Chicken lethargic and refusing food/water for a week

[PuddleEndChicken]

Really appreciate your support !

Here a vet consultation even without cost of injection would be more than 6 times the cost of the chicken, so I'm not sure that's possible for us.

How about just letting her quietly sit in her box and not feeding - would that be inhumane to let her go that way ?

Having said that she seems to be moving around a bit more so I'm not sure it's time yet.

 

[NatJ]

How about just letting her quietly sit in her box and not feeding - would that be inhumane to let her go that way ?

Personally, I don't see deliberate starvation as a humane method of killing an animal.

If you leave food and water available, and she clearly doesn't want them, then maybe.

(Just my personal opinion, but you were asking for opinions.)

When I have occasion to kill a chicken, I usually cut the head off with a hatchet.

Chickens tend to flap around after they die, so having the head off reassures me that the chicken really is dead, not still suffering.

This article is how I do it, for many of the same reasons as the writer.
https://www.muranochickenfarm.com/2017/06/the-easiest-way-to-cull-chicken.html

I agree, that's a good rundown on ways to kill a chicken, and the author settles on one that's effective and fairly tidy.

 

[coach723]

For me, slow starvation I would not consider humane. The RSPCA definition of humane killing is: 'when an animal is either killed instantly or rendered insensible until death ensues, without pain, suffering or distress'. So for me that reads it should be that they are unconscious when it happens, or it should be as instantaneous as you can make it.
It is entirely your decision on when the time is right, but for me, if she's eating (even considering she needs help right now), drinking, and pooping, then I personally would give it some more time. You can always decide that the time is right to end it, but you cannot change your mind after. If she does not improve, gets worse, or just slowly continues to deteriorate, then I think you will know when it's time. There are always considerations on the amount of time and effort anyone can put into the care of any animal, so those are valid considerations also.

 

[PuddleEndChicken]

Thank you so much for your helpful comments and I understand totally that we have to decide and I agree that putting her out of her misery immediately as you've described seems the best way.

Yesterday I was ready to give up, but now she seems to have "turned a corner". She drank water and yoghurt from a cup last night until the crop was full and this morning the crop has emptied. Then I've been feeding her mash (with vit E) most of the morning. As long as I hold the cup up and hold her neck over it, she keeps eating. I have not needed to force feed at all for the last 24 hours. And her poop finally looks normal too. So I think (and for anyone reading this and wondering about their own chicken's symptoms!) that the whole gut issue was caused by worms probably gapeworm (due to proximity of pheasants) and impacted crop due to the worms. After 3 days of worming and lots of supportive feeding with probiotic yoghurt, sunflower oil, and vitamins, (and of course all of @coach723 's fantastic support on the website for which I'm very grateful !!) that she has fully recovered from that issue.

So now we are looking at the neck and as she's vaccinated against Mareks etc I'm thinking it is on balance a vit E deficiency issue. I've been giving the Vit E for 3 days now but her neck is still severely twisted and now she almost can't stand and if she goes off balance, she flails around with her wings out. I'm happy to feed from a cup for a while and see if her neck strengthens as she goes back to full diet.

If she's now eating watery layers mash/vits and the poop looks solid and normal again, what do you think the chances are of the neck straightening out again to the point where she can walk/feed herself ?

 

[coach723]

I have read of some cases that took weeks to resolve. As long as she is so improved otherwise, I would continue with what you are doing. Hopefully you will gradually start to see improvement. I had a hen about 6 months ago that I suspected had an impaction, abnormal droppings, crop not emptying, weight loss, and after worming it took about a week before her crop was emptying properly and droppings looked normal, and she was eating and drinking well on her own. Many people do not realize how sick a bird can become simply from an internal parasite (in my case it was roundworm). I did not, luckily, have to deal with wry neck on top of it, but it does show that support and most importantly, patience, can help them make it through many times. I had also questioned whether I was prolonging the inevitable, but I just really didn't feel like she was giving up, so I stuck with her. I sincerely hope you have a happy ending also.

 

[PuddleEndChicken]

I have read of some cases that took weeks to resolve. As long as she is so improved otherwise, I would continue with what you are doing. Hopefully you will gradually start to see improvement. I had a hen about 6 months ago that I suspected had an impaction, abnormal droppings, crop not emptying, weight loss, and after worming it took about a week before her crop was emptying properly and droppings looked normal, and she was eating and drinking well on her own. Many people do not realize how sick a bird can become simply from an internal parasite (in my case it was roundworm). I did not, luckily, have to deal with wry neck on top of it, but it does show that support and most importantly, patience, can help them make it through many times. I had also questioned whether I was prolonging the inevitable, but I just really didn't feel like she was giving up, so I stuck with her. I sincerely hope you have a happy ending also.

Hi there, we are still going ! She is eating 3 or 4 cups of watery layers mash (with Vit E, selenium, other vits, probiotics) every day now. She is pooping very regularly although it looks just like watery layers mash coming out the other end - I'm not sure how much digestion is actually going on !

But I am still very concerned about the neck - it is getting worse and worse, I'll try to send you a photo later. Her head is literally now upside down on the floor and now she's stronger she is thrashing around as she can't get her balance (and if I wedge her in with a towel or something she just knocks it out of the way). Her head has twisted further on her neck too so she can hardly get her head into the food cup or swallow.

Is there some way I could restrain her neck into the right position so that she feels more balanced and also to somehow gently help the neck to straighten out ?

I'll go on with it today and see how we go, but if it continues to get worse then despite the gut recovering the neck issue is going to prevent her feeding and also make her suffer with all the thrashing around so it might be kinder to put her out of her misery....

 

[coach723]

These things are very unpredictable and often frustrating. It's so hard to know what is really going on inside. Wry neck sometimes gets worse before it gets better. It's hard to know since we don't really know the cause. As always, it's entirely your call when enough is enough.
You can try using a chicken sling to help her stay upright for periods (examples below). You do need to supervise. Some tolerate them well, some may struggle and hurt themselves trying to get out of it. Alternately I have used old bath towels rolled up and placed around them to prop them up as needed and keep them more comfortable. If you do lose her, I would suggest having a necropsy done to find out what really has been going on with her. Then you will know for sure. May be helpful info for the future, or bring you peace of mind.
Here are some resources for necropsy, by state, if it comes to that:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[LaFleche]

Supply her with B vitamins too, as these are the ones the worms will have her deprived of mostly.

 

[PuddleEndChicken]

@coach723 hi there, just wanted to update you on how we're getting on !! I really felt that we'd reached the end a couple of days ago and her neck has twisted through nearly 360 degrees.

However suddenly she started to pick up with the feeding. I've been giving layers mash/scrambled egg/probiotic yoghurt/applesauce. She likes everything except the egg (!) but will take it if it's mixed with other things. She also seems to anything that's WARM too !

Anyway she's gradually got much stronger, the good news is that she's moving her head around (although the neck still really twisted) the bad news is that she's so strong she's flapping around and scratching with her claws. We tried a sling and a neck support but now we just let her sleep on her side in the straw because even with a towel for support, she will panic and smash around. She lays there with her eyes open and turns her head a bit and seems OK.

Anyway....

TOTALLY GROSS ALERT !!!!!

She was feeding really well today when suddenly a totally explosive watery, stinking poop and a 7cm tapeworm came out - it was definitely dead. SO SO GROSS !!

Well that explains a lot! So I now have lots of new questions:

- I've just read that if the tapeworm attaches in the head and neck of the chicken, it depletes the nutrients so this can cause wry neck which makes sense now.
- maybe this caused the initial gaping because it was in her crop/neck - although I'm pretty sure she passed some gapeworm (red/tiny/Y shaped) as well after the first worming
- I gave her one dose of 50mg of mebendazole and then a week later I gave her 40-50mg of mebendazole 3 days in a row. Do you think I'll have killed all the worms in her now ?
- do chicken tapeworms pass to humans and could this tapeworm pass to me if I've been handling the chicken on my lap for about 3 weeks now when the eggs were being excreted and active ????? HELP !!
- it was in with the rest of the flock - they all still seem very healthy but they shared a barn and a run with this chicken. Even if I worm them now, could the worm eggs be in the soil of the run for years ?
- could my kids who've been playing with the rest of the chicken have tapeworms now ??

I'd really appreciate your advice on this and sorry for the gross factor !!

 

[coach723]

In the US a wormer containing praziquantel is used for tapeworm. Some of the other wormers are less effective for tapes. I don't know what kinds of things you have available there so can't really advise a product, we can get it in the US in horse wormers (Equimax and Zimectrin Gold), so that's what is commonly used. You may need a vet to prescribe it there, I just don't know. That is the most effective for tapeworms that I know of. Considering how much trouble you've had with this bird, that is what I would do, if you can get some, to make sure they are gone.
Most worms are species specific, so they don't tend to cross species, though there are some exceptions. Tapeworm infections in people are not real common and it's usually from eating food or drinking something that has tapeworm eggs in it. If you are following basic good practices and washing hands after handling your birds, you likely have nothing to worry about. Tapeworms in chickens are usually gotten from eating a secondary host. A worm or slug or other insect that has ingested the tapeworm eggs, the chicken eats that critter and that is how they pick it up. It's nearly impossible to get rid of worm eggs in the environment, they survive for a very long time, but for tapes, if you can identify the secondary host they are getting it from, you may be able to reduce the population of those.