Leghorn - lethargic - limited eating and drinking

[tehbry]

5 months old
White Legion hen
Has layed once or twice, but hasn't in 3-4 days or more
Going on 3 days of lethargy, eyes closed, laying face down in the dirt.
Separated her last night and brought her inside.
All flock free ranges across a few acres including small wooded area.
Flock is all on Layena
No other treatments. Haven't dewormed.
One other chicken started showing some similar symptoms yesterday, everyone else fine so far.
No signs of mites as far as I can tell.
Crop felt empty this morning.

Poop pics from last night.

Any help is appreciated!

Small update on overall Coop history below. Also, silver dorking info in 2nd post.

Overall coop history:

1-year ago:
1 chicken died with a 'heavy load' of worms present in fecal. We treated remaining members and everyone happy since then.
Two other chickens died mysteriously (both old over 6 years old)
We have doubled the flock size in the past two months from 8-16, including a 2nd rooster.
Stress has obviously been introduced because of these changes.

 

[azygous]

Poop doesn't appear to be abnormal. How about posting some pics of the hen? Closeup of eyes, one of her posture.

Is she able to stand? If you stand her up can she balance and do her legs support her?

Since poop doesn't appear to indicate an infection, perhaps she's struggling to get an egg out. Give her a calcium tablet right now, whole, directly into her beak. She should swallow okay when you put it in and close her beak.

This is the type I recommend as it goes to work very quickly.

 

[azygous]

I looked at the bottle of Nutri-drench but couldn't figure out what proportion of calcium is in it, but it's a good guess it isn't nearly enough to trigger the contractions your hen needs to get a blockage moving.

Stuck egg remains can cause the crop to slow. Poop would eventually turn into scant solids with very watery overall content.

Giving a calcium tablet even not having a concrete diagnosis is safe and will not do any harm if something other than a reproductive issue is responsible for her symptoms.

It's very possible she is becoming weak from this ordeal. Recently I had a young layer with these exact symptoms, down to the weakness. In fact, my hen was much worse, close to death. The calcium citrate each day along with tube feeding for one day to restore some energy helped her to pass the egg remains. She was also on an oral antibiotic, amoxicillin 250mg for ten days to combat possible bacterial infection from the broken egg inside her. She has made a complete recovery.

 

[tehbry]

Update 9/16

Leghorn appears fully recovered. She's back with the flock as of 9.15
Treatment in the end included Calcium and rest

Dorking did receive an antibiotic from the local vet
Condition continues to deteriorate
Breathing has slowed, she's no longer eating or drinking on her own
I do feel she's getting near the end of her life unless she can fight through whatever viral infection she has

 

[WIchickMama]

Sorry it isn't going very well for your Dorking. Glad your Leghorn has seemed to make a recovery

 

[tehbry]

Sept 20 Update:

Leghorn remains happy and healthy with the rest of the flock

Dorking has actually improved the past two days. Eating better, but not large amounts. Energy level is higher. Her wheezing and coughing have improved. No new eggs laid since Sept. 11. Still isolated from the flock.

 

[tehbry]

Thank you for the reply. I updated photos above. Info below and updates:

Leghorn:

To note: we gave her 1ml of nutri-drench via syringe last night.
Yes she can stand. She will stand as needed, has taken some food and water this AM (observed), but also is often laying in the posture in the photos.
Tail is often down like photos
Eyes are both clear, and pupils dilate
3 days ago, this started by noticing she was keeping 1/both eyes closed. Not normal for her.
She can balance and support herself thus far.
This leghorn is very cuddly. Our only bird of our 16 that is 100% in love with human touch. No changes on that side for her at this time.

**Would you recommend giving more calcium given she already received via nutri-drench?



The 2nd bird/silver dorking: in the photos above.

1.5 years old. Constant layer.
Layed within past day or two.
Oddity: this am at 8:30 her crop felt spongy. Almost kernal-ly.
I also noticed a little saliva when I opened her beak
It's possible I heard a little gurgle - I may be imagining this.
Possibly a digestive issue? Sour Crop?

I don't have a good basis for her crop on a normal day to day, so I'll check again tomorrow AM.
She was not well this AM and I have now quarantined her inside.
I don't have a lot of specific updates on her poop quality and other things yet.
This AM (around 8:30am) she was found laying on the floor in the coop, comfortably mind you, separated from the flock.
I checked her late last night and she was roosting with the other birds.
We also gave her 1.5ml of nutri-drench on 9/11 PM.
She did not leave the coop when everyone was let out together.
No other birds appear sick at this time.
The dorking is much weaker than the leghorn, by comparison
She easily let me pick her up, which is not normal for her. She made no effort to move or fight.

Overall coop history:

1-year ago:
1 chicken died with a 'heavy load' of worms present in fecal. We treated remaining members and everyone happy since then.
Two other chickens died mysteriously (both old over 6 years old)
We have doubled the flock size in the past two months from 8-16, including a 2nd rooster.
Stress has obviously been introduced because of these changes.

 

[tehbry]

Thank you very much, azygous. Appreciate your time and replies so much.

We're going to go pick up some calcium tablets and start that with the Leghorn. If I need to gain access to Amoxicillin, is there an easy way I can do this without going to a vet/dr, as far as you know? I am in the USA - Virginia, specifically, if that's useful.

Only updates:

We've prepared some warm/wet food with mealworm, layer food, warm water. The leghorn is eating it slowly. The dorking is scarfing it down.

I'm waiting for some dorking poop to analyze.

Thank you again.

 

[tehbry]

9/12 - 4pm
We've given 200mg of Calcium to both chicks.
Leghorn took it down fine. She's still lethargic, but eating and drinking.
Dorking did not want to swallow. I'm hearing a lot of gargle sounds. Her crop feels the same as earlier, like a balloon. She's eating, but haven't seen her drink anything.

The dorking also has normal poop, although did secrete some yellow liquid while I examined her vent.
Both chicks vents look normal. I don't see any evidence of mites or redness or infection.

**Our thought is to potentially treat the dorking for Cocci, and possibly the whole flock. Is there a downside to this?

 

[tehbry]

9/13 9am update:

Leghorn woke up looking pretty good. She started eating as the lights came on. I'll monitor her today and give her another calcium pill.

*200mg Calc admin'd

Dorking - this one isn't going well.

Dorking looks a bit haggard.
She's coughing up a clear mucus. Coughing every few minutes.
Her Crop feels smaller this morning.
Her Crop feels very much like a deflated balloon - not flat and taught, but more spongy and saggy.
She may also be breathing in a bubbly way, kind of gargling way.

Am I dealing with a Sour Crop on the dorking?
What can I do now that she's coughing Mucus?
I'm also now thinking this is respiratory in nature.
How would she obtain this? Is the rest of my flock at risk now?