I have a sick chook

[I likesmychooks]

Hi there ladies and gentlemen i hope someone can point out what my chicken may have and suggest a remedy

I have a Light Sussex bantam hen around 18 months old that is exhibiting a listless demeanour, her eyes look ok though she does take long blinks but she seems to be Drooling, a little dizzy or unwilling to move much and seems to be off her food. she seems to be drinking less too. i have watched her and shes currently reluctant to leave the nest box in the morning. When she does she shows no interest in feeding or drinking whereas the other boys n girls are practically jumping all over one another to get at the food n drink , Every morning for the past 3 or 4 days she had had bedding, mud or the odd feather Stuck quite fast to her beak , her feathers under her beak on her crop are dirty and ruffled and i noticed a strange feint smell when cleansing her beak . Her crop does not seem to be hot or swollen so at the moment i am discounting sour crop or impacted crop there is no lump around her vent which would suggest her being egg bound ( she is quite a small bantam hen ) I have 9 birds all together 2 light sussex hens 3 silver pencil laced Wyandottes hens 2 more Wyandotte hens and 2 Wyandottte cockerels father and son who seem t get on well together in the same coop They are all fed Layers pellets daily and offered clean fresh water every day , they are cleaned out every morning and new fresh bedding laid everyday they are not free range but they have a 3m x 3m x 1.5m run and a good roosting box with nesting section on the side. this has been relocated from its previous position to rest the ground about 3 weeks ago. Coming out of the winter months the egg production rate has been good for them all averaging 4 - 5 a day with on the odd occasion a full house of 7 out of 7 but recently i have a broody hen and then this little lady seems sick so im down to 4 a day . What i have done so far is separate her into her own coop , put her own food and water in with her and checked on her , but frankly she seems no better after 24 hours. I am rather worried as i cant afford a vet being out of work at the moment due to Cancer. so i would be grateful if someone could tell me what might be up with her

Thanks in advance
Dave

 

[I likesmychooks]

Bumping it as ive had no reply yet . Please help if you can

Thanks

 

[sanchabird]

Is there a chance she is broody? They will have broody poop that smells really bad, but if its coming from her mouth, obviously its not that.

 

[I likesmychooks]

No Not broody One of my wyandottes is Broody at the momebnt and i raised some chicks last year with another of my broodies so im pretty sure she isnt broody its the fact that she gets straw stuck all over her beak that alerted me to the problem and that it does smell a bit sourish when i clean her off . I cant feel any lump or blockage in the crop then again im not entirely sure what im supposed to be feeling for with sour crop im goping to put ACV in her water and remove her feed she is already separated from the others and its been 2 days since posting this and 4 days since i noticed the mess on her breast hope some one can shed some light on this pretty soon as the poor bird must be starving by now I havent noticed her eating

 

[sanchabird]

Is there a chicken vet near you? I would advise you to take her to a vet because I am not one and don't want to misdiagnose her because I haven't seen her. I think it might be sour, impacted, or pendulous crop, but I'm not sure. I wouldn't put ACV in her water because it could cause more problems. If it is sour crop, the extra acid will make the problem worse.

 

[Eggcessive]

If she is 18 months old, she could be near to having her first big molt. Is she losing any feathers? If molting, chickens just feel lousy. If you have moved or have added any new birds recently, coccidiosis could be a concern. Is she having any diarrhea? Does her crop every seem large and puffy (full of air?) The sour smell does sound like sour crop, and sour crop or crop stais can occur during other illnesses. Here is a link or two:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/630307/sour-crop-cured-with-monistat
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues.html

 

[sanchabird]

...

If she is 18 months old, she could be near to having her first big molt.  Is she losing any feathers?  If molting, chickens just feel lousy.   If you have moved or have added any new birds recently, coccidiosis could be a concern.  Is she having any diarrhea?  Does her crop every seem large and puffy (full of air?)  The sour smell does sound like sour crop, and sour crop or crop stais can occur during other illnesses.  Here is a link or two:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/630307/sour-crop-cured-with-monistat
 http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues.html
[/quote
I forgot about molting, that's a very good possibility. My RIR acted drunk, and she stumbled around a lot when she molted.

 

[I likesmychooks]

Thanks for the replies so far .

Dont think she is molting as there are no feathers in her coop some of the same batch lost a lot of feathers last summer but that was due to mites which i eradicated As i watch her, other symptoms seem to be coming to light. She seems to be off her food but still lethargic she doesnt seem to be looking after her feathers theres muck on a lot of them and her feathers are not being preened properly becasue each morning sticky goo on her beak means she has strands of straw all over her beak and she seems to have yellow poop as its stained her lower side somewhat. her breathing seems to be a little laboured as when i had her sat on my lap just now there seemed to be a tick sound as she draws each breath and i noticed that her nostril on the left side of her beak seemed to have a little clear fluid in it (IS THAT NORMAL?) the problem with straw being stuck to her beak every morning may be due to this sticky mucus building up. im still very worried but at least she is still with us. If anyone can nail this it would really appreciate it

So far i have :-
Separated her from the other 8 chickens.
Given clean fresh bedding daily (as usual)
clean fresh water daily with 5ml apple cider vinegar added
massaged neck and crop in case it was impacted but no lump felt
Checked for her being egg bound but again no lump felt