Hen unable to get up, making gurgling noises when drinking/eating

[tomiferris]

Found one of our hens in the coop this morning unable to get up. (yesterday she was acting/eating normally). We brought her in the house and put her under a heat lamp (78 degrees). We are in Northern California - it has been smokey and at/below freezing at night - she is near the end of her molt. I have offered her water and liquidy food which she is taking in. However, she is making strange gurgling noises after. We read we should offer medicated chick starter as a form of antibiotics. We also have a powder antibiotic (lincomycin-spectinomycin) we could add to her water. Any advice on what more we can do or why the gurgling noises would be much appreciated.

I have a video of her making the noise but not sure how to attach it. If anyone can give me instructions on that, I could upload a short clip.

 

[glasslady78]

Found one of our hens in the coop this morning unable to get up. (yesterday she was acting/eating normally). We brought her in the house and put her under a heat lamp (78 degrees). We are in Northern California - it has been smokey and at/below freezing at night - she is near the end of her molt. I have offered her water and liquidy food which she is taking in. However, she is making strange gurgling noises after. We read we should offer medicated chick starter as a form of antibiotics. We also have a powder antibiotic (lincomycin-spectinomycin) we could add to her water. Any advice on what more we can do or why the gurgling noises would be much appreciated.

I have a video of her making the noise but not sure how to attach it. If anyone can give me instructions on that, I could upload a short clip.

I had a Banty that was engorged and could not eat,. I massage her craw and the problem stopped and she began eating right away. I wonder if the craw is engorged on your chicken.

 

[rebrascora]

Contrary to popular belief, medicated chick feed does not contain an antibiotic (it is medicated with a low dose of anticoccidiostat..... a very different drug to abs) and personally I do not believe an abs should be administered unless you know that what you are treating is bacterial.
Video needs to be uploaded to the likes of You Tube or Vimeo and a link posted here.

I agree with the previous poster that it could be a crop impaction. Does her crop (the pouch on the front right of her chest appear to be overly large) and what does her breast area feel like?..... Is her keel bone really sharp under the skin indicating that she has lost breast muscle?
It would be helpful to know what her poop looks like too if you can post a photo of it.

 

[tomiferris]

Her crop is not impacted. She ate normally yesterday - I threw my flock some dried mealworms before they went in the coop and she was out eating with everyone else. This morning her crop was empty. Her poop is normal - just cleaned some up from under her (picture attached). She is eating/drinking well still but not standing up.

Here is a link to the video -sorry it's sideways, we were in a rush and couldn't refilm correctly. The noise she is making is at the very end of the video.