Hen not eating or drinking or able to walk well

Quinnlee

Hatching
Sep 29, 2019
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She's about 3 years old same weight as the others. Noticed yesterday she was separating herself from the others laying down under a fern. Kept an eye on her all day and seen she was barely able to walk so I put her in our sick bay with probiotic water gave her a squeeze of nutridrench and fixed her a plate of scrambled eggs yogurt and some cut up fruits. Checked her crop and it was full and squishy, this morning it was empty she hadn't touched her food and I don't think she drank anything looked like she hadn't moved at all. I fed her some probiotic powder from a pill and some olive oil washed it down with a couple full syringes of water and had her eat some boiled egg. Brought her inside for an epsom salt soak for about a half hour currently she's drying by the fire. I should also note it seems she's losing a lot of feathers there were a ton in the bath and when I was blow drying her even more yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated
 

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Please tell us where you're located. It's information that affects practically every question and answer on this forum.

If her crop was empty when you checked it first thing in the morning, it's unlikely she has a crop disorder causing her to feel unwell.

If she's losing lots of feathers, actively falling out like so many feathers from a torn open pillow, she very well could be molting if it's fall where you live.

Molt can make some chickens feel very unwell, lose their appetite, become weak and lethargic. I'm specially feeding four such hens currently. If this is the cause of your hen's weakness, you're definitely on the right track feeding egg, yogurt, Nutri-drench and probiotics. Other forms of high protein food can include canned mackerel and tofu.

There's always a chance of something more serious going on. Try the special feedings for now and see if that perks her up. If she continues to decline, we need to examine other possibilities such as a reproductive disorder or an infection.
 
I have a hen that is exhibiting many of the same symptoms. We are in coastal northern Ca. We found her in a corner of the hen house today, we initially thought she was dead. I have her in the house now. I was able to get her to stand for a minute before she sat down again. She seems stiff almost like she's paralyzed. She is losing a lot of feathers as well. Also, her comb is pale, almost grey at this time as well. This has been a rather sudden turn in her health. She seemed fine yesterday. Any advice? I'm giver her yogurt and probiotics now.
 
from sounds of it it both your hens are molting, up north mine are done already as we got our first snow today. This is one reason I keep them on flock raiser plus they get more meal worms and yogurt and soft scrambled egg, takes as much or more protein for them to make feathers than it does eggs from what i see with my flock
 
It's sad to lose a chicken. It's very upsetting when you have no clue what could have been wrong. It's possible molt weakened her and she didn't have the reserves to fight an infection or other health issue. A necropsy is always a good idea to learn what may have consequences for your other chickens.
 

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