HELP!! Very sick hen with diarrhoea, stopped eating and sleeping all day

[Piyo Puyo]

Urgent help needed! Our chicken is slowly dying!!

One of our two hens has been sick for 2 weeks now. They are free range at our back yard.
At the beginning she was just little lethargic and wasn't herself but still moving around slowly and eating, even though it's smaller amount than usual. Her poo was a bit warterly but wasn't too bad.

From day 4 the poo become just like liquid with no solid part almost, and she was mostly standing quietly in a warm place, very very little appetite but still drinking water if we bring to her. We started the antibiotic "Oxymav" (oxytetracycline hydrocholoride) and completed 5 days course but still no improvement apart from the poo become like yellow and green diarrhoea than complete liquid.

I went the the local farming supplies shop that we usually buy food or medicine for our chicken as they have great knowledge about chooks. I explained the symptoms to them and they think it's worm, so I wormed both of our chicken at day 10 with "Kilverm" (L Levamisole) . She was still eating but really really little and becoming weaker, and couldn't get her self back in the coop well so we had to help her.

Day 11, still not much change for her. In the morning she doesn't want to come out from the coop as its cold (it's winter here in Australia) until afternoon, then just sitting in a warm place. From this night we put her in the box during the night as it has been cold, but during day she was still happy to go out to be in the yard.

Next day (Thurdsay) she seems a bit better and had a bit more appetite so we were happy, but then Friday morning we found her in the box very sick again, can't stand up, and doesn't want to open her eyes much at all and she was like this all day yesterday.

This morning (Saturday) she is almost same condition. She has't been eating and drinking for the last 2 days and before that she was only eating very very little.

We have tried everything we can think of; antibiotics, wormer, apple cider vinegar in the water, giving her egg york & yoghurt, but seems nothing is really working.

This is the photo I just took this morning...
If anybody got an idea what's wrong with her please post!
Any HELP is appreciated.

I

 

[Piyo Puyo]

An update:
I tooked the chicken out of the box to clean and realised that one of her leg is straight backward, even I tried to help her to put the leg back in the normal position she can't hold it much longer. Is this something to do with her condition??
I gave her water and thankfully she drunk a little, but doesn't wanna eat anything.
Apart from that she is still same as this morning and keep sleeping.

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be hard to tell you exactly what is wrong, but Mareks disease comes to mind as a possibility. It can cause many different symptoms, including a lack of immunity, wasting away, paralysis of one or both legs, wings, or neck, and tumors. I would try some chicken vitamins, including riboflavin for a week or two, just in case it could be a vitamin deficiency.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I agree with Eggcessive... sounds like Mareks... when you describe her leg being like that ,that is what comes to mind.

Do you know how to tube feed? If you do a search on this forum you will find information on how to do that. I've not dealt with Mareks... not that I know of at least...but do a search here- you might find some tidbits of information. Sorry I can't be more help than that. OH- Is her crop full? Feel like a water balloon or very firm? If she has nothing in the crop, I would tube feed about 30 cc's of mushed food- I use something called Exact- you aren't here in the states so I 'm not sure if that product is available to you. its basically a baby bird hand feeding formula.

Any gurgling noises? I'm trying to cope with a case (I think) of MG.. your hen seems a lot like my two sickies right now.

Painful to watch them suffer.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is some reading about Mareks:
https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
http://www.poultrydisease.ir/atlases/avian-atlas/search/disease/502.html

 

[Piyo Puyo]

Eggcessive, Bocktobery 10, thanks for the posts!

We didn't know about Marek's disease apart from the name so did some readings, and sad to know that there's no cure. And it's highly contagious.... that means that the other chicken is most likely infected too, correct?? She is so far not showing any symptoms...

And yes there's a big possibility for vitamin deficiency as she has not been able to consume enough nutrition for the last 2 weeks and she has lost so much weight.
We have manage to give her some mashes food from syringe and will try few more time today. I'll also go and find the baby bird formula.

We did some reading for tube feed too but we're not so confident about doing it ourselves as we've never done it and are scared if we kill her instead...
She is even weaker today... can't move much at all and just sleeping

 

[Piyo Puyo]

We took our chicken to vet this morning as her condition got worth again, and found that she has huge mass in her body almost taking over entire of her abdominal area.
Even without farther test the vet could tell it's most likely a cancer, and from the way she has lost weight (she was literally skin & bones, and because she no longer had enough muscle to support her own weight she couldn't stand up anymore) it has been for a quite long time, but surprisingly she didn't show any symptoms until 2 weeks ago..
We decided to put her to sleep to avoid farther suffering, as the vet thinks that she's too weak to survive a surgery.
We are very sad but we at least know there's nothing else we could have done and now she's peacefully in heaven.

 

[realsis]

We took our chicken to vet this morning as her condition got worth again, and found that she has huge mass in her body almost taking over entire of her abdominal area.
Even without farther test the vet could tell it's most likely a cancer, and from the way she has lost weight (she was literally skin & bones, and because she no longer had enough muscle to support her own weight she couldn't stand up anymore) it has been for a quite long time, but surprisingly she didn't show any symptoms until 2 weeks ago..
We decided to put her to sleep to avoid farther suffering, as the vet thinks that she's too weak to survive a surgery.
We are very sad but we at least know there's nothing else we could have done and now she's peacefully in heaven.

Im so very sorry you lost her. So sadly, yes Mareks disease IS VERY MUCH LIKE CANCER. IT will cause tummors to form and those tummors can press on nerves causing the paralyzing effect. Her display along with the tumor very much confirms Mareks disease. It is very very HIGHLY contagious and can even travel miles in the air and live on your land for quite some time. However it does NOT MEAN that all your birds will be symptomatic because you can be a carrier of mareks without being symptomatic. However it DOES MEAN your other birds can pass it on to new birds. Its HIGHLY RECOMMEND that any new birds brought on the property be vaccinated for Mareks and have at least 4 weeks before exposure to let the immunity of the vaccine kick in. Exposurre would mean outside or contact with adult birds. Lots of people have Mareks in the flock and some breed for immunities, some keep a closed flock, and some vaccinate new birds. Its up to you and your family what choice fits you. Please read as much as possible about Mareks because knowledge is power and will help you make better choices for the future of your flock. Mareks is such a sad disease and it is a chicken cancer so to speak. Its litterly everywhere. Nothing is 100% effective against it but vaccination is our only protection. Again i am so very sorry you lost your hen. I wish you the best and hope this helps a bit.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I'm so sorry about your hen!

You did all you could for her.

Your vet is right- when they get that weak, chances to survive surgery is very low.

It does sound like the dreaded Mareks. Be sure and give your last hen a lot of attention... loosing a buddy is difficult for chickens too.