Dehydration and Starvation

[Jaxdrisc]

I would love some input. I have an 18 month old BO, bottom of the pecking order, who, my guess, has been run off the food AND water by the other 5. I didn't catch it til last evening when I went to check on all and close the coop that I found her under the ramp unable to walk. She is extremely thin and her vent was the size of a dime! She has been taking on water, with electrolytes on her own, and frequently, otherwise I would have tubed her. She is also eating, albeit lightly at this point. She began to poop, the first about 30 minutes after taking water (some I used a 1ml syringe and fed it to her myself to get her going). I have been giving her watered down oatmeal, which she seems happiest with. I even added chopped up cranberries and she gobbled those, as well as a few tiny pieces of kale. She is pooping pretty regularly, it is soft, so I also know her kidneys are filtering as well as the bowel moving. However, she is still pretty weak and still cannot stand on her own. Her eyes are bright and alert, she responds to the environment around her, is whistling at me weakly, can flap her wings when lifted, and her combs and wattles are still pinkish red, not pale, but she does list either left or right, which worries me. So....with all this said, is there anything further I can do to help her??? I am so mad I didn't catch it!! I went back to work full time, so I don't spend as much time with them as I used to. What is the usual, or reasonable, timeframe when hens need to recover from something like this?? Or do they?? Any input is much appreciated!! FYI: She is indeed in the house with me in her own crate, away from the flock. Thanks so much!

 

[Chick2chicken]

I would keep giving her protein and calcium as well as some watermelon just to cheer her up. my chickens love pancakes so sometimes I cook some up for them. I would just keep her in care and hope for the best. I found this thread for the legs www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-cant-move-legs-or-stand.730246/
Chick2chicken

 

[happyhens1972]

I would love some input. I have an 18 month old BO, bottom of the pecking order, who, my guess, has been run off the food AND water by the other 5. I didn't catch it til last evening when I went to check on all and close the coop that I found her under the ramp unable to walk. She is extremely thin and her vent was the size of a dime! She has been taking on water, with electrolytes on her own, and frequently, otherwise I would have tubed her. She is also eating, albeit lightly at this point. She began to poop, the first about 30 minutes after taking water (some I used a 1ml syringe and fed it to her myself to get her going). I have been giving her watered down oatmeal, which she seems happiest with. I even added chopped up cranberries and she gobbled those, as well as a few tiny pieces of kale. She is pooping pretty regularly, it is soft, so I also know her kidneys are filtering as well as the bowel moving. However, she is still pretty weak and still cannot stand on her own. Her eyes are bright and alert, she responds to the environment around her, is whistling at me weakly, can flap her wings when lifted, and her combs and wattles are still pinkish red, not pale, but she does list either left or right, which worries me. So....with all this said, is there anything further I can do to help her??? I am so mad I didn't catch it!! I went back to work full time, so I don't spend as much time with them as I used to. What is the usual, or reasonable, timeframe when hens need to recover from something like this?? Or do they?? Any input is much appreciated!! FYI: She is indeed in the house with me in her own crate, away from the flock. Thanks so much!

It sounds like you're doing everything right at this point. Make sure she is good and warm as she will not be able to digest anything you give her if she is too cold......and if she is starved, her body temp may have dropped. A really good way of boosting her up and giving her some strength is to give her some boiled or scrambled egg. It's highly nutritious, nice and soft and easy to eat and won't need grit. I would avoid anything at the moment that takes too much digesting and/or grit....like kale...so that she can put her energies into getting better. Electrolytes or Nutri Drench in her water will also help to kickstart her appetite, if you have them. If not, honey or sugar water will do in a pinch.

Keep her away from the rest of the flock until you are confident she has turned a corner and then you need to look into how she got this way....do you have multiple food and water stations so that the 'underlings' can still eat and drink? Are there plenty of hidey holes/places for the low rankers to escape to if picked on? Do you have a particular bully who would benefit from being brought down a peg or two? If so, remove her for a few days to let the others re-shuffle, the put her back in at night, onto a low roost.

But to answer your question regarding time frame....it entirely depends on just how weak she is and how much fight she has left in her. Also, it relies on your intensive care. I wish you luck hon, keep us updated xxx

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about your hen.

It sounds like you are doing everything you can for her. Getting her hydrated was the first step. If you have poultry vitamins add those to her water for a few days. She may also like a higher protein feed, get a small bag of chick starter and make that into a wet mash (mine love wet feed). Other things you can offer would be egg, a little meat, etc.
Kale is great.

I hope she improves. A lot of things could have happened to her - her symptoms would seem to come from being kept from food/water as you suspect. You know your flock and situation better than anyone else. Something else comes to mind, would be Marek's, but since she is perking up with extra care, I would just watch and see how she does.

It can take a while to recover, so give her time, each chicken is different. Integration may be a challenge, so do some reading about that-here is a good article to get you started http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock

Access your space and housing - how many birds to sqft. of run and coop. Having space is helpful, but a lot depends on flock dynamics too. I find that having multiple feed stations helps greatly. Summertime I usually have 2 water stations as well. Not being home, I'm sure is distressing. If you have time in the a.m. before work, hang up some veggies/kale in a couple of places in the run to help keep them occupied (may give underlings an opportunity to hit up feed stations while the top girls are noshing on greens).

Just some thoughts. I hope she gets better, let us know how she's doing.

 

[Jaxdrisc]

Thank you so much for your replies! To answer some questions, I do highly suspect the culprit(s) in this one! When I found her, her comb had been damaged and was bleeding. I watched 1 hen in particular, the other day, run her off from a scratch and meal worm treat I was throwing out. The sick little hen, Annie is her name btw, ran into the coop. I shut the door that day, and fed her her treat separate from the others so that she would get some. This was Thursday. I found it odd that they were running her off so aggressively, as this was the first I had seen it to that degree. That was how I put 2 + 2 together. I have feeding stations both inside and outside, but the water is only inside due to the freezing temps here. In the summer, there are always 2. I know all are bored as they are not free ranging, nor laying...another oddity, as some began laying late Jan-beginning of Feb., then suddenly stopped. No eggs the past 3 weeks. The run is 7 x 12' with lots of perches, stumps, ladders, and places to go. Underlings have always been able to zip out of the way. As the day goes on, she is perking up some, and even took 4 steps but her left side is significantly affected. I'm going to try some egg with her. I had put some meal worms into her oatmeal which seemed to help, but do prefer the nutritional idea of egg. She is a little fighter, I will say that!!! Thanks so much for your help! I'll keep you all posted!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much for your replies! To answer some questions, I do highly suspect the culprit(s) in this one! When I found her, her comb had been damaged and was bleeding. I watched 1 hen in particular, the other day, run her off from a scratch and meal worm treat I was throwing out. The sick little hen, Annie is her name btw, ran into the coop. I shut the door that day, and fed her her treat separate from the others so that she would get some. This was Thursday. I found it odd that they were running her off so aggressively, as this was the first I had seen it to that degree. That was how I put 2 + 2 together. I have feeding stations both inside and outside, but the water is only inside due to the freezing temps here. In the summer, there are always 2. I know all are bored as they are not free ranging, nor laying...another oddity, as some began laying late Jan-beginning of Feb., then suddenly stopped. No eggs the past 3 weeks. The run is 7 x 12' with lots of perches, stumps, ladders, and places to go. Underlings have always been able to zip out of the way. As the day goes on, she is perking up some, and even took 4 steps but her left side is significantly affected. I'm going to try some egg with her. I had put some meal worms into her oatmeal which seemed to help, but do prefer the nutritional idea of egg. She is a little fighter, I will say that!!! Thanks so much for your help! I'll keep you all posted!

Are all 6 of them 18months old?

Can we assume that they began laying again after "winter break" or molting - you mention beginning laying again. But for me, it is a bit strange for them to resume, then all stop. Have you noticed any signs of predators. Or possibly does this coincide with your timeline of going back to work? Chickens hate change, so...

Did Annie also resume laying, then stop? Have you noticed if she has any swelling/bloat or feeling of fluid in the abdomen?

I would continue to pet her along and see how it goes. I hope she gets better soon.

 

[Jaxdrisc]

They are all varying ages. Head hen will be 4 in May, 2 are 3 in July, and 3 are 18 months. They began laying end of January...or about 3 of them. Then after 3 wks just stopped...funny thing, just got my first egg in 3 wks this morning! I know the older they get, the slower the laying. Head hen's squat reflex just returned yesterday. As far as Annie laying, I'm not sure since I'm not home to see who is in the boxes. I suspect she laid 1 or 2 based on shape and size. This morning, she is stronger and can stand on her own and take 5-6 steps, although that left leg isn't working well at all. Can't find any injury, break, or dislocation. She doesn't stand for long, just a few seconds. She's acting almost like she had a stroke, as weird as that sounds!! No bloat or swelling...checked for egg bounding. Easy to feel as she is so thin. I began working a year ago, so that is not something new. I'll keep going and see......thanks for the help!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I see, thanks for explaining it all

If you can, have a fecal float to rule out worms, those would not necessarily cause the limping, but can cause the weight loss.

There are so many things that can affect chickens, it's hard to nail things down sometimes. Diseases like Marek's can affect older chickens when the immune system is compromised from something else.

I'm glad to hear she is stronger today. It all could be that she was kept/chase from food water, fell or tripped, sprained the leg and is in need of TLC. I've had one sprain a leg from jumping from a roost and another break a toe - both I saw do this, chickens can injure themselves in some unusual ways.

I hope she continues to improve, please keep us posted.

 

[Jaxdrisc]

Update: Just letting you know, unfortunately, Annie didn't make it. She initially did well, then gave up and wouldn't eat or drink unless I was there to encourage her along. I also highly suspect she had some type of brain issue...like a small stroke. It was not Mareck's, that much I know. She continued to decline and I made the difficult decision to euthanize before she suffered too much. That is always a tough decision. But thank you all for your input, support and help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm very sorry to hear that you lost Annie