puffed up and lethargic

[starchicky]

My hen has been sleeping all day, walking slowly, and sitting puffed up like in the picture. The only thing I know of is she has been the target of a young cockerel lately. I have a tractor I can isolate either the hen or the cockerel in. Otherwise any suggestions, ideas?

 

[justplainbatty]

My hen has been sleeping all day, walking slowly, and sitting puffed up like in the picture. The only thing I know of is she has been the target of a young cockerel lately. I have a tractor I can isolate either the hen or the cockerel in. Otherwise any suggestions, ideas?

Isolate the hen. Her posture says "I'm sick" Start by monitoring her poop, breathing, eating, drinking and egg laying. Post back with observations so we can help you figure out what is wrong.

 

[Eggcessive]

Puffing up along with lethargy, poor appetite, diarrhea or blood in poop can indicate coccidiosis. Cocci is treated with Corid or amprollium in the water for 5 day. She also may need worming, so I would purchase SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer or Valbazen, and worm her orally with 1/2 ml orally, and repeat in 10 days.

 

[starchicky]

Hmm, well I will try isolating her then. Any poops I saw today were very little and runny. Would a 60watt heat lamp be helpful over night?

 

[justplainbatty]

Hmm, well I will try isolating her then. Any poops I saw today were very little and runny. Would a 60watt heat lamp be helpful over night?

It might make her feel better and rest easier if you are isolating her outside. If she is indoors, a heating pad with room to get off it if she wants is good.

 

[starchicky]

She's all set up for the night. Gonna watch to make sure she goes into roost, or just put her in there.

 

[starchicky]

I'm not sure if I caught it in time, she is much worse today. I brought her inside and have started giving her the water/medication solution by syringe. She's on a heating pad as well. But she can barely hold her head up. She did wake up for a few seconds while giving her meds, but goes right back to sleep. She's also started flailing

 

[Eggcessive]

Corid (amprollium) is preferable to to Sulmet, in that it treats all 9 or more strains of chicken coccidia. Sulmet treats the 2 worst kinds. With the liquid Corid, you can feed her a couple of drops of the undiluted Corid twice a day to jump start the meds, in addition to the normal mixture. Sulmet, a sulfa antibiotic, can be harder on them, and you need to make sure she is drinking. If you can give her some from a dropper all daylong, it might help. I hope she pulls through, but she sounds very sick.

 

[starchicky]

She just passed away, I just didn't start treatment in time, but when I think back on it she had been showing some signs for a few days but I thought it was just her being picked on by the rooster. The sulmet was the only one I could find from our local stores. Do I need to treat the rest of the flock or just watch them carefully? Thanks everyone for your help

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Corid is pretty harmless to treat all of them, but I probably would not start Sulmet unless you see anyone acting lethargic or puffed up. Coccidia is common in young birds, and they have to be exposed to it to develop resistance to it. Most chickens are strong enough to resist it around 20 weeks, but it still can affect older birds.