Help! Sick Hen!

[hadihens]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to backyard chickens. I just got 4 Red Sexlinks a couple of months ago. They're now 7 months old. They've been giving me an egg a day each for the past month or so.
Two days ago I noticed something that looks like small dark blood clots in some stool. In the past couple days I've found 3 stools with the same substance.
One of my hens is defintely ill. She has been dripping (or vomiting) water from her beak, has been lethargic, and her vent is pulsing with a raised tail. She hasn't been eating much either but has been drinking water. Her comb and waddle has become a little pale too.
Alll she does is sit down and pulse her vent with her tail raised. It's as though she's trying to give birth. I don't think there's an egg stuck in there cause she's been giving me one a day until today.
Any ideas? Please help. It's so sad to see her so uncomfortable!

 

[Toddrick]

I figure all the real experts are sleeping, and so I will try and give you some things I've learned in the mean time.

1) If you can, take the sick bird inside, perhaps in a dog crate. That way she won't be cold (stressing her more), and you can examine and observe her better.

2) Examine the crop. Is it hard or mushy? Lookup 'sour crop' and 'impacted crop', she likely has one or both of these if she is vomiting. I didn't think either causes bloody stool though, so I'm concerned that there might be a problem more sever that is blocking her entire digestive tract from moving.

3) Consider slapping on some rubber gloves, and lubing up your index finger for examining the vent. It can't hurt to check for blockages. [There should be instructions if you do a search].

If you can report your findings and observations then that should help move things forward.

 

[hadihens]

Hi there,
Thank you so much for the information. I spent the morning with my hen and I'm so sad to say that she has passed away
Her crop seemed empty this morning and she didn't pass any more bloody stools (or any for that matter). She didn't appear to have an egg stuck. I'm really at a loss as to what happened to her.
I am considering having an autopsy done on her tomorrow to see what happened if it's within my price range. I'm so sad

 

[Toddrick]

Well I didn't want to say it, but I suspected she was dying. My guess was her digestive system had shut down, which is why she had sour crop. And the reason I suspected that was the other symptoms.

You can do a necropsy if you want but the most likely result will be that she had a tumor or organ failure. In other words, natural causes. I wouldn't think that you are dealing with anything contagious based on your description. That is just my (non expert) opinion.