Lethargic chicken with diarrhea and firm abdomen.

[superjec]

My hen is about 3-5 years old. She was always the smallest hen, but she felt a lot lighter when I picked her up today. I weighed her and she was 3 lbs. My chicken has been acting lethargic for a couple of days and has diarrhea. None of the other birds are showing any signs. I checked and she has no mites, but I think she might have vent gleet. I found her on the floor of our chicken coop and brought her inside. I made her some scrambled eggs, and she was very interested in them for the first two bites, but then stopped eating. I gave her some water and she was more interested in the water than the food. Her poo is very runny. I gave her a bath with some Epsom salt because of all of the built up poo. She did drink some of that water. Is that okay? I really don't want to take her to the vet. Is this something I can treat by myself?

Thanks so much!

 

[Vicker]

I'm sorry about your chicken. I'm not sure what's going on with her, but I wouldn't let her drink any more epsom salt water. It works as a laxative. I'd offer electrolyte water. You can find homemade electrolyte recipes on the internet. I don't have chicken vets near me, and don't think I'd take a chicken anyway. That's just me. I try to help as I can and make them as comfortable as I can if they don't improve. Keep offering a little scrambled egg or yogurt.

 

[superjec]

I'm sorry about your chicken. I'm not sure what's going on with her, but I wouldn't let her drink any more epsom salt water. It works as a laxative. I'd offer electrolyte water. You can find homemade electrolyte recipes on the internet. I don't have chicken vets near me, and don't think I'd take a chicken anyway. That's just me. I try to help as I can and make them as comfortable as I can if they don't improve. Keep offering a little scrambled egg or yogurt.

Thank you so much! I gave her some electrolyte water and more eggs. Her crop is not full, but she is expelling clear thick discharge from her mouth whenever she eats or drinks. She stayed in one position throughout the night and pooped a lot, if that helps.

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you check her crop early tomorrow morning before she has eaten or drunk anything after fasting all night? Tell us if it is empty, full, firm, doughy, or squishy. Are the white urates in her dropping all yellow or are some white? It is hard to tell by the runny poop with bile.

 

[superjec]

There is almost no white in her poop. It is almost all yellow.

 

[Eggcessive]

Yellow urates which normally are the white cap in their droppings, can be from liver problems or reproductive disorders, or from dehydration in some cases. Keep an eye on the droppings. Let us know what her crop is like early am. Does she have any gunk or yellow canker inside her beak? Or just thick mucus? Is she able to swallow and can you see her tongue? Has she been laying eggs? What does she normally eat?

 

[superjec]

She has not been laying eggs. She is able to swallow. She normally eats layer pellets. I can see nothing abnormal inside her mouth. On the top of her beak, right where the beak connects to the comb, there is a bit of black. We put Pinless Peepers on a couple weeks ago and that was there when we took it off. I'm pretty sure that its not related, but at this point, I'm willing to consider anything and everything.

 

[superjec]

I checked her crop this morning, and it had not emptied much from yesterday. Her crop feels really watery and squishy. I can feel a few grains in there, but its mainly just watery. When I pressed on her crop a lot, it felt like it was fizzy inside? I have never had a crop feel like this. Her crop slowly drained while I was massaging it.

 

[superjec]

She's also having stomach problems and is extremely thin. I can feel from her sternum to her ribs and there is almost no muscle mass. I can also hear her stomach rumbling.