My first poorly Hen

[Laurmullen87]

Please Help,
I am having a hard time trying to help my poorly hen. She is an Araucana And about 2 years old but I have only had her for 3 months. When I got her, all the feathers were missing from her back (her previous owner told me she was picked on by one of his roosters) but she was full of character and laid an egg a day. Now her feathers are all grown back and she was one of my feisty ones, The last couple of weeks however she has been slowly getting poorly and lethargic. Now she is very wobbly on her feet, very under weight (her breast bone is really prominent), she doesn’t roam about with the other 6 chickens anymore, her poo is light yellow and for the past 2 nights she has slept in the nesting box and not perched. I tried to giver her an electrolyte drink (made with sugar salt and baking powder in water) and some boiled rice but I don’t want to change her food too much incase it upsets her stomach more and now I don’t really know what to do and what might be wrong. I have checked her crop and that seems fine. I am in Scotland and it’s getting colder now so I want to make her feel better before the winter sets in. I’m sorry for such a long post but I just want my poor wee hen to get better. I have brought her in tonight and she is in my bath in her nesting box. Any help/advice is very much appreciated.

 

[Texcoco]

I would say goodbye and send her to a poultry lab to get analyzed sounds like she has a contagious disease

 

[chuckachucka]

My first thought with weight loss and lethargy is crop issues that make her unable to digest her food properly but you said it seems OK. Have you checked the crop first thing in the morning to make sue it is emptying overnight? Also are there any signs of parasites?

The yellow poop could indicate an infection. No other birds showing signs of illness?
What about the bottoms of her feet? Have you checked for bumble foot? Could be the cause of not roosting and the infection can spread internally.

 

[chuckachucka]

To me this does no necessarily sound contagious as you said she has been getting worse for a while and your other chickens would probably be affected by now. Is it possible she is egg bound?

 

[Laurmullen87]

To me this does no necessarily sound contagious as you said she has been getting worse for a while and your other chickens would probably be affected by now. Is it possible she is egg bound?

No other chickens are affected and there’s no sight of bumble foot. I’ve not checked her for an egg yet.

 

[Laurmullen87]

My first thought with weight loss and lethargy is crop issues that make her unable to digest her food properly but you said it seems OK. Have you checked the crop first thing in the morning to make sue it is emptying overnight? Also are there any signs of parasites?

The yellow poop could indicate an infection. No other birds showing signs of illness?
What about the bottoms of her feet? Have you checked for bumble foot? Could be the cause of not roosting and the infection can spread internally.

There’s no sign of bumble foot and no other hen is affected. There’s no sign of parasites but I haven’t wormed her yet since getting her. I’ve not actually checked her crop first thing in the morning so il try that to see if it’s emptying overnight. Should I keep her in the house tonight?

 

[chuckachucka]

I would keep her inside overnight yes. No food or water through the night and check the crop should be completely flat in the morning. If it feels squishy it could be sour crop. If hard lump could be impacted.

If the Crop is fine I'm thinking egg binding or an internal infection.

 

[dunnmom]

How does her bum look? Any crusties, or poo caked up back there?

 

[chuckachucka]

'Crusties' lol

 

[GoldpartridgeHen]

I had a similar problem
probably best to give it a warm and dry place separate from the other hens
also give it plenty of fresh food and water
you could also take her to your local vet and see what he/she says