HELP!! what is wrong with my hen?

May 17, 2020
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87
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NW Washington
A few weeks ago, I had a hen that I noticed was lethargic, hunched over, and not eating much. She hasn't started laying this season (stopped in the winter and hasn't started yet, despite it being warm and sunny every day). She's free range, had no respiratory problems, and as far as I could tell not egg bound. She had bad diarrhea though, that was liquid green and white with clear mucus-like stuff mixed in. We provide plenty of shade to accompany the hot weather so we're pretty sure it's not heat exhaustion. Temperatures here are their highest at 85 degrees, which isn't terrible especially with shade. The diarrhea had encrusted her vent and so we gave her an epsom salt bath, gently washed it off and let her inside of our "chicken hospital" in our living room where it was dark, quiet and she was able to rest.

We had our neighbor, an avian vet (how lucky are we?!) check if she was egg bound, and he said that she wasn't. I consulted this forum and you guys told me it was probably coccidiosis. I gave her Corid for a week with no results, and then another week, again without results. After having her on Corid for 2 weeks, I decided to stop since it wasn't helping and she had no blood in her poop to begin with. She seemed to get better - no lethargy, was eating normally, etc. However, her poop was still very runny and green.

I did the "playpen method" to incorporate her back into our flock since it had been awhile and I didn't want her getting hurt by her flock mates. After 5 days of the playpen method, I let her back into the flock and she did fine. She was completely back to normal (still not laying, however) yet still had the diarrhea. Now, 2 weeks after incorporating her back into the flock, she's back to being sickly again. She's dragging her backside and is always the last to come whenever I provide treats. Most of her time not eating or sleeping she spends laying down. She's two years old, so it's not like she's dying of old age. What do I do? I feel helpless.
 
Another thing - she's very unbalanced. Usually she likes to perch on my arm but recently she's been falling off or trying to keep her balance by steadying herself using her wings.
 
Have you had her droppings checked by a vet for worms? I think worms can cause a hen to be generally unhealthy and unhappy, although I don't know whether they could cause the balance issues.

Since she is already doing poorly, you should probably not try worming her unless you know she does have worms--wouldn't want to stress her more by treating the wrong thing.
 

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