Chicken puffed up, tail down, not moving

[Eggcessive]

Yes, the stool looks normal, except for some intestinal shed and mucus. Did her crop empty overnight? Is she eating and drinking today? Her tail position sounds better.

 

[Iluveggers]

Yes, the stool looks normal, except for some intestinal shed and mucus. Did her crop empty overnight? Is she eating and drinking today? Her tail position sounds better.

She was eating, drinking, and pecking around all morning. I’m thinking now maybe she had some blockage that moved through, would that have done it? I had to go to work, but I watched her for a good 20 minutes this morning, and will observe again when I get home. Fingers crossed!

 

[Iluveggers]

Forgot to update, she is amazingly doing fine! I guess it was just a weird thing. She literally was standing still w her eyes closing for hours. I’m really glad she’s ok though!

 

[Saveria]

Yeah, it is so odd how that happens sometimes. I don't know why, but I have seen it many times, especially in this time of year. I'm guessing that they are just fighting things off, like people do. So glad she is feeling better.

 

[ArthurFrane]

We have a 1yo easter egger behaving similarly. I've been going out to check on her. We've hit our first stretch of truly warm weather this year (high 80s) so I'm thinking that plus maybe dehydration? She laid this morning, normal egg, and I checked her poop about an hour ago - managed to be there to watch her go - everything looks normal to me.

Diet is mostly layer pellets/crumbles, supplemented with garden bugs she scratches up, miscellaneous (chicken-friendly) greenery from around the yard. She ate some scratch earlier today, and drank water. I refreshed their water supply, and added ACV and some ice in case she needed to cool off a bit.

 

[Saveria]

Welcome to BYC. The best thing you can do is start a new thread with all the info in it, then folks will see that is has 0 replies and they will pick it up quicker. If you click on this link, the sticky thread at the top has a list of questions you can answer to get faster answers.

Hope that helps!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures.10/

 

[SmiYa0126]

We have a 1yo easter egger behaving similarly. I've been going out to check on her. We've hit our first stretch of truly warm weather this year (high 80s) so I'm thinking that plus maybe dehydration? She laid this morning, normal egg, and I checked her poop about an hour ago - managed to be there to watch her go - everything looks normal to me.

Diet is mostly layer pellets/crumbles, supplemented with garden bugs she scratches up, miscellaneous (chicken-friendly) greenery from around the yard. She ate some scratch earlier today, and drank water. I refreshed their water supply, and added ACV and some ice in case she needed to cool off a bit.

@ArthurFrane can you dose her with calcium citrate? It's calcium with magnesium, it is more bioavailable to the hen.

 

[ArthurFrane]

@SmiYa0126 we can give that a try. Thanks for the tip. Good news is she's looking much better today, and was even up and around, scratching through the compost piles last evening. Thinking it was just a weird day for her, maybe heat or possibly impacted crop. We're keeping an eye on her just in case.

 

[Saveria]

It is hard to treat on these symptoms alone, since there are a lot of ailments that can lead them to display these behaviors. I also do not have access to the avian vet, so here is what I usually do.

- Bring them inside in a dog carrier with straw/shavings so I can watch them more closely.
- Check to see if they are egg bound if they are a hen and I don't know when they laid their last egg (yours doesn't sound egg bound, tho)
- I usually put corid in their water, so in case it is cocidiosis, that should clear up.
- I usually add a vitamin boost type of supplement to their water too.
- I watch them, look at their poop, gather information and then try to research online whether a dewormer, antibiotic, specific vitamin, etc. could help. Some folks will tube feed, I usually just try to help them get back to health.

I agree when folks say it isn't good to throw medicines at something that you aren't sure of, but if you can't get to a vet you sometimes have to try something. Maybe someone on here will be able to pick out a symptom better than I can, or you will see something new that someone can hook onto.

I was wrong here, I learned since then that corid and vitamin Boost needs to be separate to work properly. If the corid doesn't work then starting vitamin boost, or the other way around is the thing to do.