Laying on side and breathing heavy!

[chicksMilton]

I brought my hen inside last night as I noticed she wasn't eating much and looked listless. This morning she is laying on her side, breathing heavily, and her eyes are half closed. I syringe-fed her some homemade electrolytes, but she hasn't improved. Any ideas on what it could be and I can do to help her would be very much appreciated!

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

Do you have a picture of what she’s doing?

 

[chicksMilton]

Do you have a picture of what she’s doing?

She lifts her head up every few minutes, but it's mainly this:

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

She lifts her head up every few minutes, but it's mainly this:

Those closed eyes aren’t good. Was she spitting anything up? @azygous

 

[chicksMilton]

Those closed eyes aren’t good. Was she spitting anything up? @azygous

No, not spitting anything up. She shifts around and opens her eyes every few minutes, but doesn't keep them open for long. We had a heatwave yesterday, but the others are bigger breeds and doing fine...

 

[chicksMilton]

She regurgitated some water and died just now. This was so sudden.... I'm really worried about my other hens now.

 

[azygous]

A sudden death like that may be from dehydration from the heat or from a toxin. A toxin might be insecticide or contaminated gravel she picked up from under a leaky yard machine.

Poisonous plants can do this as well as a poisonous insect. I had some chicks that just pecked at a poisonous buck moth caterpillar, go into seizures and die.

It's important for the rest of your flock to determine cause of death. A necropsy done by a lab on this dead hen can tell you what killed her.

We can't. I'm so sorry.