Sick hen.. Any advice on what to do? Urgent!

[Harriskate22]

So, two days ago I went down to feed our animals. We have a huge fenced in lot, with a creek running through it.. we have chickens and ducks and occasional neighborhood buzzards hangout with our animals. (The city ran them down from the hospital, and to where I live. They're all over my neighborhood and usually hangout on people's houses, back yards, with dogs.. and such not just my animals. Everyone house..)

Well, one of my hen's wasn't looking alright.. I honestly thought she was dead until I touched her and she perked up some. Her head was held to the side, but she could move it around. She can walk.. but she had no appetite. I separated her from the others and brought her up to our house on the porch in a cage. I cant get her to eat.. but she has swelling on the side of her head. I took to vet and they mention mereks, but wasn't 100% sure what was happening. She doesn't show any other signs.. she is very alert and I've been giving her antibiotics.. but she's still the same.. I have to feed her with a medicine dropper.. and we can't do anything about buzzards because it's a bird sanctuary where I live, you can pull jail time for killing any in city limits. But, her symptoms include hsad crooked to side.. no appetite.. and running stool that smells horrid, and side if head swelled up.. She sometimes looked around like in a circle.. but she walks good. Just stands there kinda off and shuts her eyes.
No wounds of any kind, just soft tissue swelling..

 

[azygous]

Can you post a pic of her poop?

Can she stand? If so, does she have trouble with balance? Look at her eyes. Are both the same color and size or is one faded and the pupil shrunken and irregular? If she can stand, how does she hold her wings? Lop-sided, drooping away from her body?

When was the last time she laid an egg? Any trouble with egg quality such as eggs with no shells?

Crop? Full, empty, hard, soft and spongy? Bad odor on her breath?

 

[Harriskate22]

Can you post a pic of her poop?

Can she stand? If so, does she have trouble with balance? Look at her eyes. Are both the same color and size or is one faded and the pupil shrunken and irregular? If she can stand, how does she hold her wings? Lop-sided, drooping away from her body?

When was the last time she laid an egg? Any trouble with egg quality such as eggs with no shells?

Crop? Full, empty, hard, soft and spongy? Bad odor on her breath?

 

[Harriskate22]

(I'm at work, but my nieces sent me a picture.. they tried to feed her bread.)

But, I'll send a picture of her stool whenever I get home in a few hours. But, it has a really unusual, horrid smell. As u see in picture, her head is bend to one side. She keeps it there for the most part. She has some swelling on her left side of head as seen in other pictures.

She was normal up until this. I have a security cam that sees over the lot at night and day, it record 24/7. All I could see was her walking then just laying down were I founded her.

She has no other symptoms besides her head, and appetite going south, shes alert for the most part. Her stool is really moist tho.. the vet checked her out and said her body was in good shape but yeah.. he said maybe an inner ear infection? He was pretty clueless. I dont want to put her down.. if I dont have too. She was the head hen, and I've raised her from a chick. She's not that old either..

 

[azygous]

I'm having trouble accessing the photo of the poop. But since it has a "horrible smell", it could mean she has an infection somewhere from her crop down along her intestinal track.

If a vet can't get a clue from looking at her in real time, all we can do here is ask questions and try to put together clues.

You need to check her crop. See is it's full and hard or full and squishy.

I'm getting error messages from this site, so I may have trouble following your responses. It is possible she has an impacted crop and bacteria or yeast is infecting it and affecting her intestines, too.

 

[Harriskate22]

I'm having trouble accessing the photo of the poop. But since it has a "horrible smell", it could mean she has an infection somewhere from her crop down along her intestinal track.

If a vet can't get a clue from looking at her in real time, all we can do here is ask questions and try to put together clues.

You need to check her crop. See is it's full and hard or full and squishy.

I'm getting error messages from this site, so I may have trouble following your responses. It is possible she has an impacted crop and bacteria or yeast is infecting it and affecting her intestines, too.

I'm having trouble accessing the photo of the poop. But since it has a "horrible smell", it could mean she has an infection somewhere from her crop down along her intestinal track.

If a vet can't get a clue from looking at her in real time, all we can do here is ask questions and try to put together clues.

You need to check her crop. See is it's full and hard or full and squishy.

I'm getting error messages from this site, so I may have trouble following your responses. It is possible she has an impacted crop and bacteria or yeast is infecting it and affecting her intestines, too.

 

[Harriskate22]

Same here.. mine was acting strange as well. And I asked the vet, he said it was squishy.. he checked her wings and such no marks.. He mentioned Mereks disease. She has a knot on her head, its went down but.. her head is side ways. The vet gave me antibiotics orally... she finally starting drinking on her own and she pecked at a treat I gave her. But, her head is still kinda sideways.. and she has short periods of energy then she will just stand there with her eyes shut.

 

[Harriskate22]

I'm having trouble accessing the photo of the poop. But since it has a "horrible smell", it could mean she has an infection somewhere from her crop down along her intestinal track.

If a vet can't get a clue from looking at her in real time, all we can do here is ask questions and try to put together clues.

You need to check her crop. See is it's full and hard or full and squishy.

I'm getting error messages from this site, so I may have trouble following your responses. It is possible she has an impacted crop and bacteria or yeast is infecting it and affecting her intestines, too.

 

[Harriskate22]

Same here.. mine was acting strange as well. And I asked the vet, he said it was squishy.. he checked her wings and such no marks.. He mentioned Mereks disease. She has a knot on her head, its went down but.. her head is side ways. The vet gave me antibiotics orally... she finally starting drinking on her own and she pecked at a treat I gave her. But, her head is still kinda sideways.. and she has short periods of energy then she will just stand there with her eyes shut.

 

[azygous]

Okay, the site seems to be fixed. It sure is frustrating when things go haywire.

You need to confirm if she has a crop disorder on top of an infection. If her breath smells as bad as her poop, she may need to be treated for a yest infection. Check her crop in the morning before you give her food and water. If it's still full and squishy, we have a yeast infection.

Let's see what her crop tells us in the mornign and go from there. What antibiotic has she been given?