Hortense the Hen- Floppy comb, a lil unsteady/lethargic

[My1stChickens]

She's standing but not doing much. Not interested in eating ((layer pellets, scrambled egg, a couple blueberries). Comb still flopped over. I might be grasping for hope, but I think the dark discoloration on the tips of the rear part of comb is fading. Breathing is visible while she's standing but she's not gaping her beak to breathe as she was the first day. Still seems to breathe harder when sitting but it's not as big a difference today.

Just checked and she's standing up, with tail upright rather than tucked, and had eaten the fresh kernels of corn, and made a good dent in her watermelon. She's passed a small amount of dark green poop (not enough substance to be much more than a stain) and again the wet spot is 3-4x the size of the actual green spot)

I'd sort of like to try her with the flock but worried that heat will worsen her breathing -- any thoughts on that?

 

[My1stChickens]

Midday: She's not staying up like she did yesterday. She's sitting, and breathing hard (no noise, beak not open, but definite movements in her body, looks like she's breathing twice as hard as when she was standing. Not eating, other than the watermelon. Tried more bread, since it worked yesterday, but no luck today.

Gathered what I hope is sufficient poop for a fecal test and took that to the vet's office. Notice more of the bright white stuff in poop today than yesterday. Pretty concerned that she won't eat, but I do know that I've been concerned about other hens in isolation not eating, and that none of them starved to death- eventually they eat.

Did notice her tummy/abdomen feels warm to the touch, warmer than her feet which seem to be "room temperature". Not sure if that's significant. When I touch her she does stand up, and that still reduces how much her body moves when she breathes.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Doesn't sound too good I'm afraid.
I do agree with you about keeping her in, if she's having trouble breathing, the heat will be stressful.

I know you want her to eat, but she is taking a bit of watermelon. That's fluids which is a good thing.
I wish I had better answers for you, it's heartbreaking

 

[My1stChickens]

Wyorp, I did find a small lice/mite nest when I washed her. Literally ONE, and it was not much more than pea sized. I had recently washed another hen with a messy butt and found several (yes, I'm embarrassed) so had treated them all with permethrin spray. A couple messy butts cleared up so that was a good call. But surely this is not what caused what Hortense is doing, is it? I'm thinking not, but it's just as good a time as any to do some de-bugging.

I thoroughly clean the coop since several appear to be molting, changed out bedding in the nest boxes and sprayed everything down with permethrin while they are outside in the run. Normally I'd add clean shavings but I think I'll spray the coop down a couple more times without adding bedding. I've read it can be good to bathe them all, followed by a dip in permethrin solution. That sounds like lots of fun-- not. But is that the protocol?

While I did all that, Hortense pulled her watermelon out of the dish, and made a decent mess of it. And ate ONE morsel of bread. The other five morsels are just getting stale.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Dipping sounds like a party I might not want to be invited too LOL Most spray under the wings and below the vent. Repeat treatment in 7 day intervals.

 

[micstrachan]

@My1stChickens, I had a hen who seemed to be breathing harder while sitting than standing and took her to an avian vet. She seemed to be fluidy, so the vet tried to drain her, but was unable to get to the fluid. She said she felt a solid mass. Not knowing exactly what was wrong, we treated her for salpingitis with enrofloxacin, ibuprofen and eventually a hormone implant. I also did some syringe feeding and gave her some lily of the valley aloe detox, which seemed to help. As of right now, she’s doing great. I’m not sure if you can do all of that, but minimally, you might try the aloe detox and see if it provides any relief, even if temporary.

 

[My1stChickens]

Dipping sounds like a party I might not want to be invited too LOL Most spray under the wings and below the vent. Repeat treatment in 7 day intervals.

Wyorp, I only sprayed their lil butts, not under the wings. Guess I better do it over! How many times do you repeat at 7 day intervals? It's not hard to spritz them on the roost, they barely fuss

 

[My1stChickens]

@My1stChickens, I had a hen who seemed to be breathing harder while sitting than standing and took her to an avian vet. She seemed to be fluidy, so the vet tried to drain her, but was unable to get to the fluid. She said she felt a solid mass. Not knowing exactly what was wrong, we treated her for salpingitis with enrofloxacin, ibuprofen and eventually a hormone implant. I also did some syringe feeding and gave her some lily of the valley aloe detox, which seemed to help. As of right now, she’s doing great. I’m not sure if you can do all of that, but minimally, you might try the aloe detox and see if it provides any relief, even if temporary.

Thank you for sharing this. Baytril is good stuff, at least for horses. I've seen a video of draining the fluid. While her tummy is a little squishy, it's not at all distended or abnormal. There's not a big lump, and it's soft, but not water balloon soft as I saw on the videos. Still, worth asking vet about. I'm not sure how practical it will be to medicate if she won't eat or drink. She did pitch a pure fit when I tried to give her nutridrench, and ended up having what appeared to be a seizure. I'm interested in what the lily of the valley aloe detox is, I'm going to google it!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wyorp, I only sprayed their lil butts, not under the wings. Guess I better do it over! How many times do you repeat at 7 day intervals? It's not hard to spritz them on the roost, they barely fuss

I would do it at least 2X since you saw lice eggs at the base of the feather. The repeat(s) are to kill ones that have hatched.

As for the detox @coach723 explains it here https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...breath-if-you-hold-her.1284253/#post-20750855

 

[My1stChickens]

So Saturday she spent the day alternating about 50/50 sitting and standing. If she was sitting and I touched her, she stood. She ate very little-- one small green grape that had been cut to smaller pieces and some watermelon. No pellets, no mealworms, no egg. Tried bread and blueberries again, but no interest. I was obviously concerned and leaning to euthanasia if she worsened on Sunday.
This morning I took away all the food she had rejected, and offered fresh watermelon, about 1 T of fresh scrambled egg and three grapes (in pieces). When I came home from church, she had eaten the grapes, and a couple bites of egg. The watermelon has been pecked, but not a lot gone.

Crop is empty, breastbone sharply prominent. She had two tiny poops, and her bedding was damp-- I thought I read they do not urinate, but she is expelling fluid. I changed her bedding, and gave her another grape, which she ate. So I've brought 3 more grapes (in halved) and a bit of bread. She felt feisty enough to peck at me when I was examining her- which normally would annoy me, but today I was glad she showed that much of her normal disagreeable personality.

One other thing of note. This morning I noticed that another hen seems slow, her comb is a little floppy and when she was sitting her breathing was visible. This one is a Rhode Bar, probably 5 years old. She has tended to be less active than most, she has never been flighty like Hortense. I gave the whole flock eggs this morning, along with their pellet. But will be watching her.

Question: could this be a reaction to the Wazine or perhaps to worms that were killed off?

I KNOW Hortense has been wormed with Wazine before. But I don't know about the Rhode Bar since I did not raise her. But this whole flock got Wazine and Hortense is definitely sick, and Tiffany may be following the same path.