RIR hen with diarrhea??

[kkormos]

I have 19 hens and two roosters of various breeds. Sadly, yesterday I found one of my RIR hens hiding in my son's play house and she seemed abnormally calm. She usually does not like to be held or touched a lot so I was surprised when she let me pet her and pick her up. When I picked her up she dribbled poop all down my side! So when I turned her to look at her behind I saw a lot of watery poop of various colors all over. I set her down and she went right back into the playhouse to hide. I washed up and went back outside to gather eggs for the day and notice three eggs were COVERED in the same diarrhea looking poop. So I threw those ones out. She is separate from my flock right now (it's been 24 hrs) but is not eating or drinking much and seems weak. This afternoon I checked on her and she had laid a very long soft sac with a small amount of liquid in it. I removed it from the pen but what the heck could it be and why would she have diarrhea like this? None of my other hens/roos are sick. Please help me figure out what to do with her. She doesn't seem sick enough to "put down" but not healthy enough to mix with the flock.

 

[Sonya9]

Hopefully others will had advice on what this could be and how to treat it.

I just wanted to comment on the fact she had diarrhea all over her backside. When animals have diarrhea it can attract flies which then lay eggs, it can lead to maggots eating an animal from the inside out (i.e. eating their way into the bowel and it is fatal). Very nasty indeed so please be careful and keep your hen clean! My sister had a rabbit that died that way, was in an outdoor pen during the day and had the runs and that attracted flies which lead to maggots. Absolutely awful.

 

[kkormos]

Ooo that makes sense but I hadn't thought that far, thank you for mentioning it. Because my flock is 100% free range and we just lock them into the coops at night for safety, I always go by the three day rule to prevent anything from spreading to the rest of the flock. So if she's still sick like this for three days, on the forth day we will put her down to save the rest of the flock and I hate to see them miserable for longer than that. I am just hoping it's something simple and we can save her cuz she's a sweet little gal. I would even consider keeping her isolated for longer but our regular isolation pen is being used right now for a broody hen and her 19 eggs so space is limited for a sick girl. Thanks for the info tho, I'm gonna go wash her behind with soap and water right now! Thanks!

 

[kkormos]

So my hen "laid" a weird sac that was 8 inches long and unevenly shaped. Like a long unformed egg but long and only half full of liquid but no yolk. She is up and about now and seems to be a lot more healthy but I'm still nervous about moving her in with my other hens. Any ideas on why she would pass something like that? Also, before all this happened one of my hens (thinking now it was her) was eating eggs. Since she's been separated no eggs have been eaten. Any ideas??