End of the line?

[TJAnonymous]

I have a RIR hen that I adopted last year. No idea how old she is. About 2 weeks ago I noticed she wasn't eating or interacting with the others. Her bottom was a mess with diarrhea stuck in her feathers. I caught her, washed her up, and put her in the infirmary for the past two weeks. I've been giving her antibiotics and Gatorade. She has not improved. I did probe her belly to make sure she wasn't egg bound since she hasn't laid since I caught her. Her belly is empty and I'm aghast at how thin she has gotten. Here's a picture of her comb this morning. It is turning dark purple

Wondering if I should just put her down? Her quality of life is not great and she clearly doesn't feel well at all

Eta - she is not eating at all. I haven't seen her eat in the 2 weeks I've had her in the house. She does drink water but only minimal. I'm pretty sure the Gatorade is the only thing she is getting nutrition wise and only because I force it into her with a syringe.

 

[dawg53]

Stop the Gatorade and give her Poultry Nutri Drench instead. Gatorade contains quite a bit salt. Stop the antibiotics as well.
Give her 1 drop of Nutri Drench twice a day for no more than 7 days.
Try giving her plain boiled rice mixed with buttermilk to eat, in addition to the Poultry Nutri Drench.
Inspect her closely for lice/mites especially around her vent area.

 

[Cazook]

when was last time she was treated for worms?

 

[TJAnonymous]

Stop the Gatorade and give her Poultry Nutri Drench instead. Gatorade contains quite a bit salt. Stop the antibiotics as well.
Give her 1 drop of Nutri Drench twice a day for no more than 7 days.
Try giving her plain boiled rice mixed with buttermilk to eat, in addition to the Poultry Nutri Drench.
Inspect her closely for lice/mites especially around her vent area.

Sorry I missed your reply until right now. I don't have any Nutri Drench. I can try to run to the feed store and see if they have it.

Poor baby is lots worse but still hanging on by a thread. She is so pathetically thin and COLD. Her comb has gotten much darker. Still no idea what is causing her illness. Her crop feels empty but I gave her a little bit of mineral oil on the chance that she had an impaction somewhere. My gut says she will not survive but I'm trying not to give up on her. She is not eating at all. She just lays on the ground with her eyes closed.

 

[KaseySnow]

Sounds like a parasite or maybe even some kind of organ failure if she is thin in spite of eating. I would also consider deworming her, especially if you have never wormed. Worm populations ramp up this time of year.

If you don't know how old she is, it could also just be her time, sadly.

 

[TJAnonymous]

when was last time she was treated for worms?

I treated everybody about 6 months ago, but only as a precaution. I've never seen any evidence of worms in any of my flock or any of my other animals either.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Sounds like a parasite or maybe even some kind of organ failure if she is thin in spite of eating. I would also consider deworming her, especially if you have never wormed. Worm populations ramp up this time of year.

If you don't know how old she is, it could also just be her time, sadly.

She isn't eating. Hasn't touched any of her food in the entire two weeks she has been in the infirmary...at least that I've seen. I tried giving her some scrambled eggs. She didn't want that either. I really think she has survived on the gatorade I've been syringing into her.

I know someone mentioned getting Nutri-Drench instead of Gatorade. I will have to run to the feed store to see if they have it. I don't have any liquid wormer. I've always fed them pelleted wormer but as I mentioned in my other post, I've never seen any evidence of worms and I check their poop daily that is visible in the run or the coop. I don't look for worms really but for anything that looks strange (diarrhea, etc...).

 

[Eggcessive]

If she won’t eat anything, such as scrambled egg, wet chicken feed, or cooked rice and buttermilk, then she is probably dying. Her weight loss could be from cancer or a reproductive disorder, hard to know for sure. But if I lose a hen or put one down that appears to be suffering, I like to do a simple home necropsy. I open the belly and inspect the major organs—liver color, intestines, gizzard, oviduct, any others you can see. Look for any yellow fluid that might come out when the belly is opened. Take pictures and post here for ideas. You can learn a lot about your chickens this way. It also makes you think about how much they could have been suffering. It isn’t ever easy to do, but afterward, you realize you did the righ thing.

 

[TJAnonymous]

If she won’t eat anything, such as scrambled egg, wet chicken feed, or cooked rice and buttermilk, then she is probably dying. Her weight loss could be from cancer or a reproductive disorder, hard to know for sure. But if I lose a hen or put one down that appears to be suffering, I like to do a simple home necropsy. I open the belly and inspect the major organs—liver color, intestines, gizzard, oviduct, any others you can see. Look for any yellow fluid that might come out when the belly is opened. Take pictures and post here for ideas. You can learn a lot about your chickens this way. It also makes you think about how much they could have been suffering. It isn’t ever easy to do, but afterward, you realize you did the righ thing.

I did that with a hen I lost last summer. I took a video of the necropsy and sent it to one of the vets in the Poultry dept at University of Arkansas. They responded back and indicated that my amateur necropsy indicated the hen died from Salpingitis. I could do the same with this hen.

She is currently wrapped in a towel and laying in my lap. I'm hoping that my body heat will help her feel more comfortable. I will go out and get a heat lamp from the barn once it stops raining so hard. I just hate seeing her suffer so much.

 

[danceswithronin]

Sounds to me like it might be heart failure, the purple comb and cold body seem to indicate cardiovascular problems. Sorry this has happened to you regardless!