Sick … :( maybe wry??????

[aliris]

Hi - my chicken has been unwell for 2 days. She’s now soaking in a warm bath. Lethargic, a little clumsy. Swollen abdomen and swollen crop. Yesterday morning she smelled bad, ok now. This morning her neck sort of crooked like you see I. The picture. But she’s not incapable of uncorking it, this is just its resting position. No egg to feel inside but swollen down there. Foot clutched up in the bath. Comb dark on the edges.

I gave her some water with a couple drops nitro-drench. What else please? Thank you!!! Probably 5yo. Hasn’t laid in several weeks.

 

[aliris]

Loving her time in the hospital and the new hair dryer I bought to defrost the fridge has come in handy!!!

Also gross white-yellow goo coming from inside, pulsing vent, labored breathing.

Thank you for any wisdom!!!

 

[aliris]

Ok found this helpful thread from @Wyorp Rock as usual, lol! Going to stuff a calcium, cure-all in her. If her head didn’t keep turning lightly (not violently) sideways I’d believe it’s not so bad but… she’s definitely perked up from her bath, uncurled her feet. …tail feathers straight up. Comb is wilted, blackened at the end, no nits. No bugs. No visible worms… . She’s actually now preening which seems a good sign?

Post in thread 'Lethargic hen with swollen abdomen'
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/lethargic-hen-with-swollen-abdomen.1671660/post-28724513

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How is she doing?

I agree with you, I'd get some calcium into her and see how she does. She may be having a hard time laying an egg or expelling some lash material.

Glad she's enjoying her bath time, she looks like she's floating LOL

 

[aliris]

You're so sweet and amazing to be such a resource, and such a caring one at that @Wyorp Rock !

She seems to be doing better I hope!? No miraculous turn-around. But I got a calcium into her, gave her some vitamin water, and let her zone out in the chicken hospital a while. She eventually stood up, enjoyed her spa hair dryer treatment, started cooing and talking a bit. Turned around (milestone!) and when lifted because the "hospital" was needed for a shower, expelled a big wet squirt of goo. Lots of very white stuff there, as had been leaking earlier. And her vent was doing a lot less pulsing. (and, come to think of it, less labored breathing for sure). Then she got set down (of course, lol) and proceeding to walk deliberately outside back to her pen, stopping for some grubbing along the way. I think that's all positive, it's certainly not in the wrong direction. I will daily give her more calcium. I don't know why she's been deficient in calcium all along. Since she stopped laying a while back I eased up on the calcium pills I had been giving periodically, thinking perhaps that was forcing something just wasn't really in the cards? But maybe that's not a thing. Maybe knowing she's deficient she needs the supplement kept up regardless?

But... is this related to the calcium pill? Seems to me it would take quite some time for a calcium pill to have effect? It's daylight and doesn't the crop not really empty until overnight? And wouldn't it take a while to dissolve and disperse? This all wasn't immediate, but it also was over the course of <1 hour.... Seems hard to attribute that to calcium, but maybe it's absorbed quicker than I realized?

She's usually so feisty so it's awful seeing her so timid and subdued, lol. Sweetie.

It feels like her ears (ear-flaps??) look swollen to me and maybe red-tinged. Do they get swollen like lymph nodes do indicating some infection or something?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You're so sweet and amazing to be such a resource, and such a caring one at that @Wyorp Rock !

She seems to be doing better I hope!? No miraculous turn-around. But I got a calcium into her, gave her some vitamin water, and let her zone out in the chicken hospital a while. She eventually stood up, enjoyed her spa hair dryer treatment, started cooing and talking a bit. Turned around (milestone!) and when lifted because the "hospital" was needed for a shower, expelled a big wet squirt of goo. Lots of very white stuff there, as had been leaking earlier. And her vent was doing a lot less pulsing. (and, come to think of it, less labored breathing for sure). Then she got set down (of course, lol) and proceeding to walk deliberately outside back to her pen, stopping for some grubbing along the way. I think that's all positive, it's certainly not in the wrong direction. I will daily give her more calcium. I don't know why she's been deficient in calcium all along. Since she stopped laying a while back I eased up on the calcium pills I had been giving periodically, thinking perhaps that was forcing something just wasn't really in the cards? But maybe that's not a thing. Maybe knowing she's deficient she needs the supplement kept up regardless?

But... is this related to the calcium pill? Seems to me it would take quite some time for a calcium pill to have effect? It's daylight and doesn't the crop not really empty until overnight? And wouldn't it take a while to dissolve and disperse? This all wasn't immediate, but it also was over the course of <1 hour.... Seems hard to attribute that to calcium, but maybe it's absorbed quicker than I realized?

She's usually so feisty so it's awful seeing her so timid and subdued, lol. Sweetie.

It feels like her ears (ear-flaps??) look swollen to me and maybe red-tinged. Do they get swollen like lymph nodes do indicating some infection or something?

The Calcium tablets are a quicker uptake than oyster shell.
The crop fills and empties throughout the day as the bird eats/drinks and poops, so whatever medications/treatments she is given will be processed fairly quickly unless the crop is slow.

I'm glad she's moving about a little. It can be hard to know what's causing her symptoms. Likely something reproductive which is common in laying hens, but hopefully she'll make a turn around.

Can you get photos of her ears?

 

[aliris]

Tomorrow probably ... I'll check whether I happened to get a good-enough one but I'll definitely get one tomorrow. Thank you!

 

[aliris]

My Spelty is so much better; thank you! She was on a straight upward trajectory and hasn't looked back. She is no longer puffy and swollen, she runs up and announces her enthusiasm for food; she is her old self. Thank you!! I will keep up the calcium.

Is it possible to give too much calcium?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My Spelty is so much better; thank you! She was on a straight upward trajectory and hasn't looked back. She is no longer puffy and swollen, she runs up and announces her enthusiasm for food; she is her old self. Thank you!! I will keep up the calcium.

Is it possible to give too much calcium?

I'm glad she's doing better!

I would only give the Extra Calcium for no more than 7days.

 

[aliris]

Great to know, thank you. But then what would I taper off to as good regular background amount. I think it's long been clear she just doesn't get enough calcium for whatever reason. How much would you give an older chicken for health-maintenance?