Sick Chicken

[freedom chick]

I need some ideas please from more experienced chicken keepers.

I have a young Buckeye, just started laying this fall. Hatched May. Bottom of the pecking order. Petite gal.

I pulled her out of the flock and have her inside. I noticed she seemed weak, was having greenish diarrhea, and poo all stuck down her backside. She just wanted to lay leaning to one side with her wings drooping, listless, eyes closed.

I have electrolytes in her water, offered her scrambled egg, yogurt, oatmeal.
She is eating and drinking more now, but still having green poo with water She has had 2 firmer poos now, one tan.

**actually doing a little better. Standing, eating more and drinking *alot, Alert and oriented.

She has crumble and is pecking at that.
She has eaten a couple grapes and some bread.

I have checked her for being eggbound. Honestly, I did not palpate anything striking but I have never had to do this before.
I have researched dehydration, starvation, vent gleet, fungal infection.

I gave her a crushed tum to boost her calcium.

I cleaned the hen house. No other birds affected.

Last night I bathed her and she seemed appreciative and I think she actually enjoyed the hairdryer. First for everything.

Any ideas what what is ACTUALLY going on here?

Again, she is the bottom of the pecking order and it has been cold outside. I open hen doors but they all rather hang inside the coop. Could she have been bullied away from food and water? Is there something bigger I am missing?

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds as though her being low in the pecking order may be the reason she is not well. She also could have coccidiosis and symptoms include diarrhea or blood in droppings, lethargy, puffed up or hunched appearance, and not eating. Corid (amprollium) in the water is the best treatment. I would keep her warm and help her get back to normal for a couple of days, then put her back out side with the others. Make a special point of picking her up and feeding her a little extra or giving her treats of chopped egg, or other high protein snacks, and place at least 2 waterers and feeder far apart. Worming your flock may also be a good thing.

 

[Rickovo]

Hi,
I have a cream legbar that was smaller than should have been as a pullet. She seemed to be going downhill, developed very runny nostrils and was not putting on any weight. Antibiotics helped, but didn't clear the runny beak. Anyway, like you I took here out and gave some tlc which also involved regularly wiping her beak as her nostrils were very small and kept getting blocked. She's fine now, been laying for several months and put on weight although she is sort of midway to a bantam and lays small eggs.
Point is, I don't know what happened with yours but they can just get off to a bad start I think and just need a bit of special treatment to catch up.
Having 2 feeding and water bowls separated by a partition gives the lowest ranks more of a chance and some circular routes around the coop with hidden areas for escape and rest from the competition.
My CLB got very good at running away!

 

[freedom chick]

Thank you.

Yes, dewormed them yesterday.

No blood in the poo.

 

[Rickovo]

By the way - If she's inside for more than a day and its cold outside then move her to progressively cooler places rather than straight out in one go.

 

[freedom chick]

Okay. Thank you for that.

 

[freedom chick]

Okay, thank you for that info

 

[freedom chick]

Okay, She had another normal poo.
Its 51 degrees and sunny here in Ohio (strange winter). I went ahead and put her back out in the coop.

Four chickens want to pick on her.

What am I to do with this petite chicken?

Any suggestions?

 

[freedom chick]

Well, not sure what to do here. She was only in the house for a day and a half.

She has been completely shunned by the rest of the flock. They are pecking at her and going after her. She doesn't do ANYTHING to fight back or even run. She lays down and becomes still.

Is she just a weakling they want to kill off? Will they succeed??

HELP!!

 

[Rickovo]

You'll have to treat her as a newly introduced hen and partition the coop. Have a screened area and a bit with open wire so they see each other. Hopefully you will be able to move some of the flock into her side in a while and so steadily integrate her but there will be some bullying along the way. My CLB still gets her comb grabbed from time to time, especially when tasty food is around. She probably isn't running away because it is not just one aggressor but many. If you can find her a friend from the flock then she will already be in a much better position. Mixing things up by moving birds to different enclosures is likely to change the dynamics within the flock anyway.