Help! Hen sickly. Seems to be getting worse

[Hildib]

Hi,
My Welsummer Hen is sickly. I noticed these black dots on her head. Lethargic, slow to eat and can’t get her to drink. Not good balance. Wobbly. Doesn’t seem egg bound. I’m not sure what to do. Gave warm bath, been giving Durastat in water.

 

[coach723]

Not sure what black spots you are seeing? There are some darker under feathers showing, so maybe she's being pecked and feathers pulled? Or I also see some small pin feathers on her head, so she's likely molting. That can sometimes make them feel bad. Check her all over to see if you find any more pin feathers. Handle her gently, if she's molting those new feathers are sensitive and they often don't like being handled. If it's a molt issue and she's not eating well, you may have to give her some extra protein to help her through it.
How old is she? Do you know when she last laid? How is her weight, is her keel bone well muscled or is it very boney and prominent? What do droppings look like? Is her crop empty, full, hard, soft and squishy, etc? If you have some poultry nutridrench, give her some of that for a couple of days, it has vitamins and can help give them a boost. Offer some scrambled or cooked egg, see if she will eat that. Or canned tuna or some canned cat food. A super B complex vitamin tablet or capsule daily would also be a good idea (human ones, any place that sells supplements should have it). The B's are very safe, no worries about too much. The nutridrench should only be used for 2 -3 days max or it can cause diarrhrea.
https://www.thehenhousecollection.com/blog/chicken-molting/

 

[Hildib]

Thank you. She’s 4. Not laid a since winter. Comb thin deflated. It’s not a molting issue as she’s molted before and never had this issue. I’ll do the scrambled eggs, vit b, get the treatment you suggested. Even giving meal worms she can’t seem to find them easily like before. Could this be from my neighbors spraying pesticides on their trees? They sprayed for IPS and Aphids. Claim it doesn’t harm chickens.

 

[coach723]

How long ago did they spray? Without knowing what the actual spray was made up of, it's hard to say. If you know the name of the company, you could call them and ask what the actual compounds they used were, explain that you have birds and are worried.
Every molt is different, some years they can have a hard molt, others they can have a soft molt. The older they get, the harder everything is on them. That may not be what it is, but I wouldn't rule it out either. Try all the things I suggested, keep an eye on her, try to get her eating. If anything changes, or something new crops up, let us know. It would be a good idea to get a weight on her now, and then at least weekly, so you can better judge if she's losing weight or maintaining. An inexpensive digital kitchen scale works well for that.

 

[ChickyMudder]

I like all the ideas about vitamins, protein.
If she is thin and boney think absorption issues. Consider worming her along with the above recommendations.
If it is toxins consider rescue remedy drops, lots of water, and above recommendations.

I’m also a fan of colloidal silver and humic and fuvilic acid. They are game changers

 

[coach723]

If it turns out the spray was something harmful if ingested, then activated charcoal can help, if it hasn't been to long. If it's something toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin then the charcoal would not be effective. In those cases then sometimes vet care can be the best option, if that is an option for you. But if the substance is unknown, that makes it hard to know.

 

[Mercyr79]

I like all the ideas about vitamins, protein.
If she is thin and boney think absorption issues. Consider worming her along with the above recommendations.
If it is toxins consider rescue remedy drops, lots of water, and above recommendations.

I’m also a fan of colloidal silver and humic and fuvilic acid. They are game changers

How much silver and fulvic do you give them? I use them myself but I didn’t know I could use them on the chickies….