sick hen! anyone know whats wrong?

[hchorselover]

Today when we where letting the chicken out I noticed that one of them was still sitting on the roost. When I picked her up she didn't struggle which is weird for her. And when I sat down with her she didn't want to move in fact she almost feel asleep, she didn't want to go and peck the grass, and she went to bed at 7:00 (before the sun went down). also when I was looking at her I noticed that her comb looked faded or pale and she had diarrhea. Does anyone know what's wrong with her?

 

[DaniLovesChickens]

Do you have a plastic or metal waterer? If you have plastic, then I would put some apple cider vinegar in the water - 1 tablespoon per gallon. It's supposed to provide the proper environment for the right bacteria in their crops.

Has it been really hot there? Does she feel like she has a fever? How old is she? Anything else at all that you can think of?

It sounds similar to a problem that I had with one of my hens by I never did figure out what was going on with her.

I did the vinegar thing just to see if it would help and she got better. She's an older hen that has had other health probs in the past.

Hopefully someone else will be of more help than I have been! Good luck.

 

[hchorselover]

thanks for the help I will try the cider stuff in their water tomorrow. I don't know how old she is but she just started laying. Actually it has been really cool out here bacause it has been rainig for almost a week

 

[DaniLovesChickens]

Ok. I just know that older hens are more susceptible to...everything. We finally got a little bit of rain yesterday, rain for a whole week would be great! Again, some breeds, but I think some individuals as well are bothered by the heat more. If she just started laying then even if it was hot that really shouldn't be a problem.

I would just start with the vinegar, try to move her away from the others if you can. If it is contagious you want to move her away asap. Even if it's not, you don't want her to get picked on and rest should help anything. Try to observe anything else about her that you can. Like I said, hopefully someone else will have some idea as to what could be going on.

 

[CMcgraw]

I have a hen with the same symptoms. She is crazy-infested with Northern Fowl Mites. The were sucking her dry. Turn your hen over and look through the feathers around her vent. You might see the little buggers crawling on her skin and she would have some scabs around her vent. If so, dust her immediately with permethrin or seven, keep her separated, give her a couple drops of poly vi sol each day and some clear pedialyte. Entice her to eat yogurt or scrambled egg. If she won't drink, force her with a syringe. Duat the rest of the flock, scrum your coop, spread seven in the clean coop and add fresh bedding, Retreat weekly for next 3-4 weeks to break the cycle of mite eggs hatching. Hope this helps, and that it is this easy to fix!

PS there is a great link on this site to all the different normal variations in chicken poo. If I can find it again, I will post it.

 

[RedRoosterFarm]

I lost a polish this morning from Northern Fowl Mites. She was skinny as a tooth pick and the critters were all over her like fleas. I just got done dusting every chicken in my indoor coops. over 200. What a pain! Tomorrow we get the outside ones.
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