sick austrolorp

[chickenmom1]

I'm new at this and I have a chicken who is puffed up and in the corner of the coop. what do I do? What do I look for in her. She has always been one of my beauties and never had a problem. Please help.
J

 

[teach1rusl]

Can you give us more information? That would help narrow things down. Take a quick look at the "emergencies" sticky for basic guidelines.

 

[chicmom]

Hello there, so sorry to hear that. First thing, since you don't know what's wrong, you should isolate her from the others, just in case she could be contageous.

Then, look her over real good. Does she display any symptoms, like raspy breathing, or nasal drainage? Are her eyes clear, is the vent area clean, and not covered with poo? Can you see an injury of any kind?

Does she respond when you talk to her? Does she perk up and walk or is she just setting and not moving? Will she drink or eat?

There could be so many things.......Let me know and then maybe we could go from there.....

Sharon

 

[chickenmom1]

Thanks for replying.
She is 3 years old.
She has been a little slow the past couple of days. Not integrating as much or moving around.
She won't eat or drink this morning.
She can barely stand and keeps closing her eyes to rest.
No bleeding or obvious injury.
Eyes look clear.
Missing some feathers on her butt, but some of them do that on occasion.
Haven't seen her poop yet, but I put her in a box of straw in the house hope to see soon.
I probably won't take her to a vet.
I have 50 chickens, 36 are 6 month old pullets. They free frange in the afternoon's and then put themselves to bed. I lock up the coop after dark.
I have a decent size coop..
The only changes in the past weeks is that I put in some fresh oak bedding, i usually use pine shavings.
The straw I was giving had green in it and I was wondering if it was hay.
I stopped feeding layer crumbles and pellets and just went to pellets, which the older hens have always had.
I hope these things didn't cause her a problem.
What else can I check on her.
Thanks so much,
J

 

[chickenmom1]

Ps. I got her to eat a little yogurt, but she is really just tasting what I put in her mouth.
Thanks J

 

[teach1rusl]

Poor girl definitely looks like she feels poorly

Have you examined her for any signs of injury? If not, do that. I'm glad you contained her, because with that many birds, it would be difficult to tell whether she's eating, drinking, or what her droppings look like, and you'll want to know all of those things. I would really tempt her with scrambled egg or something along those lines to see whether she'll eat on her own. If she's not eating, then her crop should be really small; is it? Just trying to eliminate things like impacted crop, etc. Also feel below her vent area, up along her abdomen...no swelling or bulges??

 

[chickenmom1]

Her crop is the bump in the front right? It feels full.
J

 

[teach1rusl]

If it's full, then she IS eating...that, or it's impacted (got a lot of stuff built up in there that can't move through). Put away all food tonight and check her crop first thing in the morning. Hopefully you'll find it much smaller, and lots of poop in the crate (or wherever you're containing her). If that's the case, then it's NOT an impacted crop. Without clear symptoms, it's really just process of elimination when it comes to many chicken illnesses, and even then sometimes it comes down to a crap shoot.
Just keep an eye on her today...baby her a little. You could add some electrolites to her water if you keep any on hand...maybe a little sugar mixed in if not, just for a little energy boost. Have you checked for any bulges below her backside??

 

[chickenmom1]

Her bottom has poop all over it and a little foul smell. Kinda crusty. Should I give her a warm bath and clean her up? thanks so much for helping. I want to get better at this.
J

 

[teach1rusl]

A warm bath always help ME to fill better, so it couldn't hurt. Any chickens I've ever soaked/bathed liked it after I got them settled in. Be sure to dry her well afterward; if she's calm you can even blow dry on low. She'll have to soak a while if you're hoping to get her back end cleaned up....dishwashing liquid or a mild shampoo should help break the dried stuff up...you'll need to really work it into that area's feathers to get it off. Warm soaks also help with possible egg binding issues, so it could be...errr...NOT killing two birds with one stone.