hen just seems "off." Not eating, messy, stinking poo...suggestions?

[Astrid]

HI there,
I have four hens, all 18 months old. 2 Buff Orps and 2 Barred Rocks. This morning, one of the rocks seems "off." She didn't come to the door of the run to greet me with the other three, and actually let me pick her up (which she almost never does!)
I spread some scratch but she wasn't interested (very uncharacteristic!) and just kind of walks around slowly. Her feathers are not puffed out very much, and her color is good and eyes are bright. There a couple of pretty stinky poos on shelf where they roost. Very watery, with milky white stuff and narrow, rather green "solids."
I think my daughter gave them some cucumber peelings and the white leaves of a head of iceberg lettuce yesterday. She was fine then.

Anyone have any suggestions? Does this sound like a mild GI upset which will pass? What can I do for her? She did take a couple of sips of water, which has Avia Charge 2000 in it.

HELP! i'm worried!

Astrid

 

[Astrid]

Anyone? Any ideas?

 

[arlee453]

It could very well be the iceberg lettuce. It's so high in water content and is notorious for causing watery poops and general digestive upset....

If there are no other symptoms, I'd keep an eye out on her. Hopefully she will be better on her own, but if she starts to deteriorate, then you'll probably need to setup a hospital cage for her (a large dog crate, or similar would work fine) where you can isolate her and watch her closely for symptoms, input/output, etc.

 

[Astrid]

Thanks so much for the info! I would bet that the iceberg lettuce is the culprit. "Lizzie" tends to be the alpha chicken, so it stands to reason that she got the lion's share of the lettuce. I talked to my daughter (she's 11) and found out that it was quite a few of those tough, inner white leaves and the core. We won't be treating them to an iceberg "salad" again!

Should I try to get some scrambled egg or yogurt into her? And how long should I watch her before I break out the hospital room?