Chicken is not eating with diarrhea

[armoredblob]

Hello. We have a Rhode Island Red in her 2nd laying year who is not eating with copious watery diarrhea. She hasn't been eating for around three days. She was hiding in the chicken coop, super puffed up, not moving. There do not appear to be broken bones or injuries. Her crop is empty. She was bullied by our former guinea fowl and lost a lot of feathers around her vent area from them attempting to mate her (there were two of them and they were both male, they were an experiment gone awry of our former landlord). Her tail feathers, as well, lost their fluff. They haven't regrown. She's been in rough shape for awhile now but was free-ranging with the other chickens and eating and drinking normally. She's had some variation of diarrhea for about two months, but now it's quite severe. We brought her inside and are isolating her from the rest of the flock. I don't believe that she has gape-worm, as she doesn't gape when she breathes, although her breathing is somewhat raspy. It sounds like it's coming from her chest. She seems absolutely miserable at this point and I'm not sure whether culling her would be the merciful thing to do or if there is treatment that we can do on our own. We cannot take her to the vet. She was stressed for a long period by the guineas and appears to be a sensitive sort. This morning, she looked like she was longing to go into the chicken run to nibble scratch and grass with the other chickens, so my partner put her down inside the run and our 4 other chickens, including our Silkie roo, went after her, pecking her. So we have brought her inside and will keep her here until she is better or no longer. We let her go outside and walk around a little bit but she doesn't seem interested in eating. If you have any ideas as to what could be wrong with her, please let us know. The remaining flock seems healthy and happy, so I don't think this condition is necessarily contagious. Thank you for reading!

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she could have something seriously wrong with her, such as a reproductive infection or others. Is her tail up or down? What do her poops look like? How does her crop feel—empty and flat, full, soft and puffy, dough-like, or firm? First thing in the morning it should feel empty. Worms or even coccidiosis or enteritis might be something to rule out, but difficult without a vet to do a fecal float. For now while you have her separated, I would tempt her to eat and drink with some wet chicken feed, scrambled bits of egg, tuna, or canned cat food. Water is most important, and electrolyes can be added to the water.

 

[armoredblob]

Thank you so much for your response. Our chicken's tail is mostly up. She has watery diarrhea, it's tinted yellow. I was talking to a friend who has a flock and she suspects internal laying. We suspect she has such bad diarrhea because she hasn't eaten anything solid or substantial for at least three days. Her crop feels empty. We're going to care for her the best we can. We'll definitely try to tempt her to eat and hopefully manage to get some electrolytes into her. She is still drinking, gratefully. Thank you so much for your suggestions!

 

[KaltasinKoopSookeBC]

Hello. We have a Rhode Island Red in her 2nd laying year who is not eating with copious watery diarrhea. She hasn't been eating for around three days. She was hiding in the chicken coop, super puffed up, not moving. There do not appear to be broken bones or injuries. Her crop is empty. She was bullied by our former guinea fowl and lost a lot of feathers around her vent area from them attempting to mate her (there were two of them and they were both male, they were an experiment gone awry of our former landlord). Her tail feathers, as well, lost their fluff. They haven't regrown. She's been in rough shape for awhile now but was free-ranging with the other chickens and eating and drinking normally. She's had some variation of diarrhea for about two months, but now it's quite severe. We brought her inside and are isolating her from the rest of the flock. I don't believe that she has gape-worm, as she doesn't gape when she breathes, although her breathing is somewhat raspy. It sounds like it's coming from her chest. She seems absolutely miserable at this point and I'm not sure whether culling her would be the merciful thing to do or if there is treatment that we can do on our own. We cannot take her to the vet. She was stressed for a long period by the guineas and appears to be a sensitive sort. This morning, she looked like she was longing to go into the chicken run to nibble scratch and grass with the other chickens, so my partner put her down inside the run and our 4 other chickens, including our Silkie roo, went after her, pecking her. So we have brought her inside and will keep her here until she is better or no longer. We let her go outside and walk around a little bit but she doesn't seem interested in eating. If you have any ideas as to what could be wrong with her, please let us know. The remaining flock seems healthy and happy, so I don't think this condition is necessarily contagious. Thank you for reading!

Please please get her some antibiotics! The Feces test is the only way to tell what is really wrong but I was told by a really great avian vet that chickens can have digestive issues that lead to infections. If you take her inside make sure she has lots of water with a bit of apple cider vinegar--in case you haven't done this yet. If you can get a water dropper you can get her some water into her gently opening her beak (I watched a great Youtube video on getting them to eat pills, etc.)

If she's ill the other chickens will peck her but not to be mean but to keep her going...seriously am learning so much about these amazing birds! I hope I helped...thanks Lou

 

[armoredblob]

Thank you so much, Lou!