Sick chicken or just old?

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jools2014

jools2014

Songster
7 Years
Aug 7, 2014
189
49
151
Hi, was wondering at what age a chicken is typically "old aged"-my oldest girl is around 6 years old. She had a respiratory infection last year which she got over but she is not 100%. She no longer perches with the others-their perch is quite high so maybe she has decided she doesn't have the energy to climb up and down it anymore-the last few days she has just slept on the ground in a corner. She is still waiting to come out in the morning and still interested in treats-follows me round if she sees I have something! Eats the treats but not with the same enthusiasm as before.

Comes out to free range with the others but most of the time will just sit down and does little foraging. Is it old age-is she old enough for that? Should I be worried? I keep saying I'm worried about her but my mum is like "she's getting old now"-but she's only around a year older than my others. I also have a duck of the same age left and she has slowed down too, so I suppose it could just be old age? Does anyone have any hens 6+ years old and found the same thing?
 
She's your hen, trust your gut. If you think there has been a marked change, you would know better than anyone. Slowing down is one thing, but is she showing other symptoms?
Click to expand...

Only from the respiratory thing which she didn't totally get over-these symptoms were she kept opening her mouth, wheezing and had no audible "chicken noises". I thought the respiratory thing was getting worse so I decided to worm all my flock a couple weeks ago-mostly because I thought she could have gapeworm because of the constant opening her mouth "gaping" type of movement. This seems to have improved and the only symptom remaining is the loss of her "chicken voice" and very slight mouth movement. I thought she was getting sick again because she stands around a lot or comes out in the garden and sits (a couple of years ago she used to venture as far as possible going off on her own foraging) and not perching anymore, until I realised she could just be slowing down due to age.

SweetTea-very sorry for your loss, how old was your bird? I don't mind keeping my girl around if it's just old age as long as she's not suffering. Just recalculated and she's almost 6 and a half so I guess this is getting quite old?
 
Old age is subjective.
IMO, 6 isn't old. Having had some disease/s over time will take a lot out of them. I currently have a couple 6 year old hens laying quite well. I expect them to take a long winter break and then kick start again early next spring. I've known of a 12 year old hen still laying.
Someone on BYC reported a month ago they had an 11 year old hen that had laid 11 eggs so far this year.
Getting to the bottom of any illnesses quickly is key. Sounds like your bird is still feeling poorly.
What medication did you use to treat for worms?
Flubendazole is the only anthelmintic approved for gape.
Thiabendazole has also been used.
 
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jools2014 said:
SweetTea-very sorry for your loss, how old was your bird? I don't mind keeping my girl around if it's just old age as long as she's not suffering. Just recalculated and she's almost 6 and a half so I guess this is getting quite old?
Click to expand...

We're not sure how old she was. We bought her from the flea market thinking she was a pullet.
 
Well my girl hasn't laid in ages as far as i know-probably close to 2 years which is why I think she outlasted my others who mostly died of egg-related issues. It was flubendazole used for worming, she seems to have slowed down after I treated her with this.

SweetTea-ah I see, such a shame to lose them. Nearly a year ago I thought I'd lose mine but antibiotics perked her right up, maybe trip to the vets again.

Edit-she is back to doing the gaping thing really bad so I think I'll get her to the vets ASAP.
 
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Update-so my girl died yesterday. I was surprised as even though she hadn't been 100% for a while, she ran out for treats the night before (I didn't have any) and I felt sorry for her looking all hopeful so I went and got some mealworms and gave them to her, so glad I did, she had a lovely last meal/snack of mealworms mostly to herself as the other chickens were perching. She was still going to bed in the corner of the hen house on the floor. I think she quite enjoyed not having to perch as every time I went down there in the evenings to shut them up she could just come out and see what treats I had, and she always would come out to see :)

The way she pecked those meal worms up I actually thought well there can't be that much wrong with her, then the next day I found her in her favourite spot out in the pen gone, so had made it through the night and then just went. It was beginning to look like she'd go on forever so I was surprised in the end. The antibiotics from the vet perked her up a bit again and she would come out with the rest every day into the garden but would mainly just sit around (although most of my birds are just sitting around as it has been incredibly hot here in the UK for weeks), the vet said he didn't expect her to last long. She seemed very weak but when you'd see her come out for treats you'd think she was fine. I think it was mainly symptoms of old age. She was my oldest and favourite hen, only one of my original hens left, she did really well to make it to 6 and a half, I will really miss her she was such a good hen.
 
^^ Too late for that she's already been buried. I've done that before with another hen who was younger, our avian vet does autopsies- but this time I just figured it was old age since she was a good age (for a hybrid anyway). Yes they are all on layers pellets (not sure what effect that would have on a respiratory disorder and/or old age though?), with grit available, and have such treats as lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, sweetcorn, strawberries, mealworms. They get a lot! The blackberries near our house will be coming through soon, I'm sad she didn't make it that long-I used to pick them off and give her them-she loved them, as did all the birds but she was the greediest one I think!
 

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