My chicken is wasting away to nothing!

[dtbdca]

Help! Link, my 3 year old hen is not eating, drinking, moving, pooping.... Nothing. I can feel every bone in her body! It started about a month ago and I suspected sour crop because he threw up every time someone picked her up and it smelled aweful. Her crop was huge and squishy so I did some research and people recommended making her throw up all the bad stuff in her crop.. So that's what we did. After a while she perked up a bit and started eating foods like watermelon and cucumber but nothing else. I syring fed her at night to make sure she got some nutrients and medicine into her and a few weeks later she was running around and eating on her own. I continued medication for a few days to make sure she was okay. Now, about 2 weeks later she's even worse. Her bum is covered in poo and she won't even open her eyes. I don't know what to do! I've noticed that the skin around her tail feathers has turned completely black and I don't know what that means. There are no vets near me that are willing to treat a chicken I love this little girl so much and I'm willing to do anything. Please help!

 

[BoomChickaPop]

Can you post a pic please?
Sounds like she is on her way to...
Is she breathing ok?
Does her face stink?
Sounds like she has a very serious condition too.

BCP

 

[dtbdca]

This is the skin at the base of her tail. She is breathing fine and yes, her breath smells awful.

 

[BoomChickaPop]

Looks old!
Open her mouth and see if everything looks normal.
Can she walk?


BCP

 

[chickcrack]

The dirt on her tail feathers could be mites...or mite poop. Have you checked for them or treated for mice or lice? Is her crop still swollen? Sour crop causes bad breath. I would not recommend making her throw up. @TwoCrows has a very good article in the learning center on here about sour crop and treatments. You mentioned medications. What did you give her?

 

[dtbdca]

She can walk, she just doesn't want too. I have her in my basement right now and I'm trying to find a food that she will eat. She ate some cucumber and some honeydew but she closes her eyes after every few pecks so I have to nudge her a bit to get her eating again. She hasn't eaten very much at all. Not even one whole slice of either. She keeps walking over to the fridge where the warm air blows out from underneath it and trying to sleep.

 

[dtbdca]

I have check all my birds for both mites and lice and I found neither. I treat them for lice fairly often, and I dust the coop when I change their shavings. I tried to clean the black off with a q-tip but nothing came off. I also put acv in their water and spread diatomaceous earth around their pen. The only medicine I have is oxytetracycline powder

 

[chickcrack]

Is her crop still swollen and squishy? Have you tried feeding moistened chicken food? If she does have sour crop it's best not to put a lot of food in her because you just end up feeding the yeast problem in her crop. I can't for the life of me figure out how to link twocrows article here for you. If it is still sour crop I have treated with 1/2 tsp of epsom salt in 1/4 cup of water. Get as much of it into her as possible. It is a mild laxative and cures the sour. Then I would try scrambled eggs mixed with a bit of moistened chicken pellets.
I would also use something other than diatomaceous earth for mite/lice treatment. It will not kill an outbreak. Poultry dust kills bugs dead.

 

[dtbdca]

It's hard to tell if her crop is still swollen because the rest of her is so skinny I use an all natural lice spray to treat them and diatomaceous to prevent. Thank you for the treatment advice I am definitely going to try it asap. I'm only trying to get food in her so she won't starve because she is so incredibly skinny. I am keeping in mind that it could make the sour crop worse but I'm worried if I don't get something into her she won't be strong enough to make it. The food that we syringe feed her is moist food but she won't eat it on her own. My flock is getting very picky recently. I feed them layer food in the morning and scraps in the evening but lately they have no interest in the chicken feed... Could this be related?

 

[chickcrack]

You may want to cut down on the scraps to ensure they are getting enough of what they require (protein especially) from the chicken food. Especially through the summer they tend not to eat much through the day as it's hot. So then they fill up on scraps before bed. I would recommend leaving their chicken food out at all times. You may want to try some vitamin supplements or chick saver for Link to help get some strength back if you get her through this illness. Even some additional protein like canned fish or boiled chicken or scrambled eggs. Best of luck and let us know how she's doing.