Lethargic chicken

[mamamose]

Hello! I am a new chicken owner, and also new to posting a question to a forum online! We have only had our chickens for 3 weeks. We have 7 Golden Buffs that are 10 months old and 3 Ameracaunas that are about 5 months old. I found one of the Golden Buffs yesterday morning huddled on the floor shaking and lethargic, she kept closing her eyes and obviously was not acting like herself. I took her out of the coop and put her in a special crate we made to separate her and observe her. Later in the afternoon after checking on her, I noticed something very strange in her crate. It was about 6-8 in. long, about as big around as a pencil, was not bloody on the outside, but had some blood on the inside. It looked like and umblical cord (that's the only way I can decribe it) but the really strange thing was this "thing" also had sections to it like little sacs or sausage links attached in sausage casing. I know, sounds weird right? It also smelled really bad, like rotten, stinky fish!!! We gave her water to make sure she was getting liquids. Today, she seemed the same, maybe opening her eyes more, but not laying, also her poop seemed to be more of this yellow, stinky, fishy smelling liquid and she not going often at all. Her crop seems full, but soft and squishy. We are very new at this and welcome any suggestions and advice on what might be wrong and how to help her. Thanks!!!

 

[AccentOnHakes]

Just a guess(fairly new myself) but maybe it's a really big worm?

 

[mamamose]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to the board, had to wait till I got the kids in bed for school! I also hope I am doing this posting and replying right, not good with computers! You know, we were wondering if that was what it was. I am going to obviously have to worm her, if she pulls out of this. Should I wait to worm her till she is a little better so it doesn't stress her further? Forgot to mention we did put some antibiotic in her water just in case she did have some sort of infection or illness. As I mentioned we are new at this and don't know if I should have done that but figured it couldn't hurt. Any further suggestions are welcome! I can see this chicken hobby is going to have some trial and error to it, but it has been enjoyable and the girls give us great eggs in return for a little tender love and care. Thanks!!!!

 

[Judy]

What antibiotic did you use? You may have killed off her normal intestinal flora if it was a tetracycline type drug. For this you would need to stop the drug and get some probiotics for her.

On the worm, that sounds a bit like a tapeworm as I know they are segmented -- but I have no idea how big they are or whether they would be visible. Perhaps you could check out tapeworms online.

 

[mamamose]

Thanks for the info. I believe it was tetracycline based. I will take her off of it. When I went to water her before dark, I caught her drinking on her own. Hopefully, she will perk up and we not lose her. I will have to worm her. Any recommendations on what wormer to use? If not, I can surely look that up and find out. Take care!