Heart failure treatment?

[OwO]

I am pretty sure one of my chickens has heart failure as she has been slow for a few years now, sitting down often and breathing heavily. Sometimes her comb and wattles will turn purplish too. Recently however she seems to have gotten slightly worse, and I was wondering if there is any medication I can give her to help make her more comfortable.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I am pretty sure one of my chickens has heart failure as she has been slow for a few years now, sitting down often and breathing heavily. Sometimes her comb and wattles will turn purplish too. Recently however she seems to have gotten slightly worse, and I was wondering if there is any medication I can give her to help make her more comfortable.

Older birds are prone to weak hearts. Combs that turn purple are definitely a sign of circulation problems. There are no drugs that can help a chicken that I know of. You could find a vet to have it looked at. Is your hen overweight? Do you feed fattening treats? Staying in good weight can help ease the stress on the heart.

 

[OwO]

I think we used to feed her too much corn, she used to be pretty overweight but we've cut back on it a lot now and she has definitely lost a lot of weight. I did notice that today her comb looks really strangely bright red as well, so I have no idea what's going on as it usually looks a lot more purple.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Bright red usually means healthy, and possibly laying currently. Corn would definitely cause them to get too fat. Feed her a good ration, and healthy treats, and hopefully she will be around for a while.

 

[tastyacres]

ACV would be a good thing to add to water.... 2TBS per 1 gallon.

 

[OwO]

Ok, good news, I think the reason she was acting weird yesterday is because she was having trouble laying an egg. She is around 5-6 years old and hasn't laid properly in around 2 years, but today she laid a soft shell egg for the first time in a long time. It's annoying though since she isn't interested in any of the oyster shell we give her.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My older hens will sporadically lay eggs. I think because they aren't stretched out from constant laying it is harder for them, as well as anytime the system fires up it can have a few glitches no matter the age. They will consume extra calcium if they need it. They usually need to lay more to need more calcium.