Chicken not eating... lost a lot of weight, please help!

[OScarlet]

Hazel is my favourite, I know you aren't meant to have them but she is. She is the buff in my profile picture.

She is five years old and we hand raised her from a chick, she hatched a clutch and after a false start was the most devoted mama and stayed with her chicks for a very long time. She has always been my most enthusiastic eater and until recently was very healthy from what I could tell.

We noticed her losing weight about two weeks ago, at first i fed her some higher calorie foods like egg and scratch and mealworms and things she liked. She continued to lose weight. Everyone else in the flock appears fine and is a normal weight.

I thought it might be worms as she was also pale so about ten days ago I bought panacur, weighed them and gave them each a dose. Hazel managed to throw hers all over the floor and I wasn't sure how much she had so I waited three days and tried again. She was down to about 1500g at this point (she originally weighed over 2Kg (scale tops out at 2)

We put her in the bathtub and kept her warm, her tail was droopy and when she thought no-one was looking she lay down and looked pretty rough (but fluffed up when she saw another bird or a person). I put electrolytes in her water but didn't see her drink any. At this point she was turning down her regular food, even when made into a mash with yogurt (something she normally enjoys)

Her crop felt grainy (I don't know if it normally does) and I encoured her to eat grit and oyster shell. She took some grit. I tried massaging her crop and turning her upside down in case she ate long grass (my chickens like to do that) and it got stuck, but I couldn't get anything out of her. DH checked for egg bound or remanents in her vent, couldn't find or feel anything.

We had to go away for a week. I talked to my son who was looking after the house and warned him that I expected her to die while we were away and I put her back with the flock (he works long hours and wasn't up to nursing her and I genuinely though she would pass).

Well we got back last night and she is still here. She looks much worse, comb very pale and floppy and a few scabs like she has been picked on. No longer trying to look puffed up for me. I can't get her to drink but I put a few ccs of duracin in water (1tsp/gall) in her, she hasn't got much fight left in her to resist. She is down to 1.1kg and feels just like bones.

The only thing I could interest her in this morning was fruit, a grape, a blue berry and part of a strawberry. She turned down both cooked and raw egg, cheese and meat and scratch... usually all things she loves. She didn't want to take grit. She can still walk and look somewhat normal when out with the others but I've put her back in the bathtub for some peace.

DH says we should euthanise her this evening, I feel terribly guilty that she had to suffer while we were away and mostly agree, but wonder if there is any last thing I can try.

Please help, I am terribly upset about losing her.

 

[rebrascora]

What does her crop feel like now? If she is not eating and she has only had that tiny bit of fruit then it should be empty. I would not give her anything solid but perhaps make her smoothies with the fruit if she is interested in them. If her crop is not empty, then that suggests an impaction. It may be in the crop itself or further down her digestive tract. Does she have any abdominal swelling. I would imagine it would be pretty obvious since she has lost so much body mass. If it is a crop impaction, she would need regular massage and oil (coconut oil is good) 3-4 times a day for 10-15 mins each time.... I never give grit to birds with impacted crops because their crop is not strong enough to utilize the grit and due to the impaction it is not able to travel through to the gizzard, and can cause abrasion of the crop when you massage. If it is tangled long grass, then anything that you give her which is lumpy will add to the impaction, so the trick is to only feed them very liquid homogenised food.... hence the blended fruit smoothie rather than bits of fruit. Imagine placing a soggy mass of tangled material in a funnel and then adding things on top of it. The only stuff that will go through is fluids and very fine particles, so they are the only things that you want her to eat. Sometimes surgery is necessary to remove a wad of tangled grass or straw, but it is a last resort and the bird needs to be strong enough to survive it. If she is still able to stand she might cope with it but you have to be prepared for her not to make it.... this is assuming you have established that she has a fibrous crop impaction. Usually it will feel soft and squishy, sometimes with a harder sediment in the bottom part of the crop.
There are you tube videos of how to do crop surgery and it is not difficult but you need to be reasonably practical and not squeamish. I have done it twice. The first time was a huge success and the bird was up as soon as I glues her back together and let go of her and eating scrambled egg within 10 mins of finishing. She was back up to weight and laying eggs exactly 2 weeks later. The second time I left it too late and although the surgery went well, she was too weak to recover.
I hope it is not too late for your girl, but it may be something else like cancer, especially as she has lost so much weight and older hens are quite prone to it.

 

[OScarlet]

I'm sorry, I missed that bit out. She did go 48 hours last week before I left with only liquidy foods that included olive oil and massage. I removed the food at night during that period and checked her in the morning and her crop was much smaller (I'm sorry, I don't know what empty feels like). She continued to lose weight during this time and didn't seem to perk up. I smelled her breath while I massaged and didn't smell anything bad.

Thank you for trying to help me! I really appreciate any ideas.

 

[rebrascora]

Massage may help it but a couple of days is usually not enough. I've had some take 2 weeks of only liquid food and daily massages to clear and some that would not clear and needed surgery. During that time they need to be removed from any opportunity to add to the impaction, so no bedding, no solid food, just puppy/incontinence pads and gruel, oil and water and a good vitamin supplement like Nutri Drench. It seems horribly cruel to keep them fastened up with so little to eat but until you can get it cleared there is no point in feeding them. If the crop is empty then you should not be able to feel it. It will just be flat. If you can get a
hold of it, then there is something in there and if what is in is more than she has had to eat, then there is an impaction somewhere, but as I said, it can be lower down the digestive tract and it could be caused by a tumour.
If she does die or you decide to euthanize her, do you feel able to open her up and learn from the experience. It can sometimes help other flock members down the line. I appreciate that she is a pet and therefore you may no be able to face such a thought. If it is something you think you could do, take plenty of photographs of what you find as there are a few of us who share such photos and are often able identify the likely cause. I hope you don't find this suggestion offensive. It is in the interests of improving knowledge and learning.

Best wishes whatever you decide to do

Barbara

 

[OScarlet]

I just got home from work, she looks worse. She smells bad too. I picked her up and she started to puke, I turned her upside down over the toilet and the liquid (yellow water with duramycin in it) and all the fruit etc came out. No grass or anything though. She isn't standing now.

 

[rebrascora]

Unfortunately, if there is grass in there it won't come up or go down because it gets ravelled into a big knot. It sounds like she is too far gone and needs to be helped out of her suffering if you are able to do that for her. She looks like such a sweetheart! I'm sure you will miss her but she had a good life with you in a loving home and that is a lot better than the majority of chickens. Hopefully you can take comfort in that.

 

[dawg53]

Sounds like impacted gizzard. Try giving her tomato juice orally with an eyedropper or syringe without needle. It should get things moving, IF it's not too late.

 

[OScarlet]

Thank you for your help.

I ended up taking her to the vet, in part Barbara because you talked about learning from it and being a better carer down the line. It was very expensive and unfortunately the vet believes it is cancer. She said that her crop does not feel impacted and she is very anemic. No external parasites and she feels that as our other birds are all doing fine that it is less likely to be a disease or parasite although it is possible. Her advice was to euthanise her. I decided to take her home, feed her whatever she wants and my husband will end her suffering tonight. She is currently pecking at cheese puffs and I've tried to make her as comfortable as possible.

She said that five is not a bad age for an egg layer, that while yes, birds can live 8-10 years it is not for the majority of them.