Should i cull my hen

[Myah1011]

I just got home from a 2 day vacation to find my hen in a bad state, she's 6 years old and doesn't look good. Her poop reeks, and her face in the span of two days has turned a greenish blue around the waddle and lower part of face (possible infection?) Her breathing seems fine at the moment but I don't think she is long for this world, she keeps shaking her head in a Jerky motion. This is the first time I've ever contemplated culling a hen, what do you guys think? I am most certain she will die, I'm just wondering if I should let nature do its thing or if it would be better to put her down. I don't know if she is suffering or not. (Sorry its my first time writing something like this if I sound a bit stupid, I've never had to make this decision before.)

 

[Myah1011]

Follow up question, is their any disease or infection that causes a chicken to lose weight, start drooling out of the mouth, skin around the eyes and waddle to darken / turn bluish green and cause her to have jerky head motions and be very stiff and smell absolutely horrible. I love this hen but I want to know if this is anything horrible that the other hens could get? I will most likely cull her soon. Almost all of these symptoms have appeared in the last 2 days while I was gone so I wasn’t able to help her, the only thing I noticed before leaving was a drop in weight but I wasn’t able to do anything about it til I got back.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Can you post a pic showing the discolored face and wattles under normal or sun light? Where is the bad odor coming from (breath, ears or other)? Check her all over for wounds and especially check body under the wings and vent. Look for bruising - chickens bruise green.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm so sorry about your hen.

If you have photos you wish to share, those are always welcome.

Could she have been in a fight and have bruising?
Bitten by a snake or spider?
Any canker or lesions in the beak?

It's up to you to determine if she's in misery and needs to be put down, you are there to access her and know her situation best.

 

[Myah1011]

I don’t really have a good device for pictures and don’t want to move her around much, yes I will say that before I left that some of the chickens had bullied her which led me to separate her from the flock while I was gone, so the back of her head is missing feathers and has dried up blood so the green blue skin might be from bruising although before I left I don’t believe her waddles were really dark like that.. but yeah that’s what she looks like face wise, like I said she absolutely reeks which I believe is coming from the fecal, I have absolutely zero clue to describe the smell and like I said she’s stiff and barely moving. If anymore information is needed I can try to provide more. (again sorry for the bad photos)

 

[Wyorp Rock]

before I left that some of the chickens had bullied her which led me to separate her from the flock while I was gone, so the back of her head is missing feathers and has dried up blood so the green blue skin might be from bruising although before I left I don’t believe her waddles were really dark like that.. but yeah that’s what she looks like face wise, like I said she absolutely reeks which I believe is coming from the fecal, I have absolutely zero clue to describe the smell and like I said she’s stiff and barely moving.

When you can, get more photos of her. Further away and of all of her.

From what I can see, she has bruising, probably from being picked on. Sometimes when a hen is not well, the flock will beat them up, so she may have something else going on.

You do need to move her around and examine her. Find out why she smells so bad. Is her bottom coated with fecal matter, does she have any maggots around the vent/under the vent, is her crop emptying or her breath smell bad. If she's just sitting and not moving much, she may just have poop stuck to her, it's hard to know.

If she's heavily soiled, give her a wash up with warm soapy water so you can check her over better.

Does she lay eggs or has she been having trouble laying eggs?

While she was separated out, and you not there, was she able to get to water and food on her own? She may be dehydrated. See if she will take sips of sugar water.