Chicken barely able to walk, lethargic, and something in eye

[huevo]

Sorry I am very new here, and I joined solely to get advice for my darling White Leghorn Jessabelle. I went into the coop today to find her barely able to walk, wings carried low, and was not excited over food like my other chicken, Huevo.

Both are Leghorns about two years of age, and I have pretty steadily been getting eggs from both of them.

On further inspection, I noticed a little thing on her eye, only in one, and in the top corner. I don't even know what it was, and still do not. It was easily removed with a tissue, but I have absolutely no idea what it was.

I have not seen her poo, but she can run in short spurts before practically falling over and now she is sleeping and scarily lethargic. I have been giving her water out of a dixie cup for the past thirty minutes, and she has been drinking and laying out on my front porch.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[casportpony]

Comb color?

Has she been de-wormed?

Has she been dusted for mites/lice?

Is her crop empty or full?

Has she lost weight?

-Kathy

 

[huevo]

Her comb color is not paled from usual at all, and her crop does not seem swollen. She hasn't been dewormed (that i know of), but was dusted last in the spring. She's always been a bit smaller than my other chicken, but seems relatively the same weight.

Since I posted this she's tried to get up, and when she had gotten up she ran in a circle just to fall over again. She has also pooped a mucusy, watery poo.

 

[huevo]

It's morning and she seems less "sick." The only visible problems now are her incredibly dull eyes and the fact that she has no will to stand up, or she just can't stand up at all.

Still not sure what the deal is, and why all this came on in the matter of hours...

 

[casportpony]

It's morning and she seems less "sick." The only visible problems now are her incredibly dull eyes and the fact that she has no will to stand up, or she just can't stand up at all.

Still not sure what the deal is, and why all this came on in the matter of hours...

When mine get sick, this is what I do:

• *Thorough* physical exam which includes inserting a gloved, lubed finger into the cloaca to check for an egg, check for cuts, bruising lumps, smells, etc.
• Dust for mites/lice with poultry dust even if I cannot see any. DE does not work.
• Weigh on digital kitchen scale, record weight and weigh daily. any weight loss is bad.
• Place bird in a warm, quiet place on towel with food and water that it can't drown in.
• De-worm with Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste (fenbendazole 10%) 50mg/kg by mouth and repeat in 10 days. Warning - Safeguard/Panacur should not be used during a molt.
• Once warm, if not drinking and crop is empty, hydrate with warmed Pedialyte or lactated ringers with a feeding tube - 30ml/kg every 6-8 hours.
• If not eating after 24 hours and crop is empty, tube feed baby bird food mixed with Pedialyte
• Inspect poop.
• If I suspect a stuck egg, treat for egg binding.
• If I suspect a bacterial infection, treat with antibiotics.
• If I suspect a fungal infection, treat with Nystatin.
• If I suspect coccidiosis, treat with Corid (amprolium).
• If I suspect canker or histomoniaisis (blackhead), treat with Metronidazole.

 

[seminolewind]

I would think about doing the things that Casportpony suggests. Could she have eaten anything bad? With dull eyes, sounds like she could use an antibiotic and Corid to start with.

It's unfortunate that many chicken ailments have many of the same symptoms. If they've never had contact with other additions to the flock, I would think it's not contagious. It could be she ate something moldy.

Have they had contact with other chickens?

 

[Haunted55]

A question...what do you normally feed them. Brand, type of feed. Vitamins?

 

[huevo]

I usually only keep single flocks (this is my second batch of 6) at a time as they are mostly pets and not used for much else, so the remaining two out of 6 have been together since I got them as chicks and no others have been introduced. Not much in diet has changed, I feed them DuMor layer crumble and some eggshells for calcium every now and then, but not as much recently as egg production has gone way down with only two chickens left.

She's eating and drinking when offered directly to her on her own. Her poop is back normal looking and she laid an egg for us today, but she still will not stand. I have her settled and isolated from my other hen.

I'm just not sure what to do, and I'm very sorry and I'm trying my best to answer all these questions to help us figure out something, but it's my first time one of my chickens has had a serious illness/problem.

 

[casportpony]

Do a search for cage layer fatigue.

 

[Haunted55]

I usually only keep single flocks (this is my second batch of 6) at a time as they are mostly pets and not used for much else, so the remaining two out of 6 have been together since I got them as chicks and no others have been introduced. Not much in diet has changed, I feed them DuMor layer crumble and some eggshells for calcium every now and then, but not as much recently as egg production has gone way down with only two chickens left.

She's eating and drinking when offered directly to her on her own. Her poop is back normal looking and she laid an egg for us today, but she still will not stand. I have her settled and isolated from my other hen.

I'm just not sure what to do, and I'm very sorry and I'm trying my best to answer all these questions to help us figure out something, but it's my first time one of my chickens has had a serious illness/problem.

Okay, first problem...Dumor feed. I know it's cheaper but this time you really are getting what you pay for. Lose it! I can't stress this enough! The Dumor feed has had so many problems that I wouldn't even consider it anymore. Purina as a whole is leaving me cold to be honest. [Purina makes the DuMor brand for TSC] I have switched all of my birds to Blue Seal brand feed and have seen a big difference in growth, appearance and overall health. The feed we give our birds is really a 'garbage in and garbage out' situation.

The first thing I would do is get some poultry vitamins and add them to their water. Sav-A-Chick from TSC would be fine for now. Before we bring the "M" word into this conversation, please try some vitamins and probiotics for these birds. See if there is a change in everything. Give the vitamins for a good week and re access the situation there. If there are no changes we may need to be talking about something else. Please keep us updated! We can't help without your imput.