hen not eating, hard butt being picked on, HELP! *update*

[missychicky]

I have a hen that has been severly picked on, nearly all of her feathers are broken off at the tip and a lot are just plain gone. She is not eating and when you feel her but you a feel a lump. I can't seperate her because I have no separation pen and no mony to biuld/ buy one. What do I do? whats wrong with her?

 

[emys]

Can you borrow a large plastic dog crate for a couple weeks (maybe a relative or neighbor has one in their garage?) If she's being picked on she really needs to be separated until she can recover.

Meanwhile can you describe the hardness on her butt? Is it a swollen patch on top of her butt?

Or does it seem as if her whole stomach area is swollen? She could have a bacterial infection of the uterus, in which case antibiotics, rest and good food can help sometimes, but these can be a re-occurring problem.

Or does it seem as if she has a distinct egg shape stuck/too big to come out?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Get a large cardboard box if you can't find something else. We need a more thorough description of the bird's physical problem, can you show us a pic?

 

[missychicky]

Sorry i couldn't answer earlier- I was busy. Anyway, the lump doesnt have any distinct shape, its just a lump below her vent. It feels like it takes up all of her behind too. These pics are a little out of date, she is a bit worse than this-

I also noticed something else today- her breathing is a little raspy and she's barely eating. I'm starting to get really worried.

 

[emys]

Looks like she may have an infected uterus. In which case antibiotics, separation from the rest of the flock is about all you can do for her. This usually happens when a hen has been laying internally for some time, and if you've never seen it before it is hard to spot. You can search on here for internal laying and read up on it to see if you think that matches her symptoms.

Here is a not too positive thread on this subject, but it may help to know you aren't alone in dealing with this.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=79443&p=4

 

[missychicky]

Well, I was comparing her butt to the other chickens and I think I'm still fairly wet behind the ears. Either ALL my hens are laying internally or I just overeacted. But the rest of the conditions still hold true, But now she wont even eat a worm she ate a few blueberries though. I put her in the garage, should I put a nice hen in with her to keep her company? She's getting awfull upset right now. And would force-feading her be a bad idea?

 

[emys]

Does her crop go down every morning? First thing in the am when she wakes up she should have an empty crop. All you should feel in there is maybe a few pieces of grit. If you feel a hard lump in there generally bigger than a quarter then she may have an impacted crop or slow crop.


The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you. This is the basic emergency questions list; I think we need more information.

1) What type of bird , age.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

 

[missychicky]

Well, her crop seems to be empty any time I feel it day, afternoon, or night.
She is an Astrolope a little over a year old
She wont eat anyting but one tiny orange seed from her feed
our RR hen who thinks she is a rooster has been pulling her feathers out for some time now we recently discovered, now she wont come with the rest of the flock to the back door for treats
No, our yellow sex link is missing a few feathers but she seems ok ( she is so doofy that she rarely stays with the flock)
There is no known trama, bleeding, or broken bones- she just looks like a badly made feather duster
She is the bottom hen in the pecking order so I suspect everyone pecks her somewhat to "keep her in place"
She hardly eats at all, just the one seed in her feed and any yogurt we force feed her
I think the poop is normal, there is not very much of it, green pellets and the normal white goopy stuff
We have wormed her, given her electrolytes (that was a while ago), we feed her "chicken mash with wet and dry cat food, sunflower seeds, and some scratch, lately we have been force feeding her a tablespoon of yogurt every day, we just moved her to the garage in a makeshift cardboard pen- she seems quite content there
we need to treat her oursleves as we can not afford a vet
Hopefully that helps- sorry I dont have any more pictures at the moment

 

[emys]

She may have an internal blockage from something she ate, or it could be worms or not sure what else, at least we are pretty sure she isn't contageous.

If no one else answers with more wisdom than me, here's what I would try:

I would go ahead and give her Wazine wormer just in case. I would stop all seed. Give her four small non-tip bowls. In the first goes a regular chicken crumble like flock raiser. In the second regular chicken crumble softened with tomato juice or raw apple cider vinegar, in the third some grit sand or small gravel and in the forth a bit of yogurt. I would see which one she chooses to eat. (If you measure a quarter cup when it goes in the bowl, you can pick up the bowl and measure again in a few hours to see if any is missing.)

 

[missychicky]

I will go get some more wormer and crumble, probably Sunday or Monday, I have a massively important 2 page paper that I have to do this weekend- and a mandatory football game ( I am misssychickys mom...).
Austro seemed somewhat more perky today- she is back to talking at us again! Her poops are bigger and more normal looking, she attacked her mash today- which was beef catfood and I added more electrolytes, oyster shell and grit to it today. I let her out on the front lawn with one other friendly chicken and she was happily pecking for whatever in the grass. We have been putting her in the coop at night because we don't want the flock to forget her. I stuffed her between two warm fluffy chickens and watched them go to sleep. Nobody bothered her. She will go back to the garage tomorrow. We are wondering if perhaps our RR hen/rooster has been pecking at her so much that she has just become afraid to eat. - if that is the case, when Austro is stronger miss mixed up hen/rooster ( we don't call her "general red") for nothing! May get a few days of garage treatment to see if we can get the pecking re-arranged.
Thanks for all the info and we will let you know how it works.