I think my chicken is dying and I do not know why - please help!

[_chickengirl1]

We have (4) six month old hens and we live in Southwest Florida. Yesterday, towards the end of the day, Goldie (our sweet Easter Egger) started closing her eyes while she was out with the other girls running around the yard. She would be fine one minute and then look like she was dozing off (almost like narcolepsy). We brought her inside into the bathroom for the night and have been giving her vitamins but she is not improving.

The weird part is that she will act fine for a good 5 minutes (ate like food was going out of style) and then the next minute she crashed and can't open her eyes. I plan to take her to the vet this morning because I am at a total loss on what to do. She is our favorite, sweetest chicken and my heart is breaking.

Can anyone think of what could have happened or what we can do to help her?? I thought maybe heat exhaustion since it was so hot yesterday but I keep their coop is in the shade and they have a giant fan on them all day (along with fresh ice water 2 times a day).

 

[MysteryChicken]

Does she feel thin? If she's really thin I'd suspect a worm overload, or possibly an internal infection, such as an infection in the intestines, or gizzard.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We have (4) six month old hens and we live in Southwest Florida. Yesterday, towards the end of the day, Goldie (our sweet Easter Egger) started closing her eyes while she was out with the other girls running around the yard. She would be fine one minute and then look like she was dozing off (almost like narcolepsy). We brought her inside into the bathroom for the night and have been giving her vitamins but she is not improving.

The weird part is that she will act fine for a good 5 minutes (ate like food was going out of style) and then the next minute she crashed and can't open her eyes. I plan to take her to the vet this morning because I am at a total loss on what to do. She is our favorite, sweetest chicken and my heart is breaking.

Can anyone think of what could have happened or what we can do to help her?? I thought maybe heat exhaustion since it was so hot yesterday but I keep their coop is in the shade and they have a giant fan on them all day (along with fresh ice water 2 times a day).

Have you felt for an egg?

 

[NaperLix]

Try antibiotic estimate dose stronger better even just amoxicillin might help it will die fast with no care

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Try antibiotic estimate dose stronger better even just amoxicillin might help it will die fast with no care

Clarify your post please?
What do you think is wrong that an antibiotic will help and what dose of Amoxicillin do you recommend?

 

[CHlCKEN]

We have (4) six month old hens and we live in Southwest Florida. Yesterday, towards the end of the day, Goldie (our sweet Easter Egger) started closing her eyes while she was out with the other girls running around the yard. She would be fine one minute and then look like she was dozing off (almost like narcolepsy). We brought her inside into the bathroom for the night and have been giving her vitamins but she is not improving.

The weird part is that she will act fine for a good 5 minutes (ate like food was going out of style) and then the next minute she crashed and can't open her eyes. I plan to take her to the vet this morning because I am at a total loss on what to do. She is our favorite, sweetest chicken and my heart is breaking.

Can anyone think of what could have happened or what we can do to help her?? I thought maybe heat exhaustion since it was so hot yesterday but I keep their coop is in the shade and they have a giant fan on them all day (along with fresh ice water 2 times a day).

Maybe she is egg bound? Not uncommon with new layers, or old layers. Maybe sweet and favorite hen had the same issues one morning in July. I was terrified because she is family to me and I love her dearly. She had broken a soft shelled egg inside and there was yolk on top of the watered, and shells hanging from her vent. Took her to the vet and the x-rayed her and showed tons of egg yolk inside her body, it blocked her airways making it hard to breathe causing pneumonia and she couldn’t poop very well. They couldn’t syringe out the yolk since it was hardened, or pull out the rest of the shell so we took our baby home and let her get to work on some natural recovery. We gave her painkillers once a day and twice a day she received a medicine to help her prevent any infection (we were extremely lucky she was not infected yet) we did this for weeks and she began to slowly recover. First step was pooping. She passed her first poop that night it looked like a broody poop! Egg yolk and shell were included in the mess. Then she started to drink water. Chickens are so cute when the drink. When she drank her breathing was concerning, not the normal way a chicken drinks and breaths, but it went away after a while. Then she started to eat, but only food that was crumbled (take note of that, I find that when they are sick they only feel like they are able to eat crumbled food, you can smash up regular pellets if you have to) and she began to poop more regularly and eat and drink her own. Then she began to roost again! She spent a lot of the day on the roost since she was sick. I called it Roost 109 in the Recovery Wing (if you get the joke lol) she passed a bloody broken shelled eggs and since that day she hasn’t layed another egg again. Seems her body decided to stop laying before it made her to sick- this was a blessing so that we didn’t have to feel bad about not being able to pay for spay surgery or hormones to artificially stop her from laying. She recovered really quickly after that and is back in the flock. Her name is Joy and she was 3 years old when this started (still is 3) and nothing can stop this spunky little girl! I’m sharing my story with you to give you hope that your bird will be ok.

Have you seen any egg shells hanging from her vent? Any egg yolks around the coop, or egg shells? If so that means that she broke a soft shelled egg and she is egg bound in a more serious way (Joy did recover from that though) but if not, check for an egg sized lump, she could be egg bound. The symptoms she is showing in the photo (tail droopy, and lethargic) are tell tale signs, it’s also quite common in young layers, but it can be fatal if she prolapsed or was not able to pass the egg. Take her to the vet ASAP and don’t be afraid to get her X-ray scanned. My vet and I were able to save the life of my bird by X-raying because without it we would not have known how blocked her airways were and she would have died quickly, without the help of the meds.

other issues include worms. Have you dewormed your chickens yet? Other chickens would be showing signs and it’s dangerous. Let your vet evaluate what’s wrong, only you know your chicken and no one on
BYC can give you a definite answer like a vet could.

 

[_chickengirl1]

Does she feel thin? If she's really thin I'd suspect a worm overload, or possibly an internal infection, such as an infection in the intestines, or gizzard.

Ya know, we always thought she was just a smaller chicken (we have Wynadottes and a Buff Orpington too) and she is definitely the smallest. I have never de-wormed them so maybe that is a possibility. I just dropped her off at the vet. Praying they will be able to find out what's wrong.

 

[_chickengirl1]

Have you felt for an egg?

She has not started laying yet. Can they become egg bound on their first egg?

 

[_chickengirl1]

Clarify your post please?
What do you think is wrong that an antibiotic will help and what dose of Amoxicillin do you recommend?

I just dropped her off at the vet so she will get antibiotics if needed. I will update this thread once I get the vet's diagnosis.

 

[_chickengirl1]

Maybe she is egg bound? Not uncommon with new layers, or old layers. Maybe sweet and favorite hen had the same issues one morning in July. I was terrified because she is family to me and I love her dearly. She had broken a soft shelled egg inside and there was yolk on top of the watered, and shells hanging from her vent. Took her to the vet and the x-rayed her and showed tons of egg yolk inside her body, it blocked her airways making it hard to breathe causing pneumonia and she couldn’t poop very well. They couldn’t syringe out the yolk since it was hardened, or pull out the rest of the shell so we took our baby home and let her get to work on some natural recovery. We gave her painkillers once a day and twice a day she received a medicine to help her prevent any infection (we were extremely lucky she was not infected yet) we did this for weeks and she began to slowly recover. First step was pooping. She passed her first poop that night it looked like a broody poop! Egg yolk and shell were included in the mess. Then she started to drink water. Chickens are so cute when the drink. When she drank her breathing was concerning, not the normal way a chicken drinks and breaths, but it went away after a while. Then she started to eat, but only food that was crumbled (take note of that, I find that when they are sick they only feel like they are able to eat crumbled food, you can smash up regular pellets if you have to) and she began to poop more regularly and eat and drink her own. Then she began to roost again! She spent a lot of the day on the roost since she was sick. I called it Roost 109 in the Recovery Wing (if you get the joke lol) she passed a bloody broken shelled eggs and since that day she hasn’t layed another egg again. Seems her body decided to stop laying before it made her to sick- this was a blessing so that we didn’t have to feel bad about not being able to pay for spay surgery or hormones to artificially stop her from laying. She recovered really quickly after that and is back in the flock. Her name is Joy and she was 3 years old when this started (still is 3) and nothing can stop this spunky little girl! I’m sharing my story with you to give you hope that your bird will be ok.

Have you seen any egg shells hanging from her vent? Any egg yolks around the coop, or egg shells? If so that means that she broke a soft shelled egg and she is egg bound in a more serious way (Joy did recover from that though) but if not, check for an egg sized lump, she could be egg bound. The symptoms she is showing in the photo (tail droopy, and lethargic) are tell tale signs, it’s also quite common in young layers, but it can be fatal if she prolapsed or was not able to pass the egg. Take her to the vet ASAP and don’t be afraid to get her X-ray scanned. My vet and I were able to save the life of my bird by X-raying because without it we would not have known how blocked her airways were and she would have died quickly, without the help of the meds.

other issues include worms. Have you dewormed your chickens yet? Other chickens would be showing signs and it’s dangerous. Let your vet evaluate what’s wrong, only you know your chicken and no one on
BYC can give you a definite answer like a vet could.

She has not started laying yet so not sure if she is egg bound or not. I have also not dewormed them - they are 6 months old.. Maybe I should?? I just dropped her at the vet so hopefully will have a diagnosis quickly. Thank you for your reply - I appreciate it a lot.