Sick Hen - Help!!!

[blueundomiel]

Hi,

I have a sick hen. I haven't had hens before the two I now have so am a bit ignorant about what might be wrong with her. She does not appear to be egg bound as she laid an egg this morning. I have readd up on this on various forums. Her comb is at half mast and this started about 4 days ago. About 3 days ago she laid her usual morning egg and then I noticed during the day that she was not her usual self. She seemed to need more rest time and be less active. I went out to check on her later in the day and found her in the coop up on their deck, she had what looked like a tube coming from her vent. This appeared to be a tin shell like material that was soft to touch but had in it what looked like egg white, which the hen ate. Since then she has continued to lay (although she missed the day after that episode) but is obviously not that well as she has taken to spending time in the coop and resting. She is eating and drinking and appears not to have lost any weight. Can anyone please help me in regards to what might be wrong with her? Thanks

 

[Judy]

You really did not give us a lot of information. It does sound like she laid a shelless egg. Since she is still laying, this might not have anything to do with her problem; an occasional odd egg is not necessarily a problem.

You could have her checked for worms or try worming her, if you do not have your birds on any sort of worming program. You could check them for lice and mites, best done after dark on the roost, as not all are on the body during the day. It is possible her diet is not providing enough protein or some other nutrient. Of course, she could have an internal problem (cancer, heart, liver, etc.) that you can't really do much about. And probably other possibilities, but these may be the most common.

If you will answer the questions in this thread, we may be better able to sort through the trouble with you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3569

 

[blueundomiel]

Thanks so much ddawn.

Please see below -

1) What type of bird , age and weight - She's Rhode Island red x, approximately 7 months, not sure of weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. - She is not her usual self in that she is much more lethargic, tending to head to the roost and rest during the day which she has never done before. She's more fluffed up than usual and laid a "shelless egg", while also continuing to lay normally. I also noticed that she's finding it harder to fly up to the fence which she has never had a problem with previously, possibly due to not having enough energy.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma - No, not that I can see or feel.
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation - No idea, my other hen is going along perfectly, no problems with her and they are normally at each others side all day.
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. - She is still eating everything as normal, mixed grain, pellets, lots of worms, rice, corn, grass, whatever she finds in the garden, this sometimes includes left over dog food. And she's still drinking.
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. - Her poop appears normal, but having said that I haven't had a close look at her poop in particular, but what is there is normal.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far - No treatment apart from a little homemade yoghurt today, which she seemed to enjoy
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet - I'm happy to have medicine from the vet if required, but would prefer home remedies if possible.
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use - Their coop is a large well aired fixed structure. They sleep on a ledge that has a bed of hay and newspaper that is changed twice weekly, their run has a mix of hay and dirt on the floor.

I'm sorry, this is still not much to go on. Maybe something will come up. I'm anxious to see how she is in the morning now. I'll keep a closer eye of her to see if I can pick anything further up. I noticed straight away that something was off with her. She's my dominant hen, which I just picked up on in the last week. She's started to peck my other hen when there is good food to be had.

Thanks for you help.

 

[Judy]

The only thing I noticed is the hay and newspaper. Lots of people use hay, me included in some areas, but it can get moldy which can cause problems, and they can get into trouble (impacted crop) if they eat much of it. Some newspaper has toxins in the ink, at least in this country. These wouldn't be my first guess as the cause, just mentioning....

I think I'd start with looking after dark for mites/lice around the vent and neck, and under wings. I might read up on worming and even do a worming, too. You won't necessarily see worms in the poo, of course; a vet can do a simple test if you take some fresh poo in, though a negative test doesn't always mean there are no worms present. And do check her crop at the end of the day and in the morning, make sure it is not too hard, and make sure it is emptying during the night. Another thought is a venomous bite. If you can handle her easily, I'd look her over carefully for a sign of a bite mark. I've read on here you can give them Benadryl (diphenhydramine) which helps them, and us, deal with allergy.

Oh, the yogurt was a great idea, I'd keep that up for a while, good for them in several ways.

 

[blueundomiel]

Thank you ddawn!

She seems to be good this morning, I will worm tham and check for mites etc. I have only put the paper down once, so I won't do that again.

I filled her up with some worms yesterday and yoghurt and she seems to be a bit better today, so I'll see how she goes. Thanks for your help.

 

[ChooksChick]

I'd like to ask whether she has oyster shell available? While her diet appears as though she can adjust for extra protein if she chooses grain over pellet by free ranging, your description sounds as though they may have a high amount of grain available?

If the majority of their diet is not derived from a commercial feed and is high in mixed grains without extra calcium, the result may be a problem from lack of calcium. A dish with crushed oyster shell or the roasted shells from their own eggs for at-will use is very helpful.

She may also suffer from internal layer syndrome.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/205807.htm

Other than that, with a lack of other symptoms, there may be a hidden injury.


I have a bird with a broken pelvis who is healing but her signs of stress while injured included wheezing, panting, fallen comb, and lethargy. The fact that she was lying on her side gave it away... but a lesser injury may cause stress behaviors without obvious display of pain in a specific area.

Can you look her over REALLY carefully and see if any area gives her trouble? It could be something like a hidden injury, as they don't make a whole lot of display of pain.

Best of luck!!

 

[threehorses]

In addition to what the ladies above say, I'd also recommend giving a little vitamin D3 to her for a few days - to both gals, actually.

Calcium deficiencies can be from a lack of calcium (or overage of phosphorus - common in high-grain feed programs), or from a lack of vitamin D3 which is what helps calcium and phosphorus absorbtion.

See, think of calcium, phosphorus, and D3 as the three muscateers. They all go together and effect one another. They should be in balance.

That's why I generally recommend a diet of 95% laying pellet or laying/breeder pellet (or crumbles as an alternative to pellets), the rest of the diet can be grains (such as whole oats, cracked corn, wheat). Scratch grains are a treatt - used to encourage the birds to "scratch around" in their bedding and turn it over - or forage in the yard. Their complete feed is balanced to have enough D3 and approximately a 2:1 or 3:1 cal/phos ratio. (Actually laying hens can need even more calcium, but I trust the experts who designed the feed.)

If you give more grains, you throw off the calcium/phosphorus balance as grains are high in phos. So it's best to give them in balance. However I do like to give some grains (mainly whole oats because they're higher protein, and their hulls cleanse the digestive tract and feed the good bacteria there) for condition and interest.

Vitamin D3 is usually provided in enough a mounts in the feed. So is calcium. However during the first laying and sometimes with individual hens, more calcium is needed. That's why I also feed oyster shell and recommend that both oyster shell and granite grit are always available to birds over 5 months old. (Grit because oyster shell is too soft for the gizzard, oyster shell because grit gives no appreciable calcium.)

If more calcium is needed, it helps to give a little more D3. So I usually do this with a little treat of plain yogurt (which is fortified with vitamin D3 and has calcium as well).

While birds aren't very lactose tolerant, the living bacteria that are still present in yogurt make yogurt ok in moderation. I like no less than 1 teaspoon per adult hen when I serve it. You can give more, I wouldn't give a half cup or near that. You can do it daily, but I like weekly for new pullets, and twice a month for older ones during heavy laying.

That's my insurance policy!

With D3/calcium deficiencies (phosphorus deficiencies being quite unusual), birds will usually start by laying a softer shelled egg. Then a shell-less one. Then they stop laying eggs. If the deficiency continues, their own body scavenges their bones for calcium - causing bone loss, bone rubberiness, and their beaks and nails become soft enough to bend.

Many hens get stuck at the soft shelled egg stage and start to prolapse, etc. So we just don't even want to let them get to that point.

Lethargy is part of the syndrome, and she's at a stage where she's really just starting so my first recommendation would be adjust the diet. It should correct things rather quickly.

If you REALLY want to hedge your bets, you can crush a half of a tums tablet into a powder, mix with water, and then mix that with some crumbles til damp to make a quickly eaten treat. That might be a good idea but yogurt honestly should help. I'd give that daily this week, and then weekly thereafter until she's a pro.

I hope this helps in addition to the other posts. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. My email is in my signature.

 

[blueundomiel]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your detailed replies. My hen is better today, I have been watching her carefully the last couple of days. I gave her the little bit of yoghurt and fed her some cruched calcium and a bit of mince to up her protein. Her energy is back to normal now. Her comb is still fallen and her poop appears to be a bit off due to the fact that she has a lot around her vent at the moment.

The pellets that I feed her are a laying pellet that I get from my local co-op, I also get the mixed grain that has the cracked corn, millet etc. I have been mixing these two at a 50:50 ratio, so obviously from what you have said Nathalie, I need to reduce this ratio and give the grain as more of a treat?

I'll give the yoghurt as a weekly treat and just let them scractch around the yard as normal. I'll get some worming tablets and some crushed grit for them today. Hopefully all this will put her back in balance. She is being her usual naughty self today and jumping fences, so I think she is on the mend, which is great news.

You know I read the books on how to raise chickens but it really helps so much more in this format, from people who are actually doing all the hard work and going through similar issues, so thanks again.

Rachael

 

[threehorses]

Rachael, I'm glad to hear that your girl is feeling feisty today! That's always a good sign.

On the cracked corn and millet, yes - I'd move that back to 10% or less. Around here, "scratch" is cracked corn, millet, and wheat. So it's the same thing basically. But I do believe in some grains for condition. So definitely keep some in.

I'd love to know how she does, please.

You know, last thought - definitely check for mites and lice on her - at night, when she's on the roost. Sometimes pasty vent will indicate that (particularly if her vent is reddened). It's worth ruling out.