Sick hen can hardly hold up head and stand

[lmjordan10]

Just found my Rhode Island hen on coop floor this morning. Very weak and can hardly stand. Sometimes she drops her head to side and shuts her eyes and I thought I lost her but she came back. Won't eat or drink. She was fine yesterday. I've isolated her but am not sure what's wrong or how to help. Tried to give water with syringe but she fell to her side like she died. Finally she was ok. I'm concerned she's too far gone and hope she wasn't contagious to the rest of the flock. I have never had a sick chicken. Help!?

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you tell us how old she is? Do you have any electrolytes that you can give her or add to water? I would keep try to offer her water with a dropper or spoon, but only if she is alert enough. Remove her to a basket inside your house on a towel or paper towels to monitor her droppings and keep a close eye on her. She could be dehydrated, sick, or injured. You will need to check her crop for impaction, feel inside her vent for a stuck egg when she is stable, feel her breastbone for weight loss, loos for fullness in her lower abdomen, and look for insects around her vent or elsewhere which are lice or mites. I hope that she comes around so she can drink.

 

[lmjordan10]

She will be 2 years old in June. I have her in a cage in my garage with food and water but unfortunately had to leave her until this afternoon due to a business meeting I can't miss but will be back to check on her this afternoon and will check those things out.

 

[Eggcessive]

She really needs to drink some electrolyte water. Or you can get Poultry Cell or Poultry NutriDrench liquid at your feed store, and give her 3 ml daily by beak plus follow up with plain water. Note to see if her neck is twisted to the side or just droopy. Is there someone who could check on her? You can offer fluids by holding a spoon up to her beak, or try to drip it on the side of the beak. Let us know how she is doing later.
We are located about 1 1/2 hours from one another, I just realized.

 

[lmjordan10]

I'm home now but while I was gone I watched her on the web cam and saw her eating a little food. She's more alert and now would prefer to avoid me which is normal. She's walking around in the cage now. She just pooed and it was more like liquid. Going to try and get her to take electrolytes.

 

[Eggcessive]

A good way to get fluids into them, is to take a small amount of feed and add a lot of water and make it soupy. Has she laid eggs recently?

 

[lmjordan10]

I'm not positive when she last laid an egg. I have 28 laying hens and get an average of 22 eggs daily but yesterday got 25. Several are RI and I have a hard time telling them apart. Her vent does appear as though shes laid recently. I know they were all fine yesterday evening. She's eating and drinking on her own now but her poo isnt completely formed yet. She seems to be coming out of it quickly so I'm glad but just makes me wonder what it was. I'll keep her isolated awhile and keep an eye on her.

 

[Eggcessive]

I hope she is getting over what was wrong. Keep us posted on how she is getting along. I would check inside her vent for egg binding, and look over the things mentioned earlier. When they are roosting at night is a good time to pick them up while they are sleeping, and look them over, give them medicines, and do treatments. Most hens do not like being handled, but when they get sick, they may allow more handling.

 

[lmjordan10]

She is doing much better and laid an egg yesterday. Shes eating and drinking but still a little slower than usual so I'm keeping her in the garage so she can drink her electrolytes and the other chickens won't bother her.

 

[Eggcessive]

You may want to place her in a wire dog crate inside the coop with food and water so the others will get used to her again, and she will have company. They usually eat better when near others.