Newly purchased chicken is sick.

[Dimondel]

Hi @Dimondel I'm sorry that Dandelion is not doing well.
Can you share some photos of her and if she's pooped, some photos of that too?

You mention her crop is squishy, does it feel like the fluids that you have given her?
Is she able to poop?
You treated with mite spray, did she have any mites/lice on her?
Also, how old is she?

Yes. This is Dandy. She just sits and sleeps all day when I’m not manually feeding her. I was told she was 8 weeks old. She did have mites and lice when I got her, haven’t seen any since treating and bathing her though. Sometimes the crop feels like the liquid food I’ve given her, and sometimes it just feels like air. I can’t really tell.

I’ve trimmed up some of her feathers because they were in the way. She’s very small.

 

[room onthebroom]

I’m sorry, but that doesn’t sound good. Keep her warm. See if she’ll eat a little scrambled egg

 

[Auntiejessi3]

@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Thank you

How old is this bird?

 

[Dimondel]

I just want to reassure you that every other chicken keeper has made mistakes in the beginning and nearly every one of us continues to make mistakes even decades into the hobby. Don't beat yourself up over choosing a sickly chicken while being pressured by a seller who has her own agenda. As a matter of fact, I believe the ill hen has had a better life with you in the last few days than it's had in its entire life. I'm glad you're working to save her life but, even if the worst happens and she shuffles off these mortal coils, she'll have had you to give her a little respite.

Best luck!

That means so much to me, thank you.

 

[ChookieG]

Is it cocci, do I try treating her for that?

Hey @Dimondel, so sorry to hear about your new girls. I've had a rather bad experience with sick chickens too and I was too nice to question their conditions before buying.

With a cocci infection, you will usually see blood in their stools but as your girls are already so sick, I would avoid treating them with more medication. Like @Eggcessive said, best to just feed them some nutrient supplement like NutriDrench for now.

Right now you may have to just emotionally prepare yourself for the worse. Hope you have better luck next time and don't be afraid to say no in the future if you sense something is wrong!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

However the frizzle still has’t touched a thing, and I’m writing this over 24hrs afterwards. I’ve been feeding little droplets of water and eggyolk onto its beak, it rarely takes interest. It’s obviously been neglected or mistreated in some way, no animal should look like that. When put down on grass or other surfaces, it had no interest in anything, most of the time it stayed still and when it did move, it wandered slowly in a circular motion in the same metre squared.

Symptoms include; Lethargy, no eating or drinking, liquid, watery poop, stillness, doesn’t move much, won’t really react to anything and just overall not looking great. I’ve named her Dandelion.

Update: I’ve been syringing a solution of egg yolk and water straight into her mouth for the last couple hours and have found the crop to be squishing, no solids in it. Is this normal when on a liquid diet or is there something wrong? Is something stopping her from getting the nutrients she needs?

Hi @Dimondel I'm sorry that Dandelion is not doing well.
Can you share some photos of her and if she's pooped, some photos of that too?

You mention her crop is squishy, does it feel like the fluids that you have given her?
Is she able to poop?
You treated with mite spray, did she have any mites/lice on her?
Also, how old is she?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No, and I was told that I shouldn’t since she doesn’t have bloody stools.

I’m assuming it’s the product of mistreatment/ not being well looked after though.

Coccidiosis doesn't always present with blood in the stool.
Symptoms include - lethargy, not eating/drinking, unkempt appearance, huddling, poop with mucous or blood.

Re-check for the mites and I would consider treating for Coccidiosis since you've had her for a while and nothing else is working.

 

[Dimondel]

Coccidiosis doesn't always present with blood in the stool.
Symptoms include - lethargy, not eating/drinking, unkempt appearance, huddling, poop with mucous or blood.

Re-check for the mites and I would consider treating for Coccidiosis since you've had her for a while and nothing else is working.

Okay, thank you.

 

[AmyJane725]

Don't beat yourself up for trying to help a suffering animal. You succeeded in once case, and even if Dandy does pass you gave her something it sounds like she didn't have in her whole life up to the point of you adopting her: love.

As others have said, keep her warm, and absolutely do the tube feeding! Chickens let themselves starve and go downhill really quickly. I'm currently battling this with a hen I have who has an infection that doesn't want to clear. I've got the big guns in terms of medicine coming in the mail on Friday, so I'm praying that's the cure for her. In the meantime, she's not interested in food/water at all, but I've been tube feeding her and she's back from the brink of death.

I'm using the Kaytee exact baby parrot food. I got it at Petco. It makes a really nice slurry that doesn't clog up the feeding tube and seems to be helping my hen a lot. She's not having the green starvation poops anymore, and she's definitely more alert. She's still tired, but I imagine battling the infection is hard on her.

I was trying to syringe feed her prior to doing the tube feeding, but it just wasn't feasible to get enough food in her to maintain life. I am certain she already would have died without the tube feeding.

Here is a complete guide on tube feeding from the resident expert on the subject:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-guide-pictures-under-construction.1064392/