Hen drinking a ton of water, not interested in food.

[NicoLee1991]

So my hen is still kicking at the moment. We went through a period of doing much better and now it seems like the streak may be over. I hadn't been checking on her much because she seemed to be roosting again and foraging like normal, but the past few days she has been leaving the coop and just standing kind of puffed up by the waterer with her eyes kind of shutting. At first I thought sunbathing and then realized how dumb that was. I picked her up and she is very skinny despite having some food and water in her crop. Probably mostly water, still drinking a ton. However, now there are two huge hard masses in her abdomen toward the back end but up higher. She is not keen on me poking around. They feel hard and lumpy but I didn't inspect too much because I had my little one out putting the birds away with me.
So a little back story (sorry for the long post), I rescued Bernie from a box of dead chicks- Cold, motionless and barely breathing. She's the most gone I've seen a chick come back from. Anyway, I did read somewhere that when chicks get too cold early on if they survive they have increased chances of eyp along with some other things.
I'm glad I got to help her but I feel terrible that this is how it ends. Poor girl. I'll bring up end of life options to my husband this weekend.
I'll also do a little more prodding at her tonight or in the morning just to be certain that meds will be out of the question as helpful.

As always thank you everyone for all of your help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Poor girl!

Sadly, sometimes they can get better for a short while, then seem to decline. She may rally once again for a short time depending on what's going on.

The weight loss and your feeling the lumps, I'm very sorry, it really is not a good outlook. Her drinking a ton - either her crop/digestive system has slowed and she's trying to clear it or sometimes I think they may "feel" like something is not right and drink a lot to relieve that feeling. Understandably if she's got a couple of lumps/masses, then she likely feels pressure somewhere in her abdomen.

I'm glad you got to help her too and you gave her a good life that she wouldn't have had otherwise. It's frustrating and heartbreaking to lose hens to reproductive disorders. I've lost some favorites from these conditions. It's a sad thing to see and watch. I do offer supportive care until I think they just can't go on. Talk with your husband and let him help you through this. My husband listens of course, but my birds are mine so anything that happens comes from me - I raise them, love them and when the time comes, I'm the one that takes care of their ending.

 

[NicoLee1991]

Poor girl!

Sadly, sometimes they can get better for a short while, then seem to decline. She may rally once again for a short time depending on what's going on.

The weight loss and your feeling the lumps, I'm very sorry, it really is not a good outlook. Her drinking a ton - either her crop/digestive system has slowed and she's trying to clear it or sometimes I think they may "feel" like something is not right and drink a lot to relieve that feeling. Understandably if she's got a couple of lumps/masses, then she likely feels pressure somewhere in her abdomen.

I'm glad you got to help her too and you gave her a good life that she wouldn't have had otherwise. It's frustrating and heartbreaking to lose hens to reproductive disorders. I've lost some favorites from these conditions. It's a sad thing to see and watch. I do offer supportive care until I think they just can't go on. Talk with your husband and let him help you through this. My husband listens of course, but my birds are mine so anything that happens comes from me - I raise them, love them and when the time comes, I'm the one that takes care of their ending.

What kind of supportive care do you give in these situations? I feel like I should be the one to take the responsibility, I'm just not sure I can bring myself to do it. My husband is very kind and of course would do anything for me, but as soon as he was like oh how do you want it done I was over the conversation. We've had birds for 3 years and this will be the first time action like this needs to be taken. Obviously I know it is inevitable, but we were doing quite well as far as I'm concerned.
I wish I had brought her in and given her antibiotics and such the first go round. Who knows if it would've helped, but it would've been worth a try.
Hopefully I can muster myself up some courage here and not make my husband do this for me. Jeez the past few years I've just gotten so wishy washy. Idk what happened.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What kind of supportive care do you give in these situations? I feel like I should be the one to take the responsibility, I'm just not sure I can bring myself to do it. My husband is very kind and of course would do anything for me, but as soon as he was like oh how do you want it done I was over the conversation. We've had birds for 3 years and this will be the first time action like this needs to be taken. Obviously I know it is inevitable, but we were doing quite well as far as I'm concerned.
I wish I had brought her in and given her antibiotics and such the first go round. Who knows if it would've helped, but it would've been worth a try.
Hopefully I can muster myself up some courage here and not make my husband do this for me. Jeez the past few years I've just gotten so wishy washy. Idk what happened.

Normally I just see that the hen is eating/drinking well, that her crop is emptying and check her regularly for lice/mites. Hens that are not well can get parasites because they don't preen and dust bath regularly.

A one time round of antibiotics I might give the first signs of initial decline IF I think they may be helpful. It really depends on how they act and what I think the trouble is. I've found that an antibiotic may not make any difference at all, so I usually focus on how they act/feel every day.

Not that you get used to it ever or that it's an easy thing to do, putting a much loved hen down for the first time will be hard . For my hens I use the broomstick method, I watched numerous videos seems like ages ago now but found this to be the best choice for me when putting a sickly hen out of her misery. Some behead or cut the jugular (which I do when processing birds for meat). It all depends on how you feel about these methods. Each has it's own pros/cons.