father thinks that maybe she was just over heating. I don't know what to think, I don't wanna over think anything but I don't wanna not do anything either. Also yes she was a normal layer then stopped cause of molting season and has only laid one egg since February. She is an Easter eggs and has a floppy comb, it is abit purple which can be normal for her sometimes. Any advice on what she may have, do I need to be concerned?

 

[Mrs. K]

The sometimes purple comb can indicate a heart problem. Not anything you can do about it. Just a genetic issue. I have had that issue show up, but generally about 5 months old, just as they are getting full size, the defect in the heart cannot keep up with the full size body.

But yours is older than that. I would not hatch eggs from her.

Mrs K

 

[ChaosMom]

So my almost 2 year old chicken has been acting odd past couple of days. I don't want to panic but just want an opinion. She had bumble foot and a dirty butt so we cleaned her butt and took care of her foot that was kinda when this all started. She is slow, tired a lot, drinking A LOT of water and barely eating. She makes noises, scratches at things from time to time but sometimes she just stares off into space. My father thinks that maybe she was just over heating. I don't know what to think, I don't wanna over think anything but I don't wanna not do anything either. Also yes she was a normal layer then stopped cause of molting season and has only laid one egg since February. She is an Easter eggs and has a floppy comb, it is abit purple which can be normal for her sometimes. Any advice on what she may have, do I need to be concerned?

I haven't had chickens long enough to deal with illness, thank goodness, but I have to say, if there were a human who had had a cut that got infected, then developed diarrhea, then became fatigued, drank a lot of water, and barely ate, I would be concerned about bacteria from the original cut spilling over into the bloodstream and causing a general infection that made this person ill (not just bad lab tests.) As in sepsis.

But if she has heart problems, as Mrs. K suggested, maybe you're looking at congestive heart failure, if there is such a thing in chickens (maybe it's just in mammals.) I hope she recovers soon!

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

Usually chickens only act like this when they're feeling really ill. They usually try to hide when they're sick so that the flock doesn't catch on and reject them, if it's outwardly visible like this it means she can't hide it anymore. I'm not well versed in chicken illnesses, but this is serious, take her to the vet if you can. In the meantime, keep her in a warm, dimly lit room to reduce stress, and add electrolytes to her water (there's guides to do that on this site) see if she'll take foods that are dense in calories, especially protein and fat, like mealworms if you have them, or plain yogurt, sardines in oil, or similar. If you can't take her to the vet, I'll let someone with more expertise speculate at what could be wrong. Best of luck with her

 

[ChaosMom]

@Hrobinson98, you might want to ask a moderator to move this thread over to the Emergencies/Diseases etc. forum, where people more familiar with illness might be able to help.

If you want to do this, go back to your first post on this thread and click the Report button at the bottom left. A text box will open, and you can type in your request there. If you do this and they move it, you will get a notification (bell symbol in the upper right bar, by your name.)

But I agree with Vulpes: if you have a veterinarian who is familiar with poultry (not just learned back in vet school), you should consider having her checked.

 

[ChaosMom]

- OP started the same thread over on the Emergencies forum yesterday afternoon https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-acting-odd.1659407/