Sick chicken

[sweetpeasmom]

I have a chicken that has had a raw butt for a while. I did have a problem with lice and mites but I have since taken care of that problem. The feathers never grew back. I have just noticed that she is acting odd. She is just standing around. She looks like she has her feathers puffed up. I caught her to look at her and I found that her belly is raw also. There is signs of feathers growing back but I am worried about her. If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

 

[beakkeeper]

Is she molting? Is she pulling out her own feathers to make a nest? She could be about to go broody. sorry i'm not much help...

*bump*

 

[ibpboo]

How long has it been since she had mites? How old is she?

 

[sweetpeasmom]

I haven't seen her pulling her own feathers out. The flock had mites or lice back in late spring early summer. I individually dusted each one, I dusted their house and made a put dust in where they dust bathe. Since then I have dusted regular and have seen no signs of mites or lice. She is the only one that is acting sick and with out feathers. They all molted thru out most of the latter part of the summer. Last night as I was trying to get a dog crate fixed to put her in so I could give her some antibiotic water/ sugar water, I had run a little silkie that has been broody for over a month now (no eggs) off the nest. I was out of the lot maybe 10minutes and came back, the silkie was floating in a bucket of cold water. She was completely lifeless, no movement. I grab her out and realized she was jerking uncontrolably. She had probably been in the water for 5-10minute. Her eyes were fixed and almost closed. I wrapped her in a towel and took her in the house. I put her in the bath tub and got the hair dryer out to dry her off and warm her up. The entire time she was jerking uncontrolably unable to sit up because her leggs were like they were froze stiff. After I got her dried off I let the hair dryer just blow on her on low heat low fan for a few. I put her in a open front box and placed her in front of the gas heater. I got a glass jar and put hot water in it. I propped her up on the bottle which was under a towel to try to warm her underside. Thirty minutes had passed by this time and she was still like she was unconcious and jerking. I thought she was a goner. I had a few things to do outside so when I can back in after about and hour she was standing up and wasn't impressed at all that she was in the house. I offered her some warm medicated water and she drank some. I put her back outside in the hutch with another silkie with a heat lamp on her and she started eating like crazy and drinking like crazy and was fine. I was so scared because I thought she was dieing. After all of that the chicken that I was going to try to doctor had gone to roost so I will have to deal with her today. Thanks Everyone for your input.

 

[sweetpeasmom]

The orginal chicken that I have is not any better. I have placed her in a dog crate by herself. I gave her one qt waterer full of medicated water. The next time I filled it I gave her some sugar water to give her a little energy. She is eating and drinking fine. However when I got her out of the dog crate this evening to check on her she is only standing on one foot. She absoulutely refused to put that foot down. It doesn't look swollen or deformed. She may just be going to die.

 

[ibpboo]

Poor chickie. Sometimes no matter what we do, we can't help them enough. How is she doing now?

 

[sweetpeasmom]

Hey thanks for asking about her. I let her out in the barn this evening to stretch. She is putting the bad foot down and hopping on it a little. Last night she wouldn't even put it down. She is brighted eyed, she is eating and drinking, but I can tell that she just don't feel well. Someone told me to feed her something with lots of oil on it and red pepper. So I crushed up some ritz crakers, sprinkled it with crushed red pepper and poured vegetable oil over it. She ate it when I offered it to her. I figured it was worth a try. I also went to the local co-op store and got some chicken electrolytes to put in her water. Thanks for asking about her. By the way her name is Black Beauty.

 

[sweetpeasmom]

Today makes a week that my chicken has been sick. I really think that she is eggbound. The area under her vent, I guess maybe the pelvic area is extremely extended. I read about putting chickens that were eggbound in a tub of very warm water and that sometimes helps them. I tried that this evening with no avail. I did lube her vent to check for an egg. I didn't feel one. However she really enjoyed the hot bath. She actually laid down and was trying to go to sleep. After about 30min I blowed dried her off and put her back in the crate beside the fireplace in the living room. I also read that keeping them warm would help them relax so that they might be able to pass the egg. Has anyone else tried the warm bath before for and eggbound chicken. If so I would like to hear about it.