hen squatting, lethargic--please help!

[corrae]

I've got a 3 year old Australorp hen. For the past week/10 days I've noticed her resting, just sitting on the ground, not her usual active self. Last night she seemed to be squatting--resting almost upright , but back on her haunches. She ate the canned cat food I offered her last night, and she is making the normal chicken sounds, but she seems to have lost some weight. She's had trouble getting onto the roost at night, so I lift her up. Her bottom seems a bit soft and swollen. She is beginning her molt, so no tail feathers. Any suggestions?
I don't want to lose her, I need some help and advice, please!!!

 

[Spinster_Sister]

could be egg yolk peritonitis or egg bound. get your girl warm, bring her inside, add some poultry vitamins to her water, greek yogurt with hard boiled egg is nice to eat perhaps add some crushed/pulverized egg shell or oyster shell to it, get her to the vet asap... for today, visit your local feed store and buy some penicilan or if they carry baytril.....you have to hit this hard and fast. search for other threads about egg yolk peritonitis or EYP, Internal laying, and read especially SpeckledHens' posts.....her advice is golden

 

[Spinster_Sister]

are her poops normal? how is her face color?

 

[corrae]

Thank you! Her face color is normal. She seemed a little better this AM. I've got Tylan--no one in town carries Baytril. Will the tylan work? If not that, then will the generic pen-gen work? This is cow country and you can get any sort of antibiotic for cows, but poultry, you're on your own....

Should I massage her? ANy other treatment?

Thanks again to every one!

 

[chkn]

Try a round of antibiotics (baytril or tetracyclin or penicillin maybe) for peritonitis (if the butt is significantly swollen). You may want to drain her in that case (there are some good threads here on the subject). Always do it from the right near the back leg (don't go straight in but at an angle). Get her on a worming-delousing program.

 

[Chicken_Pauper]

Is she laying? Everyday? Or, not laying, for how long? Have you wormed her? How long ago? With what?
Check for, use BYC search for "Eggbound" information... Check her and the others in the flock for parasites such as mites on their vents, under their wings, etc. You can check the poop for quality and for worms... but, I didn't "see" any worms in the poo when my flock did have worms. Could have been my vision, or few worms that just hid in the poop, or I didn't know what I was seeing. There is a "normal poop" chart somewhere here, so that you can see what is normal for a chicken, and there are ALL KINDS of normal poo in chickens.
I would examine her for eggbound.... do the warm 20-30 minute soak bath and oiled finger stimulating the vent -- etc... clean her vent area in that soak bath with the warm water.
Do use the search here to search for symptoms or problems and read up on the solutions or treatments for each.
Is she the only one acting sickly in the flock? Sulmet is an anti-bacterial as opposed to an anti-biotic. And, most of our treatments and wormers for chickens are not made for chickens.... we just adjust the dosage and use accordingly. Don't forget to withhold (not eat) her eggs when worming or medicating her with most meds.
Good luck. Please use the search to find the best information on each and every subject from Worming to Eggbound.
Take care.

 

[Chicken_Pauper]

Buttermilk for a good probiotic -- mixed into her food to stabilize her intestinal tract... or yogurt, or "probiotic capsules" opened and poured into the food.

If everyone needs worming... search for info on using Valbazen, the most safe and effective wormer, even for first time worming... see dawg53 more recent posts regarding worming and Valbazen for best information on that.

Seems everything happens on the weekend / Sundays when vets and stores are closed, hate that.
We have feed stores that stay open on Sundays.. good place to get stuff, meds. Careful about overmedicating as well. Sometimes less is more.

Take care... good luck.

 

[corrae]

Thank you, everyone. I checked her bottom a little more thoroughly--she actually doesn't seem swollen. She has bright eyes, and went to roost last night with a decent amount of food in her crop. She is still just lying down, usually in the sun, but does seem alert. I don't think she's been laying at all for a while. She is a little unstable when I get her up and going, a little shaky on standing, then walks out ok. It never rains but it pours though--I was in bed yesterday afternoon, sick as a dog, trying to breathe, and heard my pullets cackling....didn't get up...then the ducks started REALLY making noise and of course, there are 2 strange dogs--a border collie trailing a leash, and a great pyranees trying to get my ducks. I shouted, the dogs raced off, and upon going out to check the pullets, I'm missing 2. To make a long story short, I found a lot of feathers and one hen came back from who knows where, and the second was crammed into the hay bales as far as she could go... She was a bit shocky-- I would imagine losing your tail, getting a bite on your tail itself, and escaping from a dog would make anyone a bit upset. She's spent the night in the bathroom. SHe is talking to herself, has eaten and drunk a great deal, and will go out again when it warms up a bit--it's currently 36 in NW Colorado. So the original sick hen has been on the back burner for a bit. It seems that no one, including the vet, in this small town has Baytril, so does anyone have any suggestions for an alternate? I'd like to give her some antibiotic, but don't know which one. I do have Tylan, which I gave to a hen who had a respiratory infection in the spring. That cleared the infection right up..... SO, any advice for an antibiotic other than BaytriL?

 

[alovingmum]

Thank you! Her face color is normal. She seemed a little better this AM. I've got Tylan--no one in town carries Baytril. Will the tylan work? If not that, then will the generic pen-gen work? This is cow country and you can get any sort of antibiotic for cows, but poultry, you're on your own....

Should I massage her? ANy other treatment?

Thanks again to every one!

sad to see so many people feeding junk to chicken and pouring chemsand drugs down their throats when they don't have a choic.e for heaven's sake use homeopathy, charcoal is the best cure for toxicity, inflammation, infection and i've brought a chook back to life making a homeopathic rememdy from myown charcoal powder. they need to eat fresh veg, be free range and have a few grains and seeds (raw and pure). that will make the best and healthiest eggs and chickens by a mile.. your killing your chickens if you give them anything else! and don't listen to people who say one can't cure stickfast fleas, lice, mites etc naturally. yes you can. i've done it many times over 22 years of keeping hens on a half acre block.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

sad to see so many people feeding junk to chicken and pouring chemsand drugs down their throats when they don't have a choic.e for heaven's sake use homeopathy, charcoal is the best cure for toxicity, inflammation, infection and i've brought a chook back to life making a homeopathic rememdy from myown charcoal powder. they need to eat fresh veg, be free range and have a few grains and seeds (raw and pure). that will make the best and healthiest eggs and chickens by a mile.. your killing your chickens if you give them anything else! and don't listen to people who say one can't cure stickfast fleas, lice, mites etc naturally. yes you can. i've done it many times over 22 years of keeping hens on a half acre block.

This thread ended 11 years ago

How long do your gals usually live? Just curious