Rescued hen won't eat/drink, has paralysed feet, purple comb, fatigued and can't make noise.

[Bigoscar04]

Hi, yesterday we rescued an Isa Red (not sure) from a property and when we got to her she was falling in and out of consciousness. After the trip home, we had to give her water with nutrients using a dropper as she would not eat or drink in between her bouts of consciousness. We also applied lice power as she was covered in lice. As of now, she is more responsive, but still won't eat or drink and her feet, wings and tail appear to be paralysed.

When we turn her upside down to give her the water and nutrients, we noticed that she was trying to make noises but she appears to be wheezing. Lately she has been chattering her beak accompanied with a slight twitch of her head. This is really troubling as we don't we don't have a vet in the area and we'd really like to see her have a full recovery.

Here are some pictures.






Thanks in advance,
Bigoscar04.

 

[kayakfish]

y paralyzed than it could be Marecks, and there is nothing you can do, but mercifully put her out of her misery. Depending on where you live there are State Agencies that will take them and do a autopsy to figure out what it is. Really sounds bad, I don't know that I would have her around my other flock, or even handle her then my flock without knowing whats wrong.

 

[Bigoscar04]

Well, in hindsight Mareks does seem like a possible candidate, however she has somewhat recovered from the paralysis, which is now only affecting her feet. In fact, she can move her legs perfectly fine at the moment, but she seems to be unable to move her feet. On the topic of isolation, we have her in an area that our original flock can't access, so they should be safe.

 

[seminolewind]

A chicken near death may stagger or appear having paralysis. I'll be the mites and probably worms have sucked her dry. The best thing you can do is keep her hydrated and get food into her. and kill the bugs. Water and more water. I hope things work out for her. You may want to try a wet mash with her, it may be tempting.

 

[Bigoscar04]

That would make sense I suppose, we will keep monitoring her and make sure she has plenty of water and food. She is fully worked now and there are no signs of lice anymore. I'm just going to add that a short while after we give her nutrients there is a discharge of saliva around her beak, I'm not sure what to make of this. Anyways, thanks for the help, we really appreciate it .

 

[Bigoscar04]

We just went out to give her some water, and found she was limp. So we took her out of her cage and she could barely move, and as we were comforting her she passed away . We suspect that she had heart problems and that a heart attack was the cause of death (lack of oxygen likely lead to purple comb). I'm just glad she was comfortable for her last days, but I wish we could've done more.

 

[ochochicas]

Thanks for trying to save her. It sounds to me like the lice ate so much of her blood that she probably died from anemia. At least she had a warm place to go.

 

[seminolewind]

Sorry. I'll bet she couldn't be saved even before you found her. You did everything you could.