Emergency Help ASAP My hen is VERY ill

[LaynaDon95]

I walked outside to feed this morning and noticed my Brown Leghorn standing alone in a corner, all puffed up with her eyes closed. I picked her up (without a fight, which is a bad sign) and carried her in. She is very skinny, so she hasn't been eating much. I started her on Tylan 50 immediately but she's not doing well. What can I do? Any ideas? I'll try to get some food and electrolytes into her. Should I put a heat lamp in her cage? She's fully grown, but she's very cold.

 

[BravewingTheHen]

Hmm... First of all, I'm not an expert, but I'll give you this from my experience so far. Yes, you should confine her with a headlamp. Does she have poop all around the feathers near her butt? Or do one of her wings hang down a little lower than the other? And what breed and age is she?

 

[LaynaDon95]

Hmm... First of all, I'm not an expert, but I'll give you this from my experience so far. Yes, you should confine her with a headlamp. Does she have poop all around the feathers near her butt? Or do one of her wings hang down a little lower than the other? And what breed and age is she?

Yes, she had poop all over her butt feathers and her wings are very droopy. I washed the poop off and dried her with a hair dryer with a defuser (sp?) attachment. She's laying under a heat lamp right now, but she's not doing well at all. Her head is droopy. She can't hold it up. Her neck feels funny, kind of like it has little lumps all over it? She's barely breathing. I tube fed her a little because she can't eat. But she's barely alive. I've never seen a chicken this close to death and still alive.

She can't even stand anymore. She's laying on her side. Like I said, she's a Brown Leghorn. She's almost a year old.

 

[BravewingTheHen]

Oh my... She might be prolapsed (in case you don't know, that is when an egg becomes stuck inside of her). You could try searching up the symptoms for this, but it's still hard to be sure that this is the reason she's sick.

 

[LaynaDon95]

I thought about that, as she's almost 1 and has still never laid and egg. I've been looking up several different things so that's on the list. I'll go look it up now. I felt around but I didn't feel an egg. I had a hen do this once before and I could feel the egg inside of her. A little shot of warm olive oil into her vent and it popped right out. But she wasn't this bad. I don't think I'm going to be able to save her, but I at least want to know what's wrong. :\

 

[BravewingTheHen]

Yes... it sounds like she's pretty bad now, but having known what killed her could save one of your other chicken's lives in the future. Also keep in mind that she could have had a stroke. Is there anything you know of that might have caused her to become sick?

 

[LaynaDon95]

I had a bantam show similar signs several weeks ago, but her symptoms came on slowly and took a long time to ultimately kill her. I did everything I could for her but she died. But this girl only started acting funny yesterday. I watch all my chickens very day. I went up to feed yesterday and noticed she lost her balance a little for a moment, but thought she might her been knocked over by one of the other chickens running toward the food. She recovered quickly and went on eating, so I put it out of my mind. But this morning she was just about dead. That's WAY quicker than the bantam, who I cared for for almost 3 weeks before she died.

 

[LaynaDon95]

Doesn't seem to be a prolapse. I'm gonna shoot some vitamin E oil down her. Can't hurt, and if it's a neck problem there's teensy weensy chance it might help, right? She's one of my favorite hens. I don't want to lose her.

 

[BravewingTheHen]

I know how you feel. It's hard to lose a special hen. I was very sad when I lost Bravewing, my favourite hen. I hope the Vitamin E oil works

 

[LaynaDon95]

She just died. She went fairly easy. Just laid down in my lap, closed her eyes, and died. Can't save 'em all I guess.