Hen lethargic, tail down and not eating. Help!

[Bulldog232004]

Hello all,

first time posting here. I have a Hen who is very obviously sick. I just started back to work this week after being laid off and over the course of the week she has been fine. Always clucking at my back door when she hears me come home and always ready for some kind of treat. So, she was fine last night.
Fast forward to this morning, I let them out and happened to look out at them about an hour or so later and she was just standing there with her tail pointing down and her eyes closed. I now have her inside. I Cooked up scrambled egg which she normally loves but she has no interest. She’s inside of the dog crate with her eyes closed and tail down as we speak. Won’t touch her water or her egg or mealworms. She also sometimes makes a clicking sound with her beak. Her poop look like dark soil with a little bit of white.
I tried calling multiple vets with no success. Either they don’t do chickens are they aren’t open on saturdays. My emergency vet doesn’t do chickens either. I have been in tears all morning as it seems like she won’t make it. She’s my favorite. she’s also very quiet which is not like her.
If anyone has any suggestions of what I could do for her or have had this happen with one of your hens please let me know.
Also, her crop is empty.

she hasn’t laid an egg in probably about a year now, so I don’t think it’s egg bound.
Any ideas or help

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry about your hen. She's not laid an egg in a year, I would suspect she's having reproductive problems. Cancer, peritonitis, etc. can be common in laying hens.
Sometimes the abdomen may feel bloated or has fluid in it - can you feel between her legs below the vent?

Photos of the poop and of her if you have them.
Do what you can to get her hydrated, hold a cup up to her beak and see if she'll drink a bit for you.

 

[Bulldog232004]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry about your hen. She's not laid an egg in a year, I would suspect she's having reproductive problems. Cancer, peritonitis, etc. can be common in laying hens.
Sometimes the abdomen may feel bloated or has fluid in it - can you feel between her legs below the vent?

Photos of the poop and of her if you have them.
Do what you can to get her hydrated, hold a cup up to her beak and see if she'll drink a bit for you.

Thank you for the reply.
I think I have discovered what the problem is. When I put her in my dog crate inside, I discovered that she is infested with mites! I have a dust and a spray but I’m not sure any of it is working. I will attach a photo of the water bowl I put in there with her. Somebody told me that harts flea and tick spray will kill them fast. Has anybody heard of using that? I was told a half spray under each wing and above the vent.
I think I will still try to find her a vet anyway and get her seen because prior to this, she had really watery poop. Mostly all water with a splatter of almost dark green mixed in. So, I do believe she is battling something else.
Being that she had stopped laying eggs a while back, I would guess she has a reproductive problem. I never thought much of her not laying eggs because I don’t eat eggs anyway and I figured that I didn’t have to worry about her getting egg bound either.
I don’t have a picture of a her current poop. But I’m going to post that water bowl and her. Also, any suggestions on something I can get that will kill those darn mites. I’m a little nervous about using a flea and tick spray on her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a dust and a spray but I’m not sure any of it is working

What dust and spray do you have?
I would use a permethrin poultry dust or spray.

I'm not familiar with the Hartz product so can't say whether that would work or not.
I know some folks use Frontline to treat their birds (it's not labeled for use in poultry).

 

[Bulldog232004]

What dust and spray do you have?
I would use a permethrin poultry dust or spray.

I'm not familiar with the Hartz product so can't say whether that would work or not.
I know some folks use Frontline to treat their birds (it's not labeled for use in poultry).

I have gardstar garden and poultry dust which the active ingredient is permethrin. I also have pure planet poultry spray. That is just natural ingredients. Clove oil and cottonseed oil. I did spray that directly on the mites and it seemed to have killed them.

I ended up getting advantage flea and tick spray. They didn’t have frontline. I only sprayed under each wing and above the vent. I hope that does the trick. I did it to all 3 of my birds.

ethel is back in the coop tonight but I’m still very nervous.
I’m still going to make a vet appt for her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hopefully the bugs are all gone!
Have you treated your coop too? If the mites are in the housing then the hens will get more.

I hope the vet can help figure out what's going on. Let me know what you find out.
Is she feeling any better?

 

[Bulldog232004]

I’m not sure how fast the stuff kills them.. I did treat the coop and the other birds. I’m just afraid it’s not over.

I will let you know what the vet says when I get her in to be seen.
So far, she seems better or back to her normal self. Running around outside and eating/drinking wanting her snacks and chatty. She still needs the vet because I had a run in with her being ill before. It could have been the mites then but I think there’s something else going on with her. I have never treated for worms, so it could be that. I don’t know. I will let you know though

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

Poor girl! I'm glad that she seems to be feeling better after treatment.
I hope that she recovers fully! Oh, and she's very beautiful.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’m not sure how fast the stuff kills them.. I did treat the coop and the other birds. I’m just afraid it’s not over.

I will let you know what the vet says when I get her in to be seen.
So far, she seems better or back to her normal self. Running around outside and eating/drinking wanting her snacks and chatty. She still needs the vet because I had a run in with her being ill before. It could have been the mites then but I think there’s something else going on with her. I have never treated for worms, so it could be that. I don’t know. I will let you know though

Re-treat (housing and chickens) for the mites in 7 day intervals. This should help break the cycle.

 

[Bulldog232004]

Re-treat (housing and chickens) for the mites in 7 day intervals. This should help break the cycle.

I’m a little nervous about the advantage spray that I used. I hope it doesn’t hurt them. All I do is worry...
but yes, I will re-treat.