Lethargic but otherwise healthy hen

[zaz13]

Hi guys - I have a hen who has been acting very out of character for about 48-72 hours. The first day I noticed that she was "sleeping standing up" in a bush - thought it was funny but didn't think much of it.


Day 2 (yesterday) we had heavy rain ALL day, so I didn't spend much time outside. When I did go out, I noticed the same hen, sleeping standing up again. I approached to check her out and she pretty much let me grab her with no fuss or fight (very unusual for this bird). I looked over her for injury, checked her crop (seemed empty), and felt around her rear for the possibility of a bound egg. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She was soaking wet from hanging in the rain with all the other girls, so I figured maybe she was wet, and a little cold. Maybe just needed to dry off and get warm and she would snap out of it. I offered her some treats - she wouldn't eat ANYTHING.


Today, she is out of the coop again but still very lethargic and seemingly not eating. Wasnt interested in snacks again. Hopefully this is something simple or there is something I'm missing.


A little backstory on the girl and her health - we got her in April of this year. when she was young (~6weeks old) she was showing symptoms of MG so we treated with tylosin powder. The symptoms went away and have yet to return. On Aug 29th we brought stool samples from all of our birds to get a fecal float, the results came back negative for anything - great! On Sep 3rd, we woke up and she had basically been scalped (were not sure how or why...) the entire back half of her head was missing flesh, bone of her skull was completely exposed, and you could see the air sacs on the back of her neck "bubbling" when she ate and drank. We brought her into the vet and got an assortment of medicines and creams. She lived indoors with us for about 10 days until the wound scabbed over and dried out. Over the last month and a half, the wound has almost completely healed, there is still a small section of the wound leftover right behind where her comb ends. We stopped treating the wound a couple weeks ago as it seemed it was doing fine on its own.

I hope this wasn't too much information... or maybe its just enough and it will give us a reference point to lead with.


Thanks in advance!

 

[ILoveDaffy]

Have you tried raisins? All hens go crazy for them, and they are a good provider of Iron.

 

[zaz13]

Here are some pictures of her wound and the progress photos of the healing progress. Final photo was taken this morning.

A photo of how she's been acting- "sleeping standing up"

 

[zaz13]

Have you tried raisins? All hens go crazy for them, and they are a good provider of Iron.

I have not tried raisins - I have dried cranberries and dried cherries. Do you think either of those would be okay?

 

[ILoveDaffy]

Hmmmm

 

[ILoveDaffy]

Never tried those before...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does she lay eggs?

I would feel her abdomen for bloat/swelling or fluid, feel inside the vent for an egg, look her over for lice mites and re-check that crop to see if it's emptying overnight.

Do what you can to get her hydrated. Offer her some electrolytes or poultry vitamins if you have them. Once she's drinking, then offer her a bit of wet feed with bits of egg.

Sounds like she may be having some reproductive problems. Has she laid normal eggs since she was sick with MG and was injured?

 

[zaz13]

Does she lay eggs?

I would feel her abdomen for bloat/swelling or fluid, feel inside the vent for an egg, look her over for lice mites and re-check that crop to see if it's emptying overnight.

Do what you can to get her hydrated. Offer her some electrolytes or poultry vitamins if you have them. Once she's drinking, then offer her a bit of wet feed with bits of egg.

Sounds like she may be having some reproductive problems. Has she laid normal eggs since she was sick with MG and was injured?

She has been laying pretty normally. Ive got 6 of her eggs on the counter right now, probably from the last 10 days or so. Im 90% sure that she laid an egg yesterday - she's my only girl who lays that specific color/size combo.

She was only 6 weeks old when she was being treated for MG - so no eggs then. And believe it or not... the injury never affected her laying. In the 10 days immediately following the injury, when she was living inside the house in a cage, she was still laying almost every day.... tough girl.

I will have to get some gloves and check inside the vent - will have to read a little bit about how to do it/what i am looking for. Will also have to read up on how to check for lice mites. Ill do both of those things now.

Her crop seems totally empty this morning - but it seemed empty late yesterday afternoon so I don't think there was anything for her to have emptied over night.

I can give children's unflavored pedialyte as an electrolyte supplement, correct?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She was only 6 weeks old when she was being treated for MG - so no eggs then.

If she has MG that can affect the reproductive system long term. Birds are carriers for life.

To check inside the vent - glove up, use a little lubricant (ky, vaseline) and feel inside the vent about 1-2" for an egg. If she's pooping really well, then likely there is not an egg low enough to be causing binding.

To look for lice, look around/under the went, under the wings, back of neck, etc. for crawling tan or brown bugs. Most poultry mites live off the bird and come out to feed at night, so check at night for those is a good idea. Take a paper towel and wipe under and around your roosting bars at night - if the towel has red streaks, then you have mites.

You can give her Pedialyte, that's fine. You just want to get her hydrated, then she if she will take a bit of food.

 

[zaz13]

If she has MG that can affect the reproductive system long term. Birds are carriers for life.

To check inside the vent - glove up, use a little lubricant (ky, vaseline) and feel inside the vent about 1-2" for an egg. If she's pooping really well, then likely there is not an egg low enough to be causing binding.

To look for lice, look around/under the went, under the wings, back of neck, etc. for crawling tan or brown bugs. Most poultry mites live off the bird and come out to feed at night, so check at night for those is a good idea. Take a paper towel and wipe under and around your roosting bars at night - if the towel has red streaks, then you have mites.

You can give her Pedialyte, that's fine. You just want to get her hydrated, then she if she will take a bit of food.

Not really sure if she has MG - its likely but I haven't gotten the girls tested for it. She barely showed any symptoms when it was an issue. Her other 2 flockmates were worse - one with discharge, bubbly eyes, sneezing; one with sneezing and discharge but not bubbles. This girl really just had a sneeze infrequently without showing many symptoms. The tylosin cleared out their respiratory issues in under 10 days.

Okay so I checked around the vent for mites, and gloved up with some lube. I was able to get about 2" in before i ran out of finger - didn't seem like there was anything blocking or in the way. She did push a little bit of foamy yellow/white poo out:

I'm not sure if she's eating, drinking, pooping. I will separate her into a dog crate, that way I can more closely watch her eating/drinking/pooping habits for the rest of the day.

I will check more thoroughly for mites around dusk tonight.