Hen lethargic and foaming at the mouth, loss of appetite

[Minchicken]

I have a rhode island red hen who for the last week has been foamy at the mouth, breathing a little louder than normal, very low energy and closing her eyes when she stands, not eating or grazing as much as the other hens, and making occasional swallowing motions. Today when I was cleaning their house, there was blood in her stools where she usually sleeps for the night. They get free roam of the yard and have their coop cleaned out every other day. All the other hens are fine and laying eggs.

I do not know what it is and I'm afraid its going to escalate soon and wanted some opinions. My mother does not believe in taking chickens to the vet (though I think I might be able to persuade her if it seems fixable) and says its up to me on whether we should keep letting her go and see what happens or to humanly put her down.

I think this might have started it, but about a week ago i went out to my birds with a couple end pieces of breads and tore off small pieces for them to eat. when I finished, I realized the hen in question, Stuart, was gulping at the air as if she couldnt swallow. I picked her up and looked into her mouth where I found that bread had piled up her whole throat and she was salivating a bunch. Withh a small twig, my brother fished out a good chunk of it until the rest was far enough down that it was decided we shouldnt go after it. She could breathe fine and was walking around, but didnt seem to eat the rest of that evening. I hadnt been able to moderate her after that as I went out of town for the week.

Im very worried about her and would like to hear what others could formula te from that. I need help with a decision quickly, thank you for reading!!

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Check her mouth and throat again. She could have something stuck. Or maybe she scratched it and it’s swollen making eating difficult.

Post pictures if possible. That way we can all try and help some more. There is the possibility of wet pox, canker or even thrush.

The extra swallowing motion you see could be her way of trying to move things down into her crop. How does it feel? Empty in the morning?

Usually blood in the poo is a sign of coccidiosis. A poo picture can also be helpful.

 

[mew317]

Poop pictures is what we need. It could be Coccidiosis or some other stuff. I ain’t familiar with chicken diseases or illnesses.

 

[Cragg Klefor]

I have a rhode island red hen who for the last week has been foamy at the mouth, breathing a little louder than normal, very low energy and closing her eyes when she stands, not eating or grazing as much as the other hens, and making occasional swallowing motions. Today when I was cleaning their house, there was blood in her stools where she usually sleeps for the night. They get free roam of the yard and have their coop cleaned out every other day. All the other hens are fine and laying eggs.

I do not know what it is and I'm afraid its going to escalate soon and wanted some opinions. My mother does not believe in taking chickens to the vet (though I think I might be able to persuade her if it seems fixable) and says its up to me on whether we should keep letting her go and see what happens or to humanly put her down.

I think this might have started it, but about a week ago i went out to my birds with a couple end pieces of breads and tore off small pieces for them to eat. when I finished, I realized the hen in question, Stuart, was gulping at the air as if she couldnt swallow. I picked her up and looked into her mouth where I found that bread had piled up her whole throat and she was salivating a bunch. Withh a small twig, my brother fished out a good chunk of it until the rest was far enough down that it was decided we shouldnt go after it. She could breathe fine and was walking around, but didnt seem to eat the rest of that evening. I hadnt been able to moderate her after that as I went out of town for the week.

Im very worried about her and would like to hear what others could formula te from that. I need help with a decision quickly, thank you for reading!!

Sorry to hear about your chicken. She doesn't sound good. The first think springs to my mind is poisoning of some sort? Do you lay down rat poison? Or could she have found her way to some at all? Along with Coccidiosis, poisoning can also cause bloody stools.
You do need to check her crop first thing in the morning to make certain it is empty, although with her not eating it may be empty at rooting time also so check it then too.
Pictures would certainly help.

 

[Minchicken]

This morning when I went out to check on them I found Stuart running around and drinking water. I wasn't able to find any more bloody stools and my mom said she saw her defacate earlier with no blood in it. I checked her crop and it was empty. I also noticed that her comb is pale on the end.
I looked into her throat and found that there was still chunks of what looked to be bread stuck inside and had my mom come with a q-tip to look. After prodding at it, (and she works in the medical field, but not for chickens..) she thinks that Stuart has some sort of growth going on in her lymph nodes.
After bouncing off all of your theories to her and making her look, I was able to convince her to call the vet, which is closed today but we'll check in tomorrow.
Sorry for the blurry images, and thanks to who responded. I haven't been on this site long enough to know whether or not this update alerts everyone who responded, but I'll add diagnosis when we get it.

 

[Cragg Klefor]

Glad you are taking her to the vet. It looks like Canker with the other symptoms also - swallowing, drooling.
Perhaps the vet will remove the canker and ease the discomfort. Here's some reading on it:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/154/trichomoniasis-canker-frounce/

Could also be a few other things but would be very interested to hear an update after your vet visit please. Best wishes!