Hen twitching and out of sorts.

[Henri239]

Hello, I'd be grateful for some help.
The following is happening to our 2 year old RhodeRock hen:
- feathers puffed up
- movements like she is wretching/hiccuping but no sound - could almost be like shes a little itchy
- eating and drinking appears ok, but does seem less herself
- poo seems normal
- not laying (but has been last couple of days)
- symptoms started this afternoon
- no sign of mites in the coop, although we have dusted the coop and birds just in case
- other hen shows no symptoms and is in usual spirit
- we have had 1 month of unusually cold weather in the UK which has meant them being cooped up a lot more
- head under her wing when normally she would be pecking around the garden
Thanks for your thoughts; we're new to this game so all suggestions will be gratefully received!

 

[Judy]

Have you wormed them? Do you have gapeworm over there? (You can see the worms back in the mouth or throat if they are there.) Have you switched feed? Any chance they ate something moldy or spoiled? Maybe from a corner of the feeder that you didn't see? I wonder with the hiccuping thing if she ate something that's not food, maybe was a bit large, and she's trying to get it back out. There was a recent thread about a chicken that got pretty sick, then passed a scrap of electrical wire and was fine.

I certainly don't know, obviously. Just throwing out thoughts. Good luck!

 

[tammye]

maybe you shoul isolate her for a few days, give her a chance to get warmed up. I would also give her some electrolyte solution in her water for strenght. lots of info on respiratory problems on this site, type respiratory in the search engine. good luck

 

[Henri239]

Going to try worming her with flubevent to see if that helps. Will let you all know how we get on. Thanks for you help

 

[jjthink]

She is ill based on those symptoms and needs to be in a warm (not hot) dry quiet comfy cozy place for now so she doesn't have to expend energy trying to stay warm when she is under the weather.
JJ