Hen with diarrhoea

[LucyCorbett]

I have three back garden hens that I’ve had since November so I’m fairly new to owning them. One of my hens is 1 years old and recently I’ve noticed heavy breathing from her, she’s quite a nervous hen and is at the bottom of the pecking order so I was wondering that it could be the other 2 keeping her away from water so I put more water bowls around my garden. However today I’ve noticed her struggling a lot more, breathing heavily, a lot of diarrhoea (white) and she’s standing around with her eyes closed as though she is pain. I would have taken her to the vet by now but they are all closed, is there anything that I could do to make her more comfortable or any ideas what the problem could be? She’s started to walk around more but still seems slow-moving. Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. She sounds young for a serious illness, so I would check her out all over. Is she presently laying eggs? Can you feel her lower belly between her legs, and compare it to your others for any enlargement, tightness, or sponginess. While down there, look for any lice or mites under her vent while parting the feathers. Pictures of her typical droppings would be good.

Early in the morning before she has access to food or water, feel of her crop to make sure that it is empty and flat. If it is full, firm or puffy, there may be a crop oroblem. The white urates in her droppings may be from dehydration or a kidney issue. I would offer some vitamins and a little cooked egg and wet chicken feed made into a mash to offer her.

Occasionally young hens can suffer from reproductive disorders and maybe ascites or water belly, which might cause some labored breathing. Have you wormed your flock recently?

 

[LucyCorbett]

Welcome to BYC. She sounds young for a serious illness, so I would check her out all over. Is she presently laying eggs? Can you feel her lower belly between her legs, and compare it to your others for any enlargement, tightness, or sponginess. While down there, look for any lice or mites under her vent while parting the feathers. Pictures of her typical droppings would be good.

Early in the morning before she has access to food or water, feel of her crop to make sure that it is empty and flat. If it is full, firm or puffy, there may be a crop oroblem. The white urates in her droppings may be from dehydration or a kidney issue. I would offer some vitamins and a little cooked egg and wet chicken feed made into a mash to offer her.

Occasionally young hens can suffer from reproductive disorders and maybe ascites or water belly, which might cause some labored breathing. Have you wormed your flock recently?

Yes she is currently laying and this morning she seems to be a bit better. We gave her some probiotic yoghurt and put some apple cider vinegar in her water, which seems to have helped a bit. I think she might just need to be wormed as the farm I got all of my hens from were never wormed so I wasn’t sure it was necessary. I’ll make sure to worm them and check for any lice and check her crop etc. Thanks for your help

 

[dawg53]

It sounds that she may have been eggbound. I'd definitely worm them if I were you. Stop the apple cider vinegar. Use Valbazen or Safeguard liquid goat wormer to worm each one orally.