Hen has lost 50% body weight, comb is shrivelled and colourless.

[Phamilton]

Hi all, hoping to get some advice to help/ save my hen.
She is a 1 year old red sex link. She started laying around 6 months old, but about 3 weeks ago she and another hen stopped laying. I thought it was due to molting as there were feathers around the coop.
The 2nd hen has started laying again and is fine. But over the last week this hen has lost so much weight, she weighs just over a pound I would guess, while the other hens are about 4 pounds.
Her comb has shrunk and lost all its redness. And she is lethargic, sitting still most of the day but she does come out of the coop to free range a little.
She still eats and drinks, but her droppings are watery. I can't see any lice, but might not be looking properly.
I am not sure what to do or what is causing it!!
Any advice welcome.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos of her and her poop?


Has she fully feathered back in or do you still see pin feathers?
What do you feed?

I would work on hydrating her. If you have poultry vitamins direct dose her with those. Once she's drinking well, then offer her poultry feed and a little scrambled egg.
Do check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight and if possible, get a fecal float to see if worms may be a problem.

 

[Phamilton]

Hi, her feathers look very full.
I feed her premium layer pellets and calcium grit. She also free ranges in the back yard for a couple of hours a day, mainly eating grass and worms.

I have isolated her with food and water, but she isn't moving, just fluffed up and staying still.

She seems to have lost her appetite. The other hens are fine, so not sure what it could be...

 

[Phamilton]

Extra pics

 

[Phamilton]

By comparison, the wattles on the other hens, and she used to have wattles this colour too.

 

[Shezadandy]

If it's not related to any crop issues, it's possible she's developed a laying disorder where she lays internally. Do check her for waterbelly (ascities)- comparing her lower abdomen right between her legs to those of her flockmates should make it easy to decide if that is a factor. If there is fluid, what it does is take up all the room inside her abdomen depressing the appetite- much like feeling bloated for us. Just as a side-note, a crop problem can be the first indication of something else amiss, so it may not be the crop itself.

If she did just molt- what often seems to happen is they go through their break, molt, regrow their beautiful feathers and then return to laying. The problem comes if she's developed internal laying, she's been dumping yolks into her abdominal cavity. Usually they can absorb and 'clean up' the occasional 'mis-fire' - but unfortunately yolk is a bacteria's dream substrate- it turns into EYP which is egg yolk peritonitis. There are a bunch of stages of it with a bunch of other names, unfortunately there's nothing much to be done. Some try antibiotics and hormone treatments - but with limited success.

To check for parasites, check (with a bright light) the vent area, top of the tail, under the wings - and look for movement. There shouldn't be anything moving!

If you do find that she's got ascities/waterbelly, you can help her be more comfortable by draining her abdomen. It's not a cure for anything - if you've ever had a joint drained, you'll know the relief of having painful fluid drawn off. Sometimes they rebound after being drained- perk back up, start eating and drinking again and have a good number of months ahead. If they're down to a very low state, they may not bounce back and recover- but it will still help her feel better, especially if she winds up laying down. When they get to the point where they're laying down, if they have fluid, it becomes difficult for them to breathe which is a terrible thing to watch.

I hope I'm wrong and it's something innocuous.

Here is a video on how to drain waterbelly. I've modified her technique by not using a syringe at all, as she does later in the video - I just place the 1" long 14 or 16 gauge needle and let the fluid run slowly out, much easier for those of us without a helper!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is her crop emptying overnight?

 

[Phamilton]

Thank you for the advice. I checked and she doesn't have any fluid. She is very boney.
Her crop is emptying over night but it was not full before bed. , she came out herself this morning and ate and drank a little, but has just sat still all day fluffed up.
She has no solid poo. It is all runny and sticking to her feathers. I checked for mites and didn't see anything.
I tried to give her scrambled eggs but she won't eat it.
The other hens seem fine.

 

[Shezadandy]

Thank you for the advice. I checked and she doesn't have any fluid. She is very boney.
Her crop is emptying over night but it was not full before bed. , she came out herself this morning and ate and drank a little, but has just sat still all day fluffed up.
She has no solid poo. It is all runny and sticking to her feathers. I checked for mites and didn't see anything.
I tried to give her scrambled eggs but she won't eat it.
The other hens seem fine.

Sigh. I'm sorry to hear that. Just keep her as comfortable as you can. The last thing to try is checking for internal worms to see if that might help- most vets that do dogs and cats can run a fecal sample to check for worms even if they don't treat chickens. My guess is something related to laying. This is my least favorite thing about keeping chickens.

 

[Lattylo]

Hi all, hoping to get some advice to help/ save my hen.
She is a 1 year old red sex link. She started laying around 6 months old, but about 3 weeks ago she and another hen stopped laying. I thought it was due to molting as there were feathers around the coop.
The 2nd hen has started laying again and is fine. But over the last week this hen has lost so much weight, she weighs just over a pound I would guess, while the other hens are about 4 pounds.
Her comb has shrunk and lost all its redness. And she is lethargic, sitting still most of the day but she does come out of the coop to free range a little.
She still eats and drinks, but her droppings are watery. I can't see any lice, but might not be looking properly.
I am not sure what to do or what is causing it!!
Any advice welcome.

did you manage

Hi all, hoping to get some advice to help/ save my hen.
She is a 1 year old red sex link. She started laying around 6 months old, but about 3 weeks ago she and another hen stopped laying. I thought it was due to molting as there were feathers around the coop.
The 2nd hen has started laying again and is fine. But over the last week this hen has lost so much weight, she weighs just over a pound I would guess, while the other hens are about 4 pounds.
Her comb has shrunk and lost all its redness. And she is lethargic, sitting still most of the day but she does come out of the coop to free range a little.
She still eats and drinks, but her droppings are watery. I can't see any lice, but might not be looking properly.
I am not sure what to do or what is causing it!!
Any advice welcome.

did you manage to find out what was wrong, is she better now? , a similar thing is happening with one of my girls