Need help on problem!

delawaregirl09

Songster
10 Years
Aug 4, 2009
380
2
121
Between that stump and you
One of my hens is acting kind of strange. This is the second time something like this has happened. Her comb, wattles, and skin around the eye is actually kinda blue-ish like you would see in a dead bird. Her small comb, only about a quarter of an inch tall, is starting to kinda lay over. Her legs are turning a slate-ish color and her beak is extremely wide. She walks with a squat like shes trying to lay an egg and waddles around. She is eating and drinking though
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1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Delaware Hen, 1 Year 7 Months, 4 Lbs (Maybe)

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Lethatgic kind of, Squatty like trying to lay an egg, but drinking and eating, walking with a waddle

3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No

4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Not sure

5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Yes

6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Runny but also kinda normal

7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Nothing yet, the last time it happened, I separated the hen and the flock freaked out

8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I'd like to do it myself, vets are expensive

9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
No picture yet

10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
A pen inside the barn, straw, screenings, pine shavings, the works
 
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Is it possible that she is egg bound? Has she been laying? I don't know how you check for one being egg bound, but it sounds like the kind of stress that would be associated with something of that nature.
Good luck. I just hate to see my animals sick or dying.
 
Might not want to rule out Coccidiosis. This usually occurs in growing birds and young adults. It is seldom seen in birds under three weeks or in mature birds. Signs of an outbreak include birds that are pale, droopy, tend to huddle, consume less feed and water, have diarrhea, and may become emaciated and dehydrated. Laying hens will experience a reduction in rate of egg production.

Im not trying to scare you but i have had this issue due to the massive amount of rain in my part of the country...best of luck.
 
Sounds like she may have fluid/infection in her abdomen. That presses on organs and inhibits circulation, causing a bluish comb. Feel her abdomen and see if it feels very full, about to pop. I recently had a Buff Orp with that awful color and her abdomen was full of fluid. Gave her 3 or 4 days of heavy penicillin injections and that eventually did the trick. She is back to near normal, though she hasn't started back laying yet.


Though the usual Pen-G dosage is about 1/2 cc injected into the breast muscle once a day for 3-5 days, when it's critical like that, I use 1 cc instead. You can try to drain her abdomen, however, if there is solidified pieces of infection in there, that won't get it all anyway.
 
I agree with Cyn, it sounds to me as if something is inhibiting circulation. I was going to suggest worms, but fluid in the abdomen sounds just as likely.

Goats get something called lungworm that can cause a difficulty breathing that might cause all the symptoms you see, I don't know if chickens get a similar worm.

Fluid in the abdomen would cause pressure on the lungs and or heart causing a decrease in oxygenation. This would cause the discoloration, lethargy etc.

I would try the antibiotic first, if the bird doesn't start picking up fairly quickly I'd go with worming. Keep her in isolation either way. Check her over for any hidden breaks in her skin.

Good luck. I'll be thinking of her, keep us up to date.

Laney
 
This is going to be the strangest guess, but....

I had a pullet that appeared to be sick...she was just sitting in a corner of the run away from the other chickens, wasn't eating much (from what we could tell), loved to be held/snuggled AND had the gray-ish blue wattle/face/comb thing going on.

So, we brought her in the house for several days to see what we could do for her. She perked right up and gave no indication that she was sick once she came inside (spoiled chicken).

Bottomline, she was/is the bottom of the pecking order. When she would try to eat the top bullies would peck her on the top of the head and she would go cowering off to hide. Ultimately, we figured she wasn't getting enough water, food and exercise because she just plainly couldn't.

We did some bullying ourselves and pushed around the top girls a little, when they would puck her on the head. Now she still is bullied, but a lot less and appears to be getting enough food and water. Her color is much better - normal red - on most days. If it starts going grayish-blue I hand feed her and move the bullies away from the food so she can fill up.
 

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