Hen barely eating or drinking with dirty smelly butt.

[Charlieamanda]

I have a 6 yr old egg laying leghorn hen that's been healthy her whole life. She had a companion that passed several years ago from a similar situation, so I'm concerned.
I keep her in an indoor coop for the winter, so it's a constant temp of about 50'F. She gets egglayer pellets, dried mealworms and yogurt and apples occasionally.
About 2 weeks ago the store ran out of her mealworms and we substituted with really stinky kind that she didn't like and that is coincidentally the time this started.
She then stopped eating or drinking or was barely eating or drinking.
About a week ago I gave her a few syringes full of yogurt, which she then ate from the bowl, but not much, and a few syringes of water. She's now eating some her mealworms and a small amount of water and a small amount of scrambled eggs we prepare for her daily. Maybe a few tablespoons tops of each daily.
She's also sleeping all the time and rarely comes out of her cage to walk around.
Her butt and underside was wet and full of smelly feces for about 1-2 weeks.
Her poops are small, watery, occasionally black and tarry, not now, but very smelly.
I bathed her and blow dried her, she looks beautiful, but she's very very thin. The rest of her feathers were clean and her comb & waddle are bright red, eyes & nose are clear and no other symptoms.
She's not in contact with any other chickens or animals since she's been inside since Oct. When's she's outside she's confined so she has limited contact to wild animals.
Not sure what it could be or what more to do, other than a vet visit, which I'm planning on if this doesn't improve soon.
Pictures are post bath. I trimmed feathers and put A&D ointment on the irritated skin. Other pic shows her comb and waddle and general condition. The comb and waddle are bright red not light pink.

 

[Mellowmalt]

I'm no expert on diseases but I am interested how this was caused. So you say you tried feeding some "smelly" mealworms and everything went downhill after that.
Where did you get these mealworms from if your usual shop didn't have any? Mealworms should never smell so that is a big red flag.
Food poisoning wouldn't last this long so maybe she ate some sort of parasite from the mealworms. Very sorry to hear but she won't make it the way things are going unless she makes a miraculous recovery so if she means a lot to you I'd get her to a vet, hopefully someone will have more experience with your symptoms but she sounds in a bad shape.

 

[Charlieamanda]

I'm no expert on diseases but I am interested how this was caused. So you say you tried feeding some "smelly" mealworms and everything went downhill after that.
Where did you get these mealworms from if your usual shop didn't have any? Mealworms should never smell so that is a big red flag.
Food poisoning wouldn't last this long so maybe she ate some sort of parasite from the mealworms. Very sorry to hear but she won't make it the way things are going unless she makes a miraculous recovery so if she means a lot to you I'd get her to a vet, hopefully someone will have more experience with your symptoms but she sounds in a bad shape.

Thanks for the reply.
Yes we bought the worms packaged at the same store, they weren't mealworms, but something similar that smelled god awful, Petunia agreed bc she stopped eating them after the first day.
It was a strange coincidence so I thought possibly there was a connection. Tomorrow I'll post a picture of the bags of bugs.
She's strictly a pet, mostly bc she eats her own eggs! Lol It's fine w/ us
She is eating a little more, her usual mealworms, scrambled eggs and some pellets and water and although she's not pooping much it's not as odiferous.
She seems a lil better today, so I'm hopeful things are going in the right direction. She greeted us this am and even made a lot of vocalizations and came out of her cage to say hi, she's kept inside during the winter in the heated garage, 50'F.
I'm still taking her to the vet bc if how thin she is and sleeping a lot, but her butt is still clean and dry and she appears comfortable.

 

[Charlieamanda]

The dried mealworms are her regular and favorite, the other bag is the stinky bugs.

 

[Ascholten]

Meal worms smelly means they are dead and rotted probably. NOT something you want to feed anything except maybe a vulture or carrion bird.

If her poop is black and tarry, that's a good sign of internal bleeding. Could be parasites or one of many things. This can / will kill a bird, or pretty much any animal pretty quick if not resolved. If she has parasites eating her up, that would cause her to lose appetite and all the things you mentioned.

Because of a birds general high metabolism, they can't put up with stuff for weeks like us humans can, they can be killed in a matter of a few days. id take her to the vet sooner rather than later.

Please let us know what you find out. If you got other birds, you need to sterilize everything at this point so that NOTHING from this one can possibly contaminate them, even by your touch, food interaction etc at this point until you know exactly what she got.

Aaron

 

[Charlieamanda]

The dried mealworms are her regular and favorite, the other bag is the stinky bugs.

Meal worms smelly means they are dead and rotted probably. NOT something you want to feed anything except maybe a vulture or carrion bird.

If her poop is black and tarry, that's a good sign of internal bleeding. Could be parasites or one of many things. This can / will kill a bird, or pretty much any animal pretty quick if not resolved. If she has parasites eating her up, that would cause her to lose appetite and all the things you mentioned.

Because of a birds general high metabolism, they can't put up with stuff for weeks like us humans can, they can be killed in a matter of a few days. id take her to the vet sooner rather than later.

Please let us know what you find out. If you got other birds, you need to sterilize everything at this point so that NOTHING from this one can possibly contaminate them, even by your touch, food interaction etc at this point until you know exactly what she got.

Aaron

They came in a sealed bag, I posted pics of the bags, but they smelled awful! The dried mealworms actually smell good, like roasted nuts and Petunia loves them. We stopped giving the stinky bugs to her when she seemed disinterested.
She has continued to improve. Her bottom is clean, she's drinking a lot more water and increasing mealworm, pellet, yogurt, occasionally, & scrambled egg intake.
She's actually been preening again too. Shes greeting us with coo ing and excitement.
Her poops are becoming more "normal", they don't smell, have some solid food, but are still mostly watery. The blackish color was only for a few days in the beginning, I've been checking.
She is a solitary hen and has no contact with other animals, we bring her inside during the cold months, she's very spoiled, in the heated garage and we spend several hours a day with her.
She's still sleepy, but she's coming out of her cage and sits next to me now, she wasn't doing that at all, and naps. Pic is Petunia napping on her chair next to me and the heater.