Last week one of my gold brahma pullets died. She was the first one to hatch of my first ever hatching eggs, she hatched a day before the others. Eventually they outgrew her, and when she died she was thin. I saw her on the coop floor acting lethargic and was going to put her down the next day if she hadn't improved, but she died in the night. The same day I euthanized a cockerel who had been generally under the weather for a while, I had no use for him and did not want to pass on a "faulty" animal to someone else.
Today I went out to feed the chickens and my Light Brahma hen was sitting on the floor, apparantly resting. She always hangs with her "boyfriend" the LB rooster, so I immediately understood something was wrong. I picked her up and she opened her eyes and looked at me. She felt heavy and well filled out, unlike the two others. I put her back down and she sat down and closed her eyes. I brought her out to the others, but she took only a few steps eyeing the food before settling back down.
I took her inside and placed her in the bathroom with heating in the floor. I gave her (syringe in the mouth, she swallowed on her own) some tempered water with maple syrup, a bit of salt and some apple cider vinegar. I checked back in later, she was a bit more alert but sometimes opened her mouth and panted. I thought she might be overheating so I placed her in the bathtub and doused some water on her. She stopped panting, and I placed her back down on the floor without drying her, so the moist feathers would help lose excess heat.
She just recently started laying (at 39 weeks) and laid for three weeks straight and stopped. She is molting - all her long tail feathers are gone. Not a severe molt at all, she is fully feathered besides the tail.
I have not found anything wrong with her. Her crop is empty, I can't feel any sign of being egg-bound, she has good color in her face/wattles and comb (although a slight bit paler red due to molt and no eggs?). She can walk and stand. The inside of her mouth looks normal. I am not trying to feed her anything at this point.
I noticed she might be dizzy or fighting going asleep, because when she rests with her eyes closed, her head jerks slightly up. Just barely, and not forceful, but still.
She has not pooped yet today, it is now noon here.
No one else is showing signs of illness. They are fed pellets and various leftovers (no chicken no-nos, I've read the lists). I don't know of any poisonous plants in the yard, and we have no immediate neighbours.
Winter came yesterday with frost and minus degrees (Celsius, so below freezing).
She is one of my favourite hens, and I don't want to put her down or watch her die. Does anyone know what could be wrong with her and/or what I can do to help her? I don't have the finances to take a chicken to the vet, but if there's anything I can do I will try.
Please notice I live in Norway, so recommending US brand remedies will not help me much.
Today I went out to feed the chickens and my Light Brahma hen was sitting on the floor, apparantly resting. She always hangs with her "boyfriend" the LB rooster, so I immediately understood something was wrong. I picked her up and she opened her eyes and looked at me. She felt heavy and well filled out, unlike the two others. I put her back down and she sat down and closed her eyes. I brought her out to the others, but she took only a few steps eyeing the food before settling back down.
I took her inside and placed her in the bathroom with heating in the floor. I gave her (syringe in the mouth, she swallowed on her own) some tempered water with maple syrup, a bit of salt and some apple cider vinegar. I checked back in later, she was a bit more alert but sometimes opened her mouth and panted. I thought she might be overheating so I placed her in the bathtub and doused some water on her. She stopped panting, and I placed her back down on the floor without drying her, so the moist feathers would help lose excess heat.
She just recently started laying (at 39 weeks) and laid for three weeks straight and stopped. She is molting - all her long tail feathers are gone. Not a severe molt at all, she is fully feathered besides the tail.
I have not found anything wrong with her. Her crop is empty, I can't feel any sign of being egg-bound, she has good color in her face/wattles and comb (although a slight bit paler red due to molt and no eggs?). She can walk and stand. The inside of her mouth looks normal. I am not trying to feed her anything at this point.
I noticed she might be dizzy or fighting going asleep, because when she rests with her eyes closed, her head jerks slightly up. Just barely, and not forceful, but still.
She has not pooped yet today, it is now noon here.
No one else is showing signs of illness. They are fed pellets and various leftovers (no chicken no-nos, I've read the lists). I don't know of any poisonous plants in the yard, and we have no immediate neighbours.
Winter came yesterday with frost and minus degrees (Celsius, so below freezing).
She is one of my favourite hens, and I don't want to put her down or watch her die. Does anyone know what could be wrong with her and/or what I can do to help her? I don't have the finances to take a chicken to the vet, but if there's anything I can do I will try.
Please notice I live in Norway, so recommending US brand remedies will not help me much.
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