lethargic, not eating or drinking, pale comb, poopy butt...

[catnowl]

my 1.5 yr old red star has theses symptoms:

lethargic, poopy butt, pale comb with a few dark patches at the top, not eating or drinking. her vent area looks fine- no sign of lice or mites.

we have kept her in the garage under a 100 watt bulb for the past 2 days and she has not eaten or drank as far as we know. the last time she ate was on saturday morning- a banana.

we put a worm medicine in the water, but don't think she is drinking it.

does anybody have any ideas of what this might be? she has always been happy and healthy and her sister is still fine.

please help!

 

[seminolewind]

Hi, those symptoms could be alot of different things. I guess the things you could try would be electrolytes (gatorade in a pinch), vitamins (polyvisol in a pinch), warm oatmeal with yogurt might help her digestion.
She's not broody, is she? Or has an egg stuck? Is her crop empty or full?

 

[catnowl]

we don't think there is an egg stuck, but aren't sure as she is our first chicken... she isn't eating or drinking so vitamins, yoghurt, etc probably won't help much!

how do i tell if her crop is empty or full?

thank you!

 

[gallusdomesticus]

I'm sorry to hear about your chicken. I had some hens earlier in the year that had pale combs and had stopped laying and treated them with Suldane for coccidia and they responded well.
Here is a website useful in helping diagnose your birds:

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/diagext.htm

 

[seminolewind]

Her crop is on her upper chest right below the neck. If she's not eating, it should be empty. If it feels like a bulge and she didn't eat, she may have food stuck in there.

 

[catnowl]

thanks. she died this afternoon at the vet. she probably had something stuck in her stomach, a tumor or something. i guess she was too far along to save. now her sister is alone in the cold weather... not sure what to do about that since we have no way to get power out there...

 

[seminolewind]

Awww, alone in the cold? Can you put her in a garage or something, or a basement? Then find another hen for company?