Chicken refusing to eat. Poisoned?

[annestahl]

Hi everyone I hope you can help!!!

My chicken has been refusing to eat. I have 5 girls who free-range on 1/4 acre. I started noticing that she separated from the flock. I inspected her and saw that her butt was very very nasty. So I gave her a 20min warm water bath, crumbled and cut away the poop from the feathers, washed the rest carefully, dried her and put her back in the flock. She did not have any other symptoms. Her crop seemed empty, I felt for a stuck egg but found none, her eyes are clear and her feathers are gorgeous (clean, in good shape, no mites or lice that I could see on blowing). I waited a couple of days - watching her. She still separated out from the flock, and now seemed to want to sit down more. I thought: broody. So I left it at that, but kept an eye on her. She didn't seem to sit in the same place and she didn't sit on any eggs. After a couple of days I decided, this is not normal broody behavior and inspected her again. All was great, but she now was rather skinny. I offered her some treats, but she showed little interest - even when prodding her. Sunflower seeds, fresh corn on the cob, scrambled egg. Nothing. The only thing she ate was shredded cheese, and I didn't think too much of that would be good for her (since it's salty) so I didn't give her all that much of it. But between the cheese and my prodding her with seeds, she did have some food. So I let her back out as she seemed eager to go back to freedom. She still had enough energy to escape me when I approached her.

I have been feeding her with a syringe and I also dewormed her. I've given her vitamin water, yoghurt, olive oil, mushed up feed and scrambled egg. But she is fighting being fed and just keeps getting skinnier. Today, she is not getting up at all (although she still slept on the roost with the others last night, and flew up to it by herself).

I'm at wits end. It's not compacted/sour crop, it's not compacted egg, it's not lice or mites, it's not worms. She doesn't have any signs of flu. I'm beginning to think she somehow found a bug which had been poisoned (I have the house sprayed and the chickens 'broke out' of their area about 2 weeks ago, and went into the garden where they might have found dead bugs that had been poisoned. My pest guys says he uses Cykick CS and that it's pretty harmless, but he only knows this relating to people, dogs and cats.

Summary:

- free range, small flock, 1.5 years old, barred rock
- seperating from flock, sitting down frequently - first noticed 10 days ago
- no enlarged crop, no apparent egg blockage
- runny poop (well, she isn't eating, so it's mostly just liquid at this stage)
- not eating
- seems to be drinking
- not laying
- anorexic / very skinny
- feathers look healthy
- eyes look healthy
- comb/wattles look healthy
- lethargic (by now, she's only lying down, sleeping)

- treatment thus far:
- - spa: washed her dried up poopy butt
-- dewormed
- - force fed high protein and oil foods (noticed a strange noise her beak made like chewing, but not sure if this is normal)


Any idea? I think she won't last much longer if I don't figure this out. You guys are my last hope (we have no avian vet in the area).

Thanks
Anne

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. How old are these chickens? When you cleaned her vent area, did she have missing feathers and bare red skin with white or yellow patches that could have been vent gleet? Vent gleet is an infection of the whole digestive system, and can be fungal or bacterial in origin. What medication did you use to worm her? Valbazen and fenbendazole (SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or horse paste) are very good ones that get most worms affecting chickens. I would not fight with her to make her eat, but my chickens love eggs of any kind, and feed mixed with water or a little buttermilk for probiotics. Chicken layer or all flock feed is the best thing to feed her since it is well balanced. A probiotic is very important if dealing with vent gleet. Certain diseases such as Mareks or leukosis can cause chickens to waste awayor not eat. It is pretty routine to offer probiotics and vitamins 2 or 3 days a week in the water. Many feeds now contain probiotics as well if you check your label. Here are a few links to read about vent gleet in case that is what you are seeing:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/12/vent-gleet-prevention-and-treatment.html
http://birdhealth.com.au/flockbirds/poultry/diseases/vent_gleet.html

 

[annestahl]

Thank you for your reply!!! Her butt is perfect now, there was no redness or missing feathers (apart from the ones I had to cut off to get the dried mess off). It didn't look like vent gleet (it was dry & crumbly).

The dewormer I used is Strike III (active drug: hygromycin B)

She is absolutely refusing to eat and is fighting me with the last bit of energy she has left. I have decided that - unless there is any great insight to be found here - to allow her to die in peace and dignity. She is in a large dog crate now, on soft bedding and sleeps most of the time. I force fed her this morning, when I decided that it didn't seem to help her and that if she hates it that much, maybe it's time to let her be.

But if anyone has any other ideas, please let me know SOON.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that she has completely stopped eating. How does her crop feel early in the morning? Tube feeding is available to chickens if you would like to do that.Casportpony has a thread called "Go Team Tube Feeding" that has the details. If she dies, you may want to get a necropsy done by the state vet to look for Mareks disease or other possible causes. Here is some info about finding your state vet: http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

 

[crcgirl93]

Sorry to hear this. I had the exact same problem with an older Silkie hen earlier this year. She had an empty crop and I treated her for everything. Lice, worms, made a last ditch effort with antibiotics, etc. She was wasting away as well. Just sitting/standing around outside not joining the others. She spent her last two weeks in my kitchen and would only eat a few shreds of cheese. It's my personal preference not to tube/force feed but many others do this and have success. I just would not want someone forcing that on me....no matter what! Anyway, at the lowest point she just laid there and we ended up putting her to sleep. Sometimes I think there could be something else going on internally (injury, cancer, etc) that just cannot be identified.

 

[annestahl]

Thanks you all for your ideas and thoughts.
Sadly, she passed away yesterday.