Listless hen laying on her side this morning

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that she is worse. If she dies, I would try to get a necropsy. You would need to keep her body cold but not frozen, and call your state vet on Monday am. Botulism seems likely, but a necropsy would help to rule out Mareks or something else.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Sorry that she is worse. If she dies, I would try to get a necropsy. You would need to keep her body cold but not frozen, and call your state vet on Monday am. Botulism seems likely, but a necropsy would help to rule out Mareks or something else.

This is good advice. I would do this.

 

[Lori J]

Sending my thoughts, no matter the outcome.

Just an update she is getting stronger. After two days of no eating I decided to start putting Unimilk milk in a dropper and giving it to her all day and all the sudden the next day she was much stronger. Then, The next day are used raw egg yolk. She seems stronger after a day of that so I decided to risk bathing her because she was getting poop stuck to her butt whenever she was laying there. Bathing her was a challenge however because she had gotten very poopy and irritated. She was literally so weak before I didn’t want to risk it though. This evening she is crouching upright and she can actually drink water! Before she was too weak and couldn’t move her neck so there we go - some improvement. She is still not interested in eating however but maybe she’ll continue to get stronger and make it through.

 

[Eggcessive]

That sounds like she might recover. Have you ever learned to tube feed a chicken. That is something you may want to explore. You can feed finely ground chicken feed mixed with a lot of water. First though, it would be good to get her well hydrated with water and electrolytes. Egg mixed with water and a small bit of yogurt will go through a syringe and tube.
If she will eat (on her own) a little very watery chicken feed, scrambled egg, or canned cat food, those will help. Let us know how she gets along, and good luck.

 

[Lori J]

That sounds like she might recover. Have you ever learned to tube feed a chicken. That is something you may want to explore. You can feed finely ground chicken feed mixed with a lot of water. First though, it would be good to get her well hydrated with water and electrolytes. Egg mixed with water and a small bit of yogurt will go through a syringe and tube.
If she will eat (on her own) a little very watery chicken feed, scrambled egg, or canned cat food, those will help. Let us know how she gets along, and good luck.

Thank you for the kind words. No I have never tube fed a chicken but I looked it up in the beginning of this and watched some videos but I decided that I was not comfortable trying with this weak little hen. She was so weak I didn’t think that there would be any way to know if I was hurting her. So I have been dropper feeding her.

 

[Sally PB]

Hang in there! I'm rooting for you both!

 

[getaclue]

If the poop is green, and runny, I'd consider giving her Corid. Yes, older chickens can get coccidia.

 

[Lori J]

Hang in there! I'm rooting for you both!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you but she is very happy and healthy now. It probably took 10 days, and dropper feeding her and keeping her clean was a lot of work, but thankfully that part was only about four or five days.

 

[Sally PB]

I am SO glad! Thank you for taking care of her.

Hugs to your both.