sick hen, help please

[jem5803]

Hello everyone, my 11 month old silkie hen is not doing well. She has not laid an egg for two weeks and is very lethargic and antisocial. She is eating and drinking and her poop looked normal, but she is losing weight. Last night I did massage her crop thinking that that my be the issue. Her eyes look bright but I did take notice that she is loosing feathers. Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh I did for get to mention the lethargic and antisocial started about 4 days ago, since then I have been adding probiotic and electrolytes to the water.

thanks for any help you can give me

 

[ChickieAnnD]

In the evening pick up your hen and look under her tail around her vent. Use a flash light and look quickly, she may be bothered by mites. If she is you will see them running from the light. You may want to turn off the flashlight and wait a couple of minutes and look again as they move very fast. When I've had this problem I put diatomaceus (sp) earth in the dusting area. to get quick relief for her you may want to dust around her vent and under the wings in the 'armpit' area. Only do this once as the diatoms are effective because the tiny skeletons are sharp and over time will scratch her.
Don't feel that you have done anything wrong if your hen does have these mites as they can be picked up from wild birds.

 

[jem5803]

thank you so much, I work second shift so when I get home to night I will check her, even if I don't see them I just may get diatomaceus (sp) earth so put in the coop. We have had a lot of rain and humid weather lately and it would not hurt to try and be proactive.

 

[Eggcessive]

Hello everyone, my 11 month old silkie hen is not doing well. She has not laid an egg for two weeks and is very lethargic and antisocial. She is eating and drinking and her poop looked normal, but she is losing weight. Last night I did massage her crop thinking that that my be the issue. Her eyes look bright but I did take notice that she is loosing feathers. Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh I did for get to mention the lethargic and antisocial started about 4 days ago, since then I have been adding probiotic and electrolytes to the water.

thanks for any help you can give me

What does her crop feel like now? Is it full and squishy or full and hard, or empty? She may have worms or a mite infestation. Mites move very slowly, not fast as lice do. DE is not going to do the job if there is an infestation. Permethrin (Garden and Poultry Dust) or 5% Sevin dust will work, and the coop and nest boxes must be cleaned and sprayed with Permectrin II, which is permethrin, or Ravap. DE may help to keep things dry, and but won't kill mites. If you are in the US, Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid would be good for worming, and in the UK and other countries Flubenvet or levamisole would be good to get most chicken worms. What do her droppings look like?

 

[jem5803]

last night we brought her down to the house and placed her in a dog crate. After 15 hours of not having food just water her crop is very hard and large. I am thinking that she has a blockage or sour crop. Any ideal? All suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Should I message her crop? How long should I keep her from food? Again thank you for your help

 

[jem5803]

she has not gotten any better over that past few days. she is all skin and bones no fat on her and now she just lays there. I made the decision to let her rest tonight. Thank you to everyone that has given me their advise.

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hadn't noticed your last 2 posts until just now. Sorry that no one responded to your posts.