my chicken is seriously sick, please please help!!

[nicole1402]

Please please help me

My hen is really ill. Ive had her and one other for almost a year now but over the last few days she grown ill. She lays down all the time and cannot walk, when I pick her up and try to see if she will take a step her feet curl and she wont put the down, I tried opening them and putting her on the ground but she flops to the floor, her right leg slides outwards and her wings are floppy too, especially her right wing. She’s barely eating but I have her drinking a fair bit of water. I have removed her from the pen and have her in a basket in the kitchen and she hasn’t moved all day! I quickly examined her and found a single mite around her leg and a few lice around her body. I didn’t have a good look but plan to. Im afraid she will die! She’s been like this two days but not as serious, she was still able to walk just a bit limp. She was worse this morning but by this evening she had been trying to lift herself with no luck!
Are the lice the problem? Does anybody know a cure? Or a diagnosis?
the other hen is fine its just her. its really scary she so limp and a bit weasy!
I know its not her diet because i feed her balanced chicken pellets.
i dont know what to do?

Nicole

 

[zephyr66]

first off, i'm sorry to hear. yes, it could be the lice and mites and i think you want to take care of that right away and the coop as well. i would dust her (seven dust) and the coop. also, she probably needs nourishment. if you have a dropper (like what the vet gives to give ear drops for you dog or cat) or the type of syringe that is for liquid, i would give it to her with some raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar mixed in and some honey. this will help with her energy a bit, i'm not sure if you can dissolve pellets and mix with water for more nourishment. someone else may know this. be careful not to get the water mixture in where she breathes. i nursed mine that way and she made a comeback. i hope this helps. but, yes - take care of the bugs and keep her hydrated.

sylvia

 

[nicole1402]

thank you
i will try that!

 

[chicmom]

Hi Nicole-

So sorry about your hen. Yes, I would also powder her up with some Seven dust, and then give her some water with vitamins/electrolites with a dropper, so you can keep her hydrated.

Do your hens get to free range? Could she have gotten into something poisonous? Another thing could be she may have had a stroke, which would explain why one side seems weaker than the other.......

Just having her rest and getting rid of her parasites might help a bit....

Good luck with her......

 

[nicole1402]

she is free ranged. that didnt even cross my mind! if she was poisoned what should i do?
yeah stroke was the first thing i thought when i realized she was weaker on one side!
thanks very much.

 

[zephyr66]

the hen i had trouble with was extremeley weak - she could not get up on the roosting bars and was on the pine shavings below - wheezing, weak and not well. i did what i said above and she recovered. she also appears to have had a "stroke" - one side is different from the other - one wing droops and she can't pull it up all the way and one eye barely opens and when you look at her straight on the two sides of the body are different. but, she is fine! still lays and manages to hop her way up and down the roosting bars! i hope you have the same outcome and she is okay. it's hard to watch... put out good energy for her!

 

[keesmom]

Where are you located? Is it warm/humid? Any chance she could have eaten contaminated feed (botulism)?

Is she a hatchery pullet? Vaccinated for Marek's?