Sick bird

MFChickens

In the Brooder
6 Years
Aug 21, 2013
14
0
22
Louisiana
Hello all! I am lost trying to figure out what is wrong with my poor chicken.
I have 4 chickens total and the other 3 are healthy as can be. This 1 chicken had been acting funny for a few weeks now. She used to be my most active and fast bird. Now she just stands around and kind of keeps to herself. She really would only eat watermelon and yogurt with some meal worms. I have not noticed her drinking. Yesterday I got home from work and noticed her laying on the ground almost life less. I picked her up and put her in a box and immediately started force feeding her water. After a few hours she started to purk up. However she is still just laying around, but seems to be in no pain. She has had watery poops with a greenish/yellow color to them and almost smell kind of cheesy...I know kinds gross! When I picked her up I noticed she was very thin (she has always been my more petite bird) and could feel her bones. She has been loosing a lot of feathers so I thought it was a tough molt. Can this be? I live in south eastern Louisiana and it's been pretty hot lately.
I am totally at a loss now. I haven't noticed any worms or blood in her poop.
Can someone please help me or shed some light on this. I have her isolated now in my garage. She just seems to just sleep and seems to not be stressed in any way. Her are some pictures of her. One is her just standing the other is from yesterday.
Thanks in advance!
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As soon as you get a sick bird, it's a good idea to quarantine them.

Not seeing worms doesn't mean they aren't present. You can get a fecal sample read by a good avian vet, or any vet really it's just that most vets want to see the "patient".

It could be dozens of things and it sounds like she's on her last legs. Time for action and some lab work. Don't try to guess or ask for guesses because it will be a stab in the dark.

I thought some of my birds in 2 separate flocks had roundworms but instead of worming them I found a vet to do a fecal and found they had no worms but a clostridia infestation that needed tetracycline. Worming them prophylactically would have prolonged the cure.

I thought I had a hen with a disease recently. I separated her to boost her with vitamins and probiotics, etc.. She kept going down hill so I took her the 250 miles round trip to the state vet school for euthanizing and necropsy. It turned out she had cancer.
Many people I know would have wormed and treated with antibiotics without knowing what the problem was. That would have prolonged her misery and she would have died without my knowing if my other birds were at risk.
 
I don't guess she could be egg bound could she?? She hasn't laid an egg in almost a month. I couldn't feel anything around her backside. She is bone thin. Can feel just about every bone in her body.
I have Corid at home should I start treatment?
Hate to bring her to a vet and have them run up the bill and she ends up passing.
 
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Not likely egg bound. They usually don't live long when unable to pass an egg.

A fecal read shouldn't cost a lot.

You could just put her down and do a cursory necropsy yourself which doesn't cost anything and you may discover what's wrong. And you can still eat the meat.
 
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After doing some reading I have come to he conclusion she may have sour crop. Her crop is pretty empty and her mouth stinks! Like others have stated with this her poop is green liquid. Which would explain not eating.
Gave her a little olive oil and yogurt. Then noticed her crop puffing up some.
If I did have to put her down I would not eat her. She is so skinny!!
 
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