Help! Chicken sick and I don’t know what’s is wrong

[Chickencrazy22]

I have a hen that I noticed about a week ago wasn’t eating very well. Monday I took her inside to separate her and watch her better. She drinks water but is not eating much. She sits with her feathers fluffed out as well. Her comb isn’t pale nor her feet. I have tried feeding her apples, her feed, calcium, etc. she is not laying eggs but isn’t egg bound as I feel she has survived to long to be egg bound. Please any suggestions on what to do? Vet is out of the question as we have no bird vets around already called. Thank you

 

[diamondsilkies]

I don't have a diagnosis for you, but just some basic sick chicken tips. Keep her in a warm, quiet space. Put some electrolytes in her water, since she is drinking that. Just to double check for being egg bound, try giving her a gentle massage, to see if you feel any out of the ordinary lumps.

Food wise, if you haven't already, try mixing her food with a little water. Sometimes that makes it a little more enticing for them. Mashed boiled egg yolk is also really high in nutrients and sometimes they'll peck at that a little.

It might take a while for her to recover, but with some patience and love, hopefully she will recover soon. You also might want to take her out for some fresh air every couple days, if it's not too cold. Recently, I had a sick hen and every couple days I would bring her outside. It seemed to improve her health and attitude quite a lot.

Good luck!

 

[Chickencrazy22]

I don't have a diagnosis for you, but just some basic sick chicken tips. Keep her in a warm, quiet space. Put some electrolytes in her water, since she is drinking that. Just to double check for being egg bound, try giving her a gentle massage, to see if you feel any out of the ordinary lumps.

Food wise, if you haven't already, try mixing her food with a little water. Sometimes that makes it a little more enticing for them. Mashed boiled egg yolk is also really high in nutrients and sometimes they'll peck at that a little.

It might take a while for her to recover, but with some patience and love, hopefully she will recover soon. You also might want to take her out for some fresh air every couple days, if it's not too cold. Recently, I had a sick hen and every couple days I would bring her outside. It seemed to improve her health and attitude quite a lot.

Good luck!

Thank you so much! I have been so lost on what to do! I will definitely try the boiled egg yolk and watered food! And I am making sure she needs gets some sunlight.

 

[rebrascora]

Have you checked her crop? Does it feel full or empty? If it feels full and she hasn't been eating much, then she may have an impaction. If it is empty, then that is something you can rule out. If her crop feels quite full, then she is most likely impacted and massage of her crop will help to break it down. I usually do 10-15 minutes of gentle squeeze and release like a stress ball with one hand 4 x a day. If her crop is very full of liquid and she is refluxing fluids when you massage, then it may be best to remove some of that fluid first by holding her forward and tipped slightly over to her right with her head lower than her body to allow her to release some of the fluid. This is risky, but less risky than her refluxing in an upright position in my opinion, where the vomit could easily run into her trachea. There are You Tube videos which show you how to do this, so watch a few before you try it.

What does her breast bone feel like? This is a means of checking her body condition. If the breast bone is sharp under the skin then this problem has probably been going on for some time. As @diamondsilkies suggests she will need warmth.... not just a warm room but a heating pad. She has no food inside her to provide calories for maintaining body temperature, so she will be burning up her body reserves. Placing her in a warm environment 80-85F will help her. I would get a good quality Poultry Vitamin supplement like Nutri Drench and give her a couple of drops direct into her beak and then put some in her water too.
What does her vent look like? Is there any swelling around her vent or between her legs? Is her vent pulsing? Are her feathers soiled? What does her poop look like?

How old is she? Was she vaccinated for Marek's Disease?

If you can answer some of these questions it will give us more idea of what is wrong. Also a photo of her and of her poop may help.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[Chickencrazy22]

Have you checked her crop? Does it feel full or empty? If it feels full and she hasn't been eating much, then she may have an impaction. If it is empty, then that is something you can rule out. If her crop feels quite full, then she is most likely impacted and massage of her crop will help to break it down. I usually do 10-15 minutes of gentle squeeze and release like a stress ball with one hand 4 x a day. If her crop is very full of liquid and she is refluxing fluids when you massage, then it may be best to remove some of that fluid first by holding her forward and tipped slightly over to her right with her head lower than her body to allow her to release some of the fluid. This is risky, but less risky than her refluxing in an upright position in my opinion, where the vomit could easily run into her trachea. There are You Tube videos which show you how to do this, so watch a few before you try it.

What does her breast bone feel like? This is a means of checking her body condition. If the breast bone is sharp under the skin then this problem has probably been going on for some time. As @diamondsilkies suggests she will need warmth.... not just a warm room but a heating pad. She has no food inside her to provide calories for maintaining body temperature, so she will be burning up her body reserves. Placing her in a warm environment 80-85F will help her. I would get a good quality Poultry Vitamin supplement like Nutri Drench and give her a couple of drops direct into her beak and then put some in her water too.
What does her vent look like? Is there any swelling around her vent or between her legs? Is her vent pulsing? Are her feathers soiled? What does her poop look like?

How old is she? Was she vaccinated for Marek's Disease?

If you can answer some of these questions it will give us more idea of what is wrong. Also a photo of her and of her poop may help.

Best wishes

Barbara

Hello! Thank you so much for you help! I checked her crop this morning and it was empty. She is about 4-5 years of age. And I’m not sure if she has been vaccinated as we got them from a family friend but I might be able to figure it out! Her vent doesn’t look to be swollen and she isn’t losing any feathers and none look broken or anything. If you have any other ideas as to what this might be please share them it would be a great help!

I will try and get a picture of her poop today and upload it

 

[rebrascora]

It is unlikely to be Marek's if she is that age, so don't worry about researching her vaccine history. Have you given her a heat source, that really can make a big difference to the comfort of a chicken that is sick and not eating.

You might want to consider tube feeding her to get nutrients into her. @casportpony has a good article/tutorial on that, if she won't eat. You will need a catheter tube and syringe and some Kaytee Baby Bird formula. I got a catheter tube and syringe from the lambing section of my local farm supplies store. A pet shop should have Kaytee I believe, but it depends where in the world you are??... it helps to include basic information about that on your profile page so that we can see your location at a glance each time you post, below your username on the left of the screen. Different countries have different products and different climatic conditions which can all make a difference to the advice given.
Another possibility might be coccidiosis. It is unusual for older birds to suffer from it but if her immune system is low for some reason, it might take a hold. That is easily treated with Corid or some other Amprollium product. Corid can be found in the cattle sections of your local feed store and comes as either a liquid or powder. Liquid may be more convenient as you could give her a couple of drops direct into her mouth to get her started and then medicate her water with it.... the dose is 2teaspns of liquid Corid per gallon of water or 1.5 teaspns of powder to the gallon, prepared fresh each day and it has to be the only source of water for 7 days and then I think there is a recommendation to give a lesser dose for another 10 days but see if she improves during the initial treatment phase first. It has quite a mild action, so it will not do any great harm if coccidiosis is not her problem. If you decide to treat with Corid, then hold off vitamin supplementation until straight after the Corid treatment. A photo of her poop may help establish if coccidiosis is the issue.... blood in the poop is an easy and obvious one to look for but not all strains of cocci cause that.

Other possibilities are a heavy worm burden, but I do not advise worming her at this point unless you have a faecal float test done to assess worm load and establish which worms are the problem. Wormers can be quite harsh on the system of an already sick bird. Any vet can perform this test (as it is also done for dogs and cats and horses), but some vets can be awkward and either insist on seeing the chicken or just say they don't treat them. If you explain the situation and what you require, they may be helpful. here in the UK there is a mail order service for this where you buy a sampling kit and send off a sample of poop and often get next day results for as little as £10. Again, location in the world makes a difference as to what is available.
Hopefully, that has given you a few ideas and possible treatment options.

Good luck.

 

[Chickencrazy22]

It is unlikely to be Marek's if she is that age, so don't worry about researching her vaccine history. Have you given her a heat source, that really can make a big difference to the comfort of a chicken that is sick and not eating.

You might want to consider tube feeding her to get nutrients into her. @casportpony has a good article/tutorial on that, if she won't eat. You will need a catheter tube and syringe and some Kaytee Baby Bird formula. I got a catheter tube and syringe from the lambing section of my local farm supplies store. A pet shop should have Kaytee I believe, but it depends where in the world you are??... it helps to include basic information about that on your profile page so that we can see your location at a glance each time you post, below your username on the left of the screen. Different countries have different products and different climatic conditions which can all make a difference to the advice given.
Another possibility might be coccidiosis. It is unusual for older birds to suffer from it but if her immune system is low for some reason, it might take a hold. That is easily treated with Corid or some other Amprollium product. Corid can be found in the cattle sections of your local feed store and comes as either a liquid or powder. Liquid may be more convenient as you could give her a couple of drops direct into her mouth to get her started and then medicate her water with it.... the dose is 2teaspns of liquid Corid per gallon of water or 1.5 teaspns of powder to the gallon, prepared fresh each day and it has to be the only source of water for 7 days and then I think there is a recommendation to give a lesser dose for another 10 days but see if she improves during the initial treatment phase first. It has quite a mild action, so it will not do any great harm if coccidiosis is not her problem. If you decide to treat with Corid, then hold off vitamin supplementation until straight after the Corid treatment. A photo of her poop may help establish if coccidiosis is the issue.... blood in the poop is an easy and obvious one to look for but not all strains of cocci cause that.

Other possibilities are a heavy worm burden, but I do not advise worming her at this point unless you have a faecal float test done to assess worm load and establish which worms are the problem. Wormers can be quite harsh on the system of an already sick bird. Any vet can perform this test (as it is also done for dogs and cats and horses), but some vets can be awkward and either insist on seeing the chicken or just say they don't treat them. If you explain the situation and what you require, they may be helpful. here in the UK there is a mail order service for this where you buy a sampling kit and send off a sample of poop and often get next day results for as little as £10. Again, location in the world makes a difference as to what is available.
Hopefully, that has given you a few ideas and possible treatment options.

Good luck.

Thank you very much for your help! I am new here so I don’t have any info set up but I am from the US and we have that stuff. I have a picture of her poop now and a picture of her. The quality is bad in the picture of her so I don’t know how much it will help. Thank you again for you help! And I have a heat source for her now! Thank you so much again

 

[rebrascora]

Unfortunately, I can't make out her poop very well as the photo seems to be in shadow or my eyes are fading.... entirely possible
Seeing her now I am wondering if she is broody..... does she sit in a nest box day and night? She does not look like she has coccidiosis and actually looks quite healthy. Her eye is bright and she is not hunched up.
Broody hens eat and drink usually once a day, spend about 10-20 mins off their chosen nest site and poop a huge disgusting smelly pile once a day before heading back to their nest. They will sit even without eggs under them but if you offer them eggs they will tuck them underneath themselves..... does that sound like it might be the answer? She is a breed that tends to go broody. Has she settled to being moved. Usually a broody will panic and be anxious to be back to her chosen nest site.

 

[Chickencrazy22]

Unfortunately, I can't make out her poop very well as the photo seems to be in shadow or my eyes are fading.... entirely possible
Seeing her now I am wondering if she is broody..... does she sit in a nest box day and night? She does not look like she has coccidiosis and actually looks quite healthy. Her eye is bright and she is not hunched up.
Broody hens eat and drink usually once a day, spend about 10-20 mins off their chosen nest site and poop a huge disgusting smelly pile once a day before heading back to their nest. They will sit even without eggs under them but if you offer them eggs they will tuck them underneath themselves..... does that sound like it might be the answer? She is a breed that tends to go broody. Has she settled to being moved. Usually a broody will panic and be anxious to be back to her chosen nest site.

I was thinking she looked healthy too. When she was out with the other hens she was never around any of the nesting boxes. We have 7 out and only 5 hens so plenty of them. She seems to be pooping in small amounts. When I open the cage door she walks around normally but wont eat. I put some electrolytes in her water and she drank that and pecked at some egg yolks but no big eating.

 

[rebrascora]

Not broody then. Are you sure her abdomen is not swollen? Cupping your hand between her legs and then comparing what you feel to a similar healthy hen is the best way to assess it. Since her comb is red, my concern would be that she in laying internally. Over time they build up a mass of egg yolks in their abdominal cavity, but it can take weeks or months to become obvious and the bird will usually act relatively normal during that time apart from not producing eggs.
If she is not eating much, that might indicate an infection.
What type of feed do you use for your flock? Do you give them many treats? Some feeds and treats can cause certain breeds to develop too much fat which is not overly obvious in a chicken with all those feathers. A disease known as Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome can result where the liver becomes infiltrated with fat and weakens and starts to haemorrhage. Heavier breeds like Sussex and Orpingtons.... I'm guessing your girl is a Buff Orp from the photo or possibly a buff Cochin .... are more prone to it. The fat deposits can also constrict the gut and make passing full sized poops difficult. That might explain the fluid intake and small poops. Apart from a vitamin B supplement to support the liver and a diet, which is already being self imposed since she is not eating much, I'm not sure what else you can do. If this is the case and she is carrying plenty of flesh, then the heat pad may be counter productive. Does she have the option of using it or not in the cage.... ie plenty of space to avoid it? Also, exercise in that situation may be better than confined.....
It is so difficult trying to diagnose a bird through someone else's eyes and touch and perspective! When are they going to make computers that you can reach through the screen and feel for yourself!