Rescued Battery Hen is not eating..help or advice please.

[BigTel]

We had 10 ex battery hens about 2 months ago and we have them set up in a nice coop with some grass, plenty of feed and water. There is shade and pleanty of room.

One of the hens looked a little down, was not with the others, not pecking or scratching around and really not eating or drinking. She would stand there with here wings to the floor and neck all squashed up. We thought she is just going through the moult and she would be OK if we left her to it. Well to cut a long story short we have had to force feed her with a syring to get something into her as she looked as though she was fading fast. We have taken her out of the rest of the hens and brought her home.

She is settled in, but spend most of the day asleep and the only real time she walks around and pecks at the floor is if we have syring fed her. We feed her once a day until there is something in her crop, but if we try and not feed her it seems she does not take in enough food. She drinks water OK.

We are not sure what is wrong with her. Any suggestions? Are we doing the right things by syringing her? I would rather do that than let her die.!

Any advice would really be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[ChickenMad11]

how old is the chicken

 

[Eggcessive]

Examine her crop. If it is full, wait until morning and examine it again. It should be empty, and if not, she may have an impacted crop. She might have an overload of coccidiosis. We treat with Corid for that here in the states. Vitamins would also be of help except when treating with medication.

 

[BigTel]

She is approx 16-18 months old.

Her crop gets full when we syring her, then by morning it is empty. If we leave her to peck around for a day she never fills her crop up. We have been giving her a mash mix of chick crumb with some pultry spice.

I would say she is getting lighter and sleeping more.