lindar3

In the Brooder
Mar 25, 2018
15
13
41
I have 6 ladies, 5 2yrs and younger, 1 who is about 4-5 yrs old. The older lady hasn't laid eggs in about a year. she has been having trouble walking for the last few days. She can take a few steps and then collapses. She has poop all down her bottom (for awhile now). She is hunched over, tail tucked, shoulders up. When she sits down it looks like she is on her side and uses her wings to balance. She has trouble going up the ramp to get into the coop so we pick her up and put her in, but now she has trouble coming down the ramp. And she stinks, none of our ladies have ever smelled! One of our 1 yr olds is starting to exhibit some of the same symptoms. The 1 yr old hasn't laid an egg for about 5 days. She isn't usually a daily layer, but does not go this long between eggs. She doesn't have a tucked tail or hunched shoulders, a little poop on her bottom and trouble walking, again using the wing outstretched to balance.
thanks for any help!!!
 
Her crop feels ok. She looks very plump, but when I checked her crop I could feel that there isn't a lot of meat on her bones. I thought it was just old age, since I really don't know how old she is I adopted her, but when one of the young ones started with the symptoms I got nervous.
 
thanks, hard to tell what the poop is like, she has lots on her bottom. I presume liquid and that is why it is stuck to her feathers. Her nostrils are good and dry. She seems to be propping herself up whenever she can.
 
The older lady hasn't laid eggs in about a year. she has been having trouble walking for the last few days. She can take a few steps and then collapses. She has poop all down her bottom
She is hunched over, tail tucked, shoulders up. When she sits down it looks like she is on her side and uses her wings to balance.
And she stinks
She looks very plump, but when I checked her crop I could feel that there isn't a lot of meat on her bones. I thought it was just old age

Hi @lindar3 :frowWelcome To BYC I'm going to split my reply into 2sections - but more information will be helpful.

I'm sorry to hear about your hens.
Can you post some photos of both hens?
What type of food/treats do you feed?
Can you take a fresh poop sample to your vet for testing of worms?
Any chance your chickens ate anything moldy, rotten or toxic?
Have you added any new birds to your flock within the last 30days?

The oldest one that has not laid in a year - if she has a lot of poop clogging the vent and bum feathers - you will want to give her a good cleaning up. A warm soak in some soapy water will help loosen some of the poop, work it into the soiled feathers. Sometimes you may need to trim the poop balls out. You need to be able to take a good look at the vent to make sure there is no infection since she stinks - it could be just poop buildup, but a smelly chicken can have infection, flystrike, vent gleet or something else.
While you are cleaning her up, give her crop a good feel, check her for lice/mites and feel the abdomen for any swelling/bloat or feeling of fluid. The symptoms you describe for her, it sounds like she has an internal laying/reproductive disorder, which can be common in older hens.

Try to keep her hydrated and eating. Once we have some photos and more information, we may be able to give you better suggestions.


One of our 1 yr olds is starting to exhibit some of the same symptoms. The 1 yr old hasn't laid an egg for about 5 days.
She doesn't have a tucked tail or hunched shoulders, a little poop on her bottom and trouble walking, again using the wing outstretched to balance.

Your younger girl - the symptoms could be coincidental, but if she has not laid an egg in 5days, she may also be having some reproductive problems too.
Since she is younger, she could also be suffering from a disease like Marek's for which there is no cure.

If you have vet care or can send some samplings to your state vet, this will give you more answers.

For this younger one - do the same for her as the older one - clean her up, inspect her crop/is it emptying, check for external parasites and feel the abdomen for bloat/fluid.
Try to keep her hydrated, if you have poultry vitamins add those to her water for a couple of days.

Let us know how they are.
 
An excellent post by @Wyorp Rock which has highlighted and covered all my thoughts on your description of symptoms.
Photos would be good, a video would be better to show how they are moving. Videos need to be hosted on the likes of You Tube or Vimeo and then a link posted on this thread.
 
Thank you both for your advice! The older hen wouldn't come out of the coop this morning. Until this morning she was eating and drinking just fine. The younger girl is eating and walking normally yesterday, but this morning walking on her knee on just her right leg. I will give them a close inspection later today and try to post some pictures.
Thanks again!!
 
We lost the older lady today. I noticed some red poop in the coop, not sure who it is from so all remaining 5 ladies will be treated with Corid. Hopefully that will save our flock!
 
I'm sorry to hear you lost her.

Red poop? Was it bloody? If you have photos that will help.

If the poop was bloody, Corid would be treatment of choice for Coccidiosis overload.
 

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