Help. Hen isn't acting right

[duckynewbie]

I have one big australorp cross hen who isn't acting right. She sat in the corner of the run all day. She won't eat & I don't think she's drinking either. Her tail is down instead of up and perky like normal. What could be wrong with her? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[minichicks05]

Can you take a pic of her that might help.

 

[minichicks05]

And I would separate her from the others just in case.

 

[duckynewbie]

It's too dark now. I did go down to the coop to make sure she made it in for the night, which she did. She's up on the roost as normal but her tail is still drooped down

 

[Silkie2]

does she have diarrhea? i would recommend giving her water with Epsom salt, or you could give her apple cider vinegar, i heard that can help with diarrhea, my hen was just like that, she fits the description of what you have, sadly she past away, the Epsom salt did seem to help with her diarrhea though. I hope your hen feels better!

 

[duckynewbie]

I honesty don't know if she has diarrhea or not

 

[duckynewbie]

My daughter and I will be checking on her first thing in the morning. If she still isn't acting right we will be separating her from the flock. Could she possibly be egg bound?

 

[Eggcessive]

Epsom salts orally can cause diarrhea, so that could make her worse. How old is she? Has she been laying eggs recently, and were they normal eggs? She would probably be in a nest box if she were egg bound, but you can check her easily by putting on a disposable glove, and inserting a finger an inch to feel for a stuck egg. Check her crop in the morning to see if it has emptied normally, or if it has not. Yoh may want to cage her with food and water for the day on a pad or paper towels to get a look at her droppings. Vitamins and electrolytes added to her water could help. Offer her some egg or wet feed to try and see if she will eat. Feel her breast bone for any weight loss. Consider worming her with Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid Goat Wormer.

 

[duckynewbie]

She's only about 6 months old. All 9 of my hens are the same age and just started laying in the last couple of months. Even though we have about 12 nesting boxes they only use 2 and I can't keep track of who's laying and who's not. I do know that she wasn't staying in the nesting box yesterday. She stayed out of the coop all day. I also forgot to mention that she acted hot almost like she was panting. She was keeping her beak open a little bit most of the time. I did put an extra thing of water right next to where she was hanging outside but don't know if she ever drank any. We are experiencing the first of our warm days here in NC & she is a really big & heavy hen I wonder if the heat is getting to her.

 

[duckynewbie]

One of them does lay huge eggs, not sure if it's her or not though.