Resolved-ish!! Help Needed with unresponsive hen

[denyel]

Hi,

I am a new chicken mom. I have 10 - 3 month old hens of different varieties but I am having some serious problems with one of my girls that has me and my boys concerned.

Today when my teenage son went out to feed and water the girls he noticed that one of our White Crested Black Polish girls was unresponsive. At first he thought that she may have died so I told him that he would need to put her in a box and that we would need to clean out the pen. When he came back in with her he said that she was still breathing and was slightly responsive.

When he handed her to me the first thing I noticed was that she was very cold. While I was away this weekend my husband thought that he would surprise me and put a nice big window in the girls coop for them to have natural light. It was a camper window that has slats to open that we thought would be good for ventilation. When I got home last night I noticed that the window was opened but had no way to close it. The tempurature dropped this morning but I didn't think it was that extreme.

We turned the heat up in the house and started to bring her body tempurature up. At first she was completely unresponsive with both of her eyes closed and wanting to lay on her side. As she got warmer she has started to move her wings and sit more upright. Her head is still drooping to the side and she will not open her eyes. My oldest son says that her breathing has become more even and she is moving her tail feathers more. It seems like she's very sleepy and won't wake up. She is flexing her feet around his hands as he holds her but her head keeps ticking up and down. Any suggestions?????

3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
There are no signs of trama
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
She was fine yesterday
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
The girls are on organic crumble feed
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
firm and solid
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
none
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Would need to try to treat at home

10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Large coop with multiple nesting boxes. We use pine shavings on floor

 

[BearSwampChick]

I'm sorry, I can't really help, but it would get more attention if you are more specific in the thread heading. Just click edit on your post and go back and fix it.

 

[friendlyearth]

it may take awhile for her to really get back into it. We had one that was just to thin and almost died, we had to keep her in a crate inside the house. She took awhile but lived.
hope this helps some

 

[justusnak]

I dont know how cold she got...where are you at?? Its in the 90's here! If this is from the cold...I would say to warm up some electrolytes water, and mix with her layer feed...makeing a warm mash. This will help warm her from the inside as well. Also try warm hard boiled egg yolkes. The proteine will help some too for the energy. Good luck with her...I hope she continues to improve!

 

[sammi]

agree with justusnak..

and if she is unable to eat or drink on her own..roll the moistened feed into small pellets and "force feed:..by placing them in the mouth and stroking the neck downwards to encourage swallowing.

it's important to get the electrolytes in her..do by drops on beak..don't pour down the throat...

 

[denyel]

Thank you ladies for all your great advice! I got some electros in her and got her nice and warm and she was 1000 times better. I made sure the window was closed all the way and we sealed up some of the larger gaps that were letting in too much cold air. I also swapped the regular light out for the heat light until it warms up.

Montana this time of year is usually warming up BUT we've had an unseasonable amount of rain on top of the low temps. That means snow in the mountains and that's where we are.

 

[BearSwampChick]

I was just about to ask where you were that it's so cold! The rest of us are melting!

We do have cooler temps today though, after the storm last night. So glad your hen is better!

BTW, welcome to the forum!

Susan

 

[denyel]

Our high temp today was 33 degrees. It's now currently snowing and we have about 2 inches of snow on the ground!!!!!

Darry is in the mud room kicking back till we know she's going to be okay. My husband said that she's playing possum so that she can be in where it's warm!!!

Thanks again to everyone!