Sick chicken isn't moving

[Lady EE]

Hi all,
We have a four year old chicken who isn't moving; her feathers are droopy, and when picked up and set on her feet, she just staggers off to one side. She's doesn't appear to be eating or drinking, and has been like this for about two days. She does not have a runny nose, and we have not gotten new birds recently. She has never been wormed. We are in SE Wisconsin. How should we treat this, and is it contagious(to the other chickens)?
Thank you!
Lady EE

 

[Lady EE]

Anyone have any ideas? She has not improved, and has apparently been drooling slightly. No sign of worms in stool.

 

[enola]

There could be MANY things wrong. Coccidiosis, worms, dehydration, bacterial infections ......

When was she last wormed?

 

[Lady EE]

She has never been wormed.
We might try giving her an epsom salt flush

 

[Lady EE]

Went into a seizure. Appears dead.
Thank you for your help!

 

[enola]

I am so sorry to hear this!

Maybe now would be a good time to give the rest of your girls a late "spring tune-up". I would start with checking for visible external parasites. If you find any go to your local Feed Store and buy some poultry dust and dust everybody. Repeat every 7-10 days until there are no more crawlies to be found.

Next I would advise a good worming with Safeguard, also found at your Feed Store. If you dose each one of them 5 days in a row, they will be dosed for virtually every known internal parasite chickens can get.

An overload of internal parasites can cause all KINDS of ilnesses.