Hen with long term diarrhea now has head shaking? Help!

[heidibeidi]

Hey there,

I started a thread a couple weeks ago about my sick Araucana hen. She has had diarrhea for a couple weeks, has stopped laying, is lethargic and not eating much at all. After worming, antibiotics, yougart and various other supplements, I took her to the vet on Tuesday. The vet thought she might have a bacterial infection because of her super green poop and the lack of improvements due to all my efforts. So she's been on a new med for almost 5 days to kick the infection . . .it was $70, yikes!! Anyway, the med seems to have stabilized her, but I'm not seeing many improvements sadly. She is still lethargic, hardly eats and prefers to stay in the crate in the kitchen over anything else. She's also pretty wobbly and uncoordinated. And yesterday she started some head shaking, sometimes almost non stop. It's awful! I don't see any mites at all. I know she was once exposed to Marek's as an adult, but was vaccinated as a chick.

Any ideas? I don't even know what to feed her, all she'll eat is dry oatmeal from my hand.

thanks from Wisconsin!
heidi

 

[seminolewind]

Poor hen! The bright green poop is most likely starving. If you feel her keel bone or breast bone, there's probably no meat on either side. Does her crop empty? Or is it empty? I don't know what to say. Sometimes there's something wrong that you cannot find. Can you check her ears for mites?

 

[heidibeidi]

I was able to get her to eat strawberries yesterday, but she will not even look at her normal feed. She's drinking, occasionally making some quiet noises and she seems to like being held and coddled. I'm at a loss at what to do, she's been in the kitchen crate for a week with brief breaks outside on the deck in the sun. I don't think she can get by in the regular coop with the pushy, bossy hens! She doesn't seem to be declining, but staying the same.

Thanks for the Marek's post . . .there are some similarities!