Chicken won't eat feed just corn, weird neck motions, lost weight

[ika]

Hi everyone,

We have 1 RIR (2 1/2 years old) out of 6 that is struggling to eat her normal feed. She's about done with a very long (several months) molting process, her feathers look beautiful now.

I noticed that her comb has been much smaller, and she has lost weight. We kept her inside for a day to see how much she'd eat and poop. We found out that she ate very little.
I checked her crop at night right before bed time and it was essentially empty.

Her poop looks normal overall, I'd describe as watery but without food it makes sense to be that way. As far as I can tell she's been drinking a normal amount of water.

I'm not sure for how long this has been going on, we started investigating in more detail and brought her inside for a day about a week ago.

She is interested in eating broken corn kernels and treats such as bananas but avoids her feed. I recently noticed her making weird neck motions when eating corn. Something as like she was having a hard time swallowing.

Can someone provide some guidance? I wasn't able to find anything helpful so far.

PS: I'm not sure if it's relevant, but we lost a chicken sometime ago that had similar symptoms (lost weight, molting, small comb). Here's my posting talking about it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/lethargic-chicken-not-eating-runny-poop-injuried.1551454/

Thanks,

 

[nuthatched]

What is your chickens normal feed? It sounds like wry neck, which is a vitamin deficiency. The poop is watery because she's not eating. You can treat wry neck with one 400 i.u vitamin E gel capsule and about 1/3 of a human vitamin B Complex tablet per day for *about* 2 weeks.
Add some water to her pellets to make a mash for her to eat, or scrambled eggs are a good food, the corn isn't great for her.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Did you deworm her when you dewormed the other hen? Are the weird neck motions only when eating? Can you take a video and post it? It could just be due to being weak and malnourished at this point, but since you lost another girl in similar circumstances, I'd check all your other hens thoroughly and make sure they seem up to weight and start looking for things that could be making them weak/ill. Check for mold in the feed/feeder, give the coop a thorough clean, check the roost at night for signs of mites, etc. Try to get some nutrition in her... my chickens love wet mash with a little yogurt and a splash of rooster booster... could mash a little banana into the mix as well if she likes that and see if your girl will eat it.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Any abdominal swelling? Production RIRs, sadly, are prone to reproductive issues, so that is my first thought when one is sick, but it certainly could be something else.

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you provide poultry grit for digestion? It sounds like she is adjusting her crop, as they do when trying to get food to move through the crop. If she is eating cracked corn, you should feel it in the crop. Are you feeling the right spot? I would stop the corn, which is not enough protein or balanced, and try some watery chicken feed mash. Add a little scrambled egg or tuna, canned cat food, or chopped meat. Recheck to see if she is eating, and that the crop is emptying overnight. If possible a video could be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo with a link posted here. A picture would work too.

 

[ika]

Thank you so much for the replies! Here's some clarifications:

I haven't noticed the neck movements today nor yesterday while feeding her. Also, just wanted to clarify that the neck movements only happened during eating corn and not all the time.

Found out that she also does not like dried mealworms.

She currently weighs 4.7lb. Another of our hens, the smallest of our RIR is 5lb.

What is your chickens normal feed? It sounds like wry neck, which is a vitamin deficiency. The poop is watery because she's not eating. You can treat wry neck with one 400 i.u vitamin E gel capsule and about 1/3 of a human vitamin B Complex tablet per day for *about* 2 weeks.
Add some water to her pellets to make a mash for her to eat, or scrambled eggs are a good food, the corn isn't great for her.

We feed them Purina Layer Feed in pallets. We also add food grade Diatomaceous Earth and their own dried egg shells for extra calcium.

Along with corn, I've been also giving her to drinking water with vitamins/electrolytes and mother vinegar.

I've been thinking about getting crumble or just feeding her with a syringe. Eggs also crossed my mind but we only have 2 laying, so we have kind of a shortage.

Did you deworm her when you dewormed the other hen? Are the weird neck motions only when eating? Can you take a video and post it? It could just be due to being weak and malnourished at this point, but since you lost another girl in similar circumstances, I'd check all your other hens thoroughly and make sure they seem up to weight and start looking for things that could be making them weak/ill. Check for mold in the feed/feeder, give the coop a thorough clean, check the roost at night for signs of mites, etc. Try to get some nutrition in her... my chickens love wet mash with a little yogurt and a splash of rooster booster... could mash a little banana into the mix as well if she likes that and see if your girl will eat it.

I did not. I only gave the sick hen the dewormer. I clean some of the coop areas everyday and check their poop. I have not noticed any worms or tapeworms. But I'm open to give them dewormers if needed.

I'll try to record a video if she does it again.

We keep a close eye on all the hens and we spend a good chunk of time with them, we have not noticed anything weird with the other ones.

We live in AZ and replace all the food in the feed every week. We monitor temperature and humidity in the coop. It sits currently at 58% and 53F (morning). Pretty humid for our standards.

I'm still trying to bug proof the coop (to avoid AZ Scopions) we still have a small spider or bug here and there but I never saw mites.

She does like Bananas! We might just have to keep giving her for this season.

Any abdominal swelling? Production RIRs, sadly, are prone to reproductive issues, so that is my first thought when one is sick, but it certainly could be something else.

I have not noticed any weird bumps, nothing on the visible part of her mouth, her vent is clean, her skin fine, and her feathers impeccable.

Do you provide poultry grit for digestion? It sounds like she is adjusting her crop, as they do when trying to get food to move through the crop. If she is eating cracked corn, you should feel it in the crop. Are you feeling the right spot? I would stop the corn, which is not enough protein or balanced, and try some watery chicken feed mash. Add a little scrambled egg or tuna, canned cat food, or chopped meat. Recheck to see if she is eating, and that the crop is emptying overnight. If possible a video could be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo with a link posted here. A picture would work too.

Our backyard is covered in gravel (picture below), the coop area has a whole area covered in them that the chickens love to scratch and look for little pebbles that break off from the rocks. That said, I assume that these rocks combined with the Purina feed are enough for grit. Let me know if you think that is not enough.

It's possible that she was just adjusting her crop. I have a hard time finding the crop when empty. But I do think I was able to feel the corn there.

Her crop is emptying normally in the morning.

This is our type of gravel:

https://cdn3.volusion.com/exgsz.ywkdq/v/vspfiles/photos/categories/364.jpg?v-cache=1531121801

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Based on all the comments seems like we need to find some more nutritious to give her. Ideally, we could replace the current feed with something that they all like and is nutritious. Any ideas?

Thank you so much again for the help!

 

[ika]

A couple of updates and the video:

These past few days we kept trying to feed her. We bought a different type of feed. Same brand but different kind with Omega 3 and shaped as pearls instead of pallets. All the chickens loved except for this one. She ate quite a bit the first day, then stopped.

The first few times it helped her eat to have the feed soggy.

She's now also refusing that and corn. Yesterday I tried to dissolve the feed and feed her using a syringe but is hard and extremely time consuming.

I've been noticing that she's slowly becoming more lethargic everyday. She's now not as active as the other chickens although she moves and jumps around.

As for her neck, she stopped doing the motion for a few days and then she did again 1 or 2 other times, always while eating. I finally got it on video the last time she did. Here it is:

If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm afraid that she won't survive if we can't figure this out.

We're also heading to an overseas trip mid january for 3 weeks. We'll have people monitoring and caring for the chickens multiple times a day but they won't know how to handle special cases. So we need to get her to a healthy spot before we leave.

Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She is interested in eating broken corn kernels and treats such as bananas but avoids her feed. I recently noticed her making weird neck motions when eating corn. Something as like she was having a hard time swallowing.

We feed them Purina Layer Feed in pallets. We also add food grade Diatomaceous Earth and their own dried egg shells for extra calcium.

Offer her wet feed, but don't add DE or egg shells. Egg shell and oyster shell can be given free choice. DE not sure what it's for, but personally I see no benefit adding it to feed or using it at all.

Her movement is adjusting the crop. Is her crop emptying completely overnight. Check it first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink.

Provide crushed granite (Grit) free choice to your flock.

I'd give her some coconut oil twice daily. Massage her crop during the day and let us know what it feels like. I wonder if she has a blockage or perhaps sour crop.

Getting a fecal float to rule out worms is always a good idea.

 

[ika]

Offer her wet feed, but don't add DE or egg shells. Egg shell and oyster shell can be given free choice. DE not sure what it's for, but personally I see no benefit adding it to feed or using it at all.

The DE suppose to help with parasites, bugs, and keeping the food from getting mold. When I feed her separately I don't add either DE or egg shells.

The egg shells are also large enough that if the chickens want to not eat they can. Actually often times there are leftovers.

Her movement is adjusting the crop. Is her crop emptying completely overnight. Check it first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink.

That was my guess too. Yes, the crop is empty and I see droppings from overnight.

Provide crushed granite (Grit) free choice to your flock.

I'd give her some coconut oil twice daily. Massage her crop during the day and let us know what it feels like. I wonder if she has a blockage or perhaps sour crop.

Getting a fecal float to rule out worms is always a good idea.

Is grit needed even with the Purina feed and the rocks on the ground?

I'll give it a try. Her crop is almost nonexistent until we feed her something, is so hard to find.

I did some research on fecal float (see link below) it seems to be a complicated process.Is there an easier way to do this? Should I perhaps just give her Equimax or Albendazole?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/fecal-examination-in-backyard-chickens-101-part-1.75459/

 

[nuthatched]

The DE suppose to help with parasites, bugs, and keeping the food from getting mold.

Unfortunately, it doesn't do that very well, especially internal ones, doesn't do a thing, you don't need to add it as the feed already contains a small bit .