Sick chicken - what to do?

[dileas]

I was hoping you might be able to offer me some advice.

I have a very unwell chicken - she's been sick for almost 2 weeks now. At first it was the usual signs of a parasitic infection - diarrhea, pale comb, off her food, etc. I treated the entire flock with wormer and all the other chickens seem okay, it's just the one who's sick.

Normally when we've had a chicken get as sick as her, they'll die within 24hr, but this one seems determined to live.

I have her in a coop/cage inside the main coop so she can see the other chickens, but not be harrassed by them (she seems a bit scared of them, but likes my company). I've been going and feeding her several times a day as she doesn't seem to eat when she's alone.

She almost seems like she's a little senile - she'll peck at the food, but not put her beak down far enough and miss the food, she'll go to peck a wall, things like that. She's very subdued, and I haven't seen her drinking any water (I've been adding it to her food, but can't get her to drink water, even if I hold it up to her beak like I do with the food).

Her comb is purple along the top, but red on the rest of it (i.e. it's not pale any more).
I'm very concerned about her - I don't want her to suffer, so obviously if it's best to have her put to sleep, we'll do that. But if she can be saved, I'm fine with investing the energy into her. I'm just not really sure what to do as I'm not very experienced with chicken illnesses.

If anyone has any advice on what might be wrong with her, what I might be able to do to help her or whether our only option is to put her down, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks!!

 

[dileas]

I just went and gave her some more food and I noticed that her comb is normal red now, no purple is obvious at all. Is this a good sign? I'm not sure whether to be hopeful or not.

She didn't eat much, but she did have a little - she mightn't have liked the taste I'm not sure (it was a mix of oat porridge, egg and a tiny bit of electrolyte solution - I think she prefers porridge on its own).

I noticed her droppings seem to be clear/yellowish liquid today. Is that just because she's eating and drinking so little?

I'm really not sure what to do with this little girl and would love some advice if anyone has any.

 

[hrhta812]

I don't have a lot of experience, but you might try giving her some good quality plain yogurt, for the beneficial bacteria; that might help her get back to having more normal stools, depending on what is going on with her.

I've nursed a few sick ones back to health. Scrambled eggs seem to be their favorite food, and they eat those even if they are feeling lousy; if I have one that won't eat scrambled eggs, I get very worried. They usually can't resist them. No salt/pepper, etc. on the eggs of course, and make sure they're cooled off to being just lukewarm or room temp. I have also given some plain Pedialyte with liquid vitamin B added; or if I have it, I mix some of the electrolyte powder they sell at TSC for chickens into some bottled spring water and give that to the hen to drink. If she won't drink, I use a dropper and try to get some in her beak.

Pretty much every time I've had a sick chicken, I've use the Epsom salt bath treatment and it seems to help them feel better. I just put warm, not hot, water in a dish tub or even in one side of the sink, and stir in 1/2 cup of Epsom salts. Then I put the chicken in and let her soak for 5-10 min. and it doesn't have to be all up to her neck, but at least enough that her whole underside is soaking, especially her vent area, in case she's egg bound. You got to be able to keep her in a warm dry place afterwards until she's thoroughly dry; some people use a blow dryer to dry them, but I have not done that. I just keep my hen in a plastic dog carrier with clean shavings for bedding, and keep the crate in a small room where I can run a space heater, if it is chilly. We keep our house fairly cool in winter to save money, so keep the chicken in the bathroom where it's easy to heat up the room to 75 or so.


Here's a link to where I learned about the soak: http://hencam.com/faq/the-spa-treatment/

If you do give her olive oil, as mentioned in the treatment, only give a very a couple drops, since your hen is having watery stool. Good luck - I hope she bounces back.