Please Help

[GwammerWolff]

Our White Rock hen suddenly stopped eating out of the blue, she hasn't been eating very much and her droppings are very runny and mostly white. She has been drinking some water and eating some food but i feel like her condition is worsening. She is very skinny and pale and is roosting all day long doing nothing but eating just a little bit of food.
We have only had her for a year and she has been a good layer, but we are not sure if she is laying at the moment. I have felt her crop and it feels like there is something in there, grainy and bony in texture and hardness.
Please, if anyone has anything to say please do, I cannot bear to lose another chicken.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

It can be very hard to treat a listless bird. You mention "you can't bear to lose another one." Have you had others in the flock fail to thrive lately? Is there anything in her environment that might have been toxic?

You can try putting her on some Sulmet or antibiotics such as Duramycin, but that will only work if she will drink and if it is bacterial vs. viral. I'd also put her on some "Chick Saver" electrolytes to help give her vitamins/minerals when she does drink. Try yogurt and scrambled egg for food as that can be especially nutritious and something they'll eat when not feeling well.

You can try worming her in case it might be a worm overload. Since she isn't really eating, you would need to try to give her a wormer that is water based or even something you "paste" her with. Ivermectin is something you can apply under her wings and at the base of the neck.

Sometimes the heat can make them listless, and they will get very watery poo with white urates as they try to cool off, but I do not think that sounds like your bird.

Try some antibiotics to see if that perks her. Absolutely isolate her from the flock...one so that she doesn't spread further whatever she may have, and two so you can treat her better.

Be forewarned, that sometimes they simply slowly waste away and little seems to help. Unless you take her to a poultry experienced vet, and they do lab work, or if necessary, do a necropsy, it can be something you never really know what went awry.

With luck, some antibiotics will perk her, then you can worm her, and then get her back to health.

LofMc

EDITED to add: also check her abdomen to make sure there isn't a mass there suggesting being egg bound. They can go down quickly if infection has set in from egg binding....but as you've not noted a tail down stance, and she is roosting, I doubt egg binding.

 

[GwammerWolff]

We do have her isolated from the flock, But we do not have any large boxes or containers to give her space to stretch out. We are giving her fresh food and water daily but my mother does not want me to keep her inside, so if you have any other ideas to give me please do. We really want her to get better because she is more of a pet than a flock member. she loves me and my younger brothers and I'm not sure what they can take since we lost a great hen to a hawk a month ago.

 

[enola]

Has she been wormed ?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Simple isolation outside is fine...you often don't want them inside as it can mess with their body temperature too much. I use a old dog cage.

I can only re-iterate what I said before...if she is listless, check for body injury, body mass (egg binding), and start antibiotics and electrolytes, dropper feeding if necessary...although she sounds like she is eating and drinking a little. Worming can be very helpful.

You said she was roosting at night...which makes this next scenario unlikely...but is there any way she is contemplating brooding? Did she hang out in the nest box all day long and only roost at night? That could bring on the behavior you are describing but only if the hen desires to be in the nest box...roosting is not an indication of broodiness.

LofMc

 

[WalleyWaller]

This is just a thought. You may want to feel her crop to see if it is impacted. If it is large and not squishy that could be the cause. When my rooster had impacted crop, he tried to eat and drink but he was wasting away, starving because no food was getting past the crop. If you believe this is the problem, check this link. If it is, we can offer more help as to what needs to be done.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

 

[GwammerWolff]

Thank you guys for all trying to help, unfortunately she passed away on Tuesday morning. She was trying to move sometime early in the morning (we believe at around 4-5 A.M.) when she tried to adjust herself and she fell over. Not having enough energy and the small space she was in did not give her much of a chance, but we could tell she still tried to get up and at least was still fighting. She was a good bird, a beautiful chicken and it is sad to see that she had to go. She was very sick and this is our first time raising chickens and we don't know much about them, so for 5 days we waited to see if she was getting any better. She was not. Below I am putting some pictures of her before getting sick and one I took the afternoon before she passed.