I think I have a sick hen

[jadell]

I've got a hen that's acting a little funny. Her tail feathers are always down and she seems a little lethargic. She's been laying around a lot and her comb isn't quite as red as normal. It has a little bit of a blue hue to it. When I throw out some grain, she lays down to peck at it. I noticed a few sneezes last week, but thought nothing else of it when she stopped. Any ideas?

 

[Imp]

Jadell,
I hesitate to give medical advice, because I'm no expert. And I hesitate to copy and paste someone else's answer.

Try going to the top of the page and doing a search for colds, CRD, and lethargic. You'll get lots of advice as this is a common question here. Good luck.

Imp

 

[Renee]

Separate her from your other chickens immediately for two reasons: so you can make sure she is eating, drinking, pooping, and laying normally, and so she does not get your other chickens sick if she turns out to have a disease.

I can't give you real treatment advice, but I can tell you a few things to do that will not hurt her:

Keep her isolated in a warm dark place.

Give her three drops of Poly-Vi-Sol liquid baby vitamins without iron on her beak per day, tapering off after four or five days. Some chicken problems are vitamin related.

If she is dehydrated, you can give her 50/50 Pedialyte and water.

Make her a probiotic moist mash of layer's pellets, cooked oatmeal, and yogurt, mixed together until soft with a little water. Give her cool scrambled eggs if she will not eat.

Check her vent for signs of lice or mites.

Check her poop for signs of worms, note its color, consistency, and amount.

What are you feeding your chickens? That can help people figure out what might be wrong.

Wiser people will chime in tonight if they can help more.

 

[jadell]

They eat laying pellets and free range.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

well it could be different things but here is something to do


***she has some kind of gut problem probably she has some nerve damage and touch of E.coli
do this immediately
need neurolodigal vit E and Vit B complex for nervous disorder

(1 ***put 2 tbsp of ACV in gallon of water for all the chickens
** for one bird use 1 tsp for pint of water

(2 immediately give the chicken 1000 mg capsule of liquid Vit E by cutting the end of the capsule and taking the vit E capsule and let the oil run into the chickens beak

(3 also need to crush a vit B complex pill in a tbsp and put it into a tsp of water and suck the mixture up in a straw and put finger over the straw and let it run into the chickens throat slowly**** put it in the chickens beak after it is disolved good

** I would see if she will eat the #5 wet mash and put the vit's in that and mix good

Do both Vit's twice today then for 7 days till you see some improvement in the chicken

then give twice a week for two weeks should see much improvement

(4 generally the shock of a event like E.coli will cause chickens to have this nerve damage

(5 after today I would see if the chicken will eat a
natural probiotic wet mash
2 tbsp of dry crumbles
3-1/2 tbsp of milk sweet, sour or buttermilk
1 tbsp of non flavored yogurt
mix good and put the
vit E liquid as directed in the wet mash
and crumble the Vit B complex tablet in a tabsp and add to the wet mash

(6 Do this twice a day for 7 days to see if the chicken is better
then do this once a day for another week then once a week for a while
this should give the nervous system some stability

(7 you can email by PM for more information and include this inf so I remember what is happening
** this can't hurt her but improve her situation considerably