Hen throwing up, loss in appetite & isolating herself.

Shady Lynx

In the Brooder
Nov 19, 2017
5
13
24
Western Australia
[Hen - Isa Brown - Roughly 2 Years old]

Issue: About 2 weeks ago I saw her throw up some clear liquid, this is the first time I had ever seen a chicken throw up so I freaked out a bit. But she appeared to get over it and carry on what she was doing, but I did a quick search just in case. [It said it was pretty normal, but check for a sour/acid smell] I wasn't able to catch her do it again, and she seemed fine behavior wise [eating/drinking/socializing].


But a week later we did some dusting for mites and I went to catch her. When I picked her up she threw up a lot of grain and a bit of gunky/yellow liquid with it. I immediately put her back down and she seemed fine and went back to walking around. I smelt the vomit and it didn't smell overly acidic/sour. She did this a second time when we tried to pick her up because she needed to get dusted but we went through with it and tried to keep her head up when dusting her belly.

I have seen her throw up a few times in the last week but now I have noticed her decline in condition. She is isolating herself and not wanting to go out and roam like she usually would. Just today when counting I thought I had lost a hen but she was up in the hen house crouching there while everyone was having their grain [unusual spot because they will usually won't ever go in there unless they are laying an egg in the boxes]. She has definitely lost her appetite as she won't come down and eat, and when we get her down she has a look and maybe peck or two then walks away.

A bit of back story and information on the hen: She came in a batch of 15 Isa Brown rescue hens so they were a bit worse for wear from the start. She has been okay since she arrived, with no other bad signs besides initially having mites. I am not sure of her age, although I believe she would be roughly 2 years old. The only way I can tell her apart from the others is that she has one large pupil and one small pupil. [see photos below]

No other birds seem to be going through this, just her. I thought maybe sour crop but I am not sure, I am have been looking at a few threads with solutions to it so I might give them a try. She has access to fresh water, food scrap and grain [as well as shell grit]. My 18 girls are free range so they have a lot of room to roam during the day and they have a secure coop that they are kept in at night.


Thanks to anyone who can offer some help and took to the time to read it all, I just wanted another opinion before I go along with the sour crop fixes.

Photos:

20171119_181210.jpg 20171119_181214.jpg 20171119_181305.jpg
 
Thank you for guys for the help!

She has had that pinpoint pupil since she got here and I didn't think much of because it didn't seem to be effecting her, so that really worries me that now they might all be carriers of Marek's now. :(

I did have a read though and was watching her this morning. She came out for scraps and did eat a bit, I picked her up and tried to drain her crop by massaging it and holding her upside down but she didn't throw up anything. She pooed, but it was more like diarrhea/watery. When all the other girls went outside she stayed put in that crouched position, although after a few minutes she wandered outside and pecked around. She seems very dull and I also noticed one of the signs for Marek's was a darken comb, which she did have about a week ago but the red colour has come back?

@Eggcessive - They do get a balanced layer crumble along with shell grit and some wheat mixed in, as well as food scraps sometimes. :)
 

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