Please help! Hen doesn't want to eat. A little listless

[Cetawin]

Is her poo still yellow colored? You really should worm her with all the stuff she is eating. It is simple to do and not overly expensive. I use Ivermectin pout - on, just wear gloves and put 4 - 6 drops on her skin where her neck meets the shouldersGive her the probiotics in her water and repeat in 10 days to get anything that may have hatched, repeat the probiotics. Ivermectin is a broad spectrum wormer and will get all parasites (roundworms, tapeworms, gapeworms etc) and some external ones as well. Being out and about eating all those bugs and geckos and such, she is going to pick up worms no question about that. If left untreated, they will ultimately kill her.

She needs to be eating chicken food, the corn has no nutritional quality for a chicken.

Good luck with her, she is a beautiful girl.

 

[emilysteng]

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely look into the dewormer. Where do you get these kinds of things? The vet? I just did a quick search on it and saw some stuff about it being harsh? Her poop is always different. Today and yesterday - some of them were dark colored - brown and more solid but with tinges of whitish yellow and sometimes more like yellowish water with little pieces of dark solids.

Today when I brought her home she started pecking at my cat's catgrass - not the grass but the seeds growing on the surface - it's oatgrass. I hope she's eating the feed. I put them all out for her to eat cause I was just worried about her eating, period. I think she eats at least a little of the flock raiser feed. I'll try just giving her the feed and see what happens.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

The move she was making with her mouth and neck in the video can be from eating something that is stuck in their throat, like a blade of grass or something dry that did not go all the way down. Gape worm is another thing that bothers their throat and can make them do that. Being a wild gal that has a hunting talent she could have picked up some worms.

Wormers are often a very small dose of horse or cattle meds used off label. Ask your Vet for some, having only one chicken you don't want to buy a bottle.

Google bumblefoot and see pictures of black sores on the bottom of feet and check her for that, since this started with lameness and has improved with antibiotics I'm concerned about that. The sore itself would have to be treated to recover so check to see if she has one.

Very good looking gal! So glad she found you.

 

[emilysteng]

HI all!

I haven't had a chance to update in a few days. I think Casino is doing much better. I have been taking her home with me every night this week and since Tuesday I have let her run free all day to do as she pleases. She does eat the feed now, in addition to her normal outdoor delicacies - so that is good. At least I know she is getting some good nutrition. She still prefers the cracked corn, but likes the flock raiser and will eat the egg producer pellets when she is really hungry. Her energy is pretty good but I still think it's not 100%. I was going to leave her free tonight but decided to still take her home to get one more day of medications. I think tomorrow (Saturday) I will leave her be and check her on sunday. It's going to be hard to leave her at the nursery. I know she is happier there than cooped up in my bathroom at night, but I know she is safe here.

I still haven't gotten the dewormer. When I asked the vet about it she said that wild chickens bear so much of a worm pressure that it wouldn't be the cause of her illness. I think I will still do it, I just haven't gotten to finding it or having time to go get it yet.

Now I'm concerned because starting yesterday she seems to have a bit of diarrhea. The poop is just quite runny and brown and extra stinky. Don't know what would be causing that.

I'm also still concerned about the egg laying. I don't think she has laid anything this whole week. Last week I don't think she did either. The last time we found her eggs must have been at least 2 weeks ago. The vet had originally been concerned about a ruptured egg being the cause of her illness but I wouldn't know unless I did the x-rays. Should I be concerned?

 

[emilysteng]

Well, she was ok overnight. I just checked on her and she seems fine. ate a bunch of feed and corn and stuff. The only thing is she seems a little tired still. I don't know what else I can do besides get the dewormer. At least her appetite is normal and her energy is definitely up from a week ago. Hope she continues to improve.

 

[emilysteng]

Hi everyone.

Casino was doing so well. But yesterday morning when I went up to see her she was limping again! She was eating and drinking though. Then a few hours later when I went to look for her I couldn't find her. I was quite worried. But then later in the afternoon she showed up again. Not limping as much but still a little. Plus she had a little wound right in the middle of her back. There was some dried up blood and the skin was broken in one spot.

So I caught her again and tried to clean it up but it was hard to do. I took her home for the night to make sure and she really isn't limping anymore.

I tried to call the vet but she wasn't in yesterday - she is supposed to call me back this morning. I'm wondering if the wound is from rooster attention. I also wonder if hopefully she has laid some eggs and was nesting, which was why she was missing for those few hours.

She is pretty feisty and eating pretty normally and all. I am about to let her out and try to follow her to see if maybe she has a nest.

I'm wondering if I should start the antiobiotics/antiinflammatory again? I had stopped on Saturday after the 7 days. I don't want the wound to get infected. I don't think it's bad - more surface than anything.

 

[emilysteng]

Hi everyone,

I'm happy to report Casino seems to be doing so much better now. She started laying on Sunday afternoon and now has laid three eggs. I expect she will lay another one tomorrow morning. She seems to be on a 30 hr or so laying schedule. She is more perky and active and overall just seems quite normal. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but her comb and everything seems brighter red the past 2 days. She has only been back to her normal life since I dropped her back off for good at the nursery Saturday afternoon - so not even a week.

Anyways, just wanted to say thanks for the helpful advice. I still haven't given her this wormout pill that I started another post on. I understand sometimes the worm medication can bring them down temporarily so I wanted to make sure she was really doing better before I gave it. Still haven't heard anyone who had experience with this pill. Has anyone tried it? I posted this thread about it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=354916

I really don't know about egg problems much. But since she has been laying again - can I rule out all egg related problems as to what was wrong with her?

I wish I did know what exactly was wrong with her. Maybe just a minor infection that the antibiotics knocked out? I have no idea.

 

[Noble Rooster]

What a great story!! I'm so glad she's doing better! She's a gorgeous girl and very lucky to have you looking out for her.