illness or just old?

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braxide

Chirping
Aug 10, 2023
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my pretty lady butters has started slowly and slowly getting weaker and weaker. she is the oldest of the chickens so old only her and one sister remain! (and a new rooster we brought in) they both stopped laying eggs but today she can no longer move.. family thinks it’s just old age but prior to this i noticed a problem in my chickens.they all had runny eyes and began gurgling. she’s currently laying at the entrance to the coop, limp, and gurgling. she’s definately very old but i wonder if there is a sickness that is bringing her to death faster. all my ducks haven’t had any symptoms. i’m not sure if there’s a way to add videos or else i’d show her gurgles. i’ve had chickens for many years but illnesses have never been a problem, only wounds that got infected due to predators or one pesky neighbors dog. which is an easy solution as i just give them antibiotics. what’s the best option to do if all my birds are sick?
(none of the birds have watery eyes or any other signs of sickness right now, the only thing butters has other than lethargy is the gurgling but about a week ago they had bubbly eyes and runny noses)
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I would bring her inside and check her over. Check her for mites and lice, check her vent and look at her eyes and ears etc. It’s important to check the crop in the evening and morning to make sure it’s full and empty respectively. Feel her keel bone too to see if she feels underweight.

Maybe offer her some plain water and some scrambled egg. You could also bring her friend in for scrambled eggs to see if that encourages her to eat.
 
I'm so sorry for your hen. I'm trying to see if there is anything you can do to try to save her.
yeah it’s unfortunate cause she was everyone’s favorite she was the only one from all our chicks that came out that color. she’s probably about 8 years old so if worried there’s not much to do. i wanna at least try to make it peaceful and make sure she’s loved if it’s inevitable and hopefully help the other chickens in there is a sickness present.
 
I’m so happy she’s improved! The green is likely from poor nutrition because she isn’t eating.

If you’re comfortable sourcing the items and learning how, you could tube feed her liquid food. You can also feed liquid food with just a syringe. Small amounts frequently are better than a lot all at once. A good liquid food is raw egg, baby food and a little bit of yoghurt or kefir.

Otherwise keep encouraging her to eat, whatever she will take. Bread bits soaked in egg, scrambled egg, liver, mealworms, sometimes sick hens prefer things like cucumber or watermelon.
 
my pretty lady butters has started slowly and slowly getting weaker and weaker. she is the oldest of the chickens so old only her and one sister remain! (and a new rooster we brought in) they both stopped laying eggs but today she can no longer move.. family thinks it’s just old age but prior to this i noticed a problem in my chickens.they all had runny eyes and began gurgling. she’s currently laying at the entrance to the coop, limp, and gurgling. she’s definately very old but i wonder if there is a sickness that is bringing her to death faster. all my ducks haven’t had any symptoms. i’m not sure if there’s a way to add videos or else i’d show her gurgles. i’ve had chickens for many years but illnesses have never been a problem, only wounds that got infected due to predators or one pesky neighbors dog. which is an easy solution as i just give them antibiotics. what’s the best option to do if all my birds are sick?
(none of the birds have watery eyes or any other signs of sickness right now, the only thing butters has other than lethargy is the gurgling but about a week ago they had bubbly eyes and runny noses)
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I'm sorry I don't know much about sick or old Chickens.
It sounds like she has sour crop. dose her mouth smell sour like vinegar?
I would think she is just old.
Try giving her some garlic it should help her ( maybe) or Garlic in water.
 

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