Sick Chicken Help Needed

[azygous]

Good job on the exam. It's a big help.

The fishy smell is a bit concerning. It can mean that crop contents are rotting. It can mean a bacterial infection in the intestines. Or it can be something as silly as eating things that have canola oil in them. Do you feed kitchen scraps cooked in canola oil? Also some feed produces fishy smelling poop. Feather Fixer is one.

Do take away her food and water tonight when you go to bed so you can accurately gauge if she has a full crop or empty crop in the morning. If sshe has a full crop, it means she has a crop issue causing her troubles.

 

[petitemusings]

Thank you so much. I’ll follow your recommendations and let you know how the crop is tomorrow.

She doesn’t get kitchen scraps but every now and then she gets some cooked oatmeal, rice, couscous or other grains that are chicken safe.

Her regular food is purina organic layer pellets. Her regular poop doesn’t have this smell. The odor is very strong on her back end and the poop.

 

[azygous]

She may have a reproductive infection. I recall such a smell from hens of mine that have had infections in the oviduct or worse. Do you happen to have any antibiotics in your house in case we decide to treat for infection?

I need to warn you that the worst case is cancer that happens to be causing organ shutdown. When that happens, the liver, especially, fails and fluids can accumulate in the abdominal cavity, forming a smelly brown infectious bacterial "soup". Of course, the hens I've had that happen to had died or were so sick I euthanized them. We only can discover this condition after we cut into them performing a necropsy after death. But the fishy smell does remind me of that.

We aren't close to ruling out the treatable things yet, so don't give up on this being a fixable issue.

 

[petitemusings]

She may have a reproductive infection. I recall such a smell from hens of mine that have had infections in the oviduct or worse. Do you happen to have any antibiotics in your house in case we decide to treat for infection?

I need to warn you that the worst case is cancer that happens to be causing organ shutdown. When that happens, the liver, especially, fails and fluids can accumulate in the abdominal cavity, forming a smelly brown infectious bacterial "soup". Of course, the hens I've had that happen to had died or were so sick I euthanized them. We only can discover this condition after we cut into them performing a necropsy after death. But the fishy smell does remind me of that.

We aren't close to ruling out the treatable things yet, so don't give up on this being a fixable issue.

I checked her crop and it’s flat/feels empty. I do not have antibiotics around. The only thing I can do is call back to the vet and hope there’s a cancellation. I don’t think they would give antibiotics without seeing her. We live on a small island and not many options unfortunately. None of the pet supply stores carry much for chickens other than preventative dewormer, electrolytes, and probiotics.

Her poop this morning from overnight looks the same as the picture previously posted with some bits of white. The smell is a bit more eggy but it’s still very watery.

I’d actually say when there is no appearance of the white material, the color reminds me more of dark swampy water. I can’t even be sure that it’s just green so I don’t know that I’d rule out what you mentioned above.

 

[azygous]

What is her behavior today? That reveals more than the poop does.

 

[petitemusings]

I haven’t seen her eat or drink water this morning. But I’ve been on calls and not always near her. She’s currently standing in her box on and off sleeping. The pic is her most recent poop. Not sure if you’re able to tell anything from it. Since yesterday, she’s eaten about 1/4 of a large cereal bowl of food. It doesn’t seem like much but she’s not a huge hen so I’m unsure if that’s good or bad?

 

[azygous]

Is it possible to take your hen outside with your other chickens and watch her behavior?

We need to know if she's alert and interested in what the others are doing and readily joins them or if she's lethargic and heads for the sidelines and avoids the others.

If she nods off standing still, that's a sign she's very sick, especially with that poop.

 

[petitemusings]

Is it possible to take your hen outside with your other chickens and watch her behavior?

We need to know if she's alert and interested in what the others are doing and readily joins them or if she's lethargic and heads for the sidelines and avoids the others.

If she nods off standing still, that's a sign she's very sick, especially with that poop.

Unfortunately, she’s my only chicken so she’d be by herself outside. She is nodding off when standing. I can’t get her in to see someone until Saturday and doubt she’ll last that long.

I don’t want her to suffer any longer if she’s in pain and don’t think the vet will give any antibiotics without seeing her.

 

[azygous]

The type of infection she likely has probably won't respond much to an antibiotic. Of course, I don't have psychic powers and can't see inside the chicken, but her behavior and poop lean toward it being a chronic infection, likely terminal. It may involve tumors.

Generally, a chicken exhibits pain by being mute, by standing hunched and the tail is usually low and flat. A chronically sick chicken will be in slow motion, have poor appetite, weight loss, eyes droopy, and falling asleep standing up. She's uninterested in life in general.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Unfortunately, she’s my only chicken so she’d be by herself outside. She is nodding off when standing. I can’t get her in to see someone until Saturday and doubt she’ll last that long.

I don’t want her to suffer any longer if she’s in pain and don’t think the vet will give any antibiotics without seeing her.

Poor sweet girl Do you feel comfortable "putting her out of her misery" or do you typically just let a chicken pass on her own?

I just read through the thread. I am no expert but between her age and the symptoms I have read, it could be her time. This seems similar to what happened to my production layers (Golden Comets). They just declined and I tried everything but they eventually stopped moving around, then stopped eating, then stopped drinking. Same green poop the whole time. We ended up putting them out of their misery (humanely) because it was hard to watch them suffer. But I absolutely understand that some people cannot do this and would rather just make the hen feel as comfortable as they can.

Whatever happens, I wish you and your hen the best. It's so difficult when this happens.