Sick Hen, Loss of Appetite, Not Drinking

[Craziest Kitty]

Hi! We took in a sick hen about a week ago, before the freeze. She is a Rhode Island hen that is about 3 years old. We saw that she was acting kind of lethargic, standing, but not interested in walking around much. She has been kept separate from the other hens since then, and we have kept her warm and provided her with food and water since the beginning. We thought she would probably get worse, that it might be a reproductive issue like a stuck egg or something worse. We gave her a warm bath and watched her the first two days. She had a swollen abdomen, put no hard egg that we could feel. She never laid anything or tried to lay. So we are worried it might be something even worse like a tumor or water belly.

We have continued to care for her as best as we can. She has from the beginning not been able or willing to eat solid food. She pecked at it, but never swallowed any. She also stopped drinking after the first day. So we started supplementing with soft foods, such as her chicken feed mixed with water. She occasionally eats the soft food, but she is not nearly as hungry as a healthy hen, and once again, no water, even after we have removed the water bowl for a few hours and then reintroduced it. Sometimes we have to feed her by hand, she is definitely not herself.

But on the other hand, she is showing mild signs of improvement. She eats a bit more. A little less lethargic, moving around her cage a bit more instead of just standing in one place all day. We have added some antibiotics (fish mox) to her food the last three days to try and help her in case this is bacterial. But honestly, it doesn't seem to have helped much. Still not eating/drinking normal, and feels pretty swollen like at the beginning. And, we noted that one day we saw a single drop of blood all on its own near her poop. Most of her poop does not have blood, but one or two pieces do seem to be a dark, reddish brown. The rest is mostly normal hard droppings (we see almost none of the second more watery kind) and there is a large amount of white urates on her poop.

She's a pretty complicated case overall. Not dying, but clearly not healthy, and we may only be delaying the inevitable. But she's comfortable, eating (her crop empties normally), and not suffering that we can tell. Does anyone know what this could be? We're really having to baby her, tempting her as best as we can to eat, but it's hard. I would like to know if she has any chance at recovery. Also, could she have something contagious to the rest of the flock? She may want to be with them again, if she continues to get more perky.

 

[colt_brookstone]

Is she light and can feel her bone protruding though underneath her (between her legs)? Is her face sunken in?
Sometimes with coccidiosis they will still eat and drink and empty as normal but the parasites eat and absorb any nutrition with leads to death.

 

[Craziest Kitty]

You can feel her bone, but she is still fairly chunky. Surprisingly, I don't think she's lost too much weight. I'm just surprised she's survived this long without drinking water (her only fluids come from the water in her food).

 

[colt_brookstone]

You can feel her bone, but she is still fairly chunky. Surprisingly, I don't think she's lost too much weight. I'm just surprised she's survived this long without drinking water (her only fluids come from the water in her food).

If there isn’t any other sickly signs, I’d hope it isn’t water belly then. If you have a syringe and feel comfortable you can always insert about 1/4 or 1/2 below the vent and to the right. If a dark liquid comes out then that’s it.

 

[Craziest Kitty]

We have thought of trying that. She doesn't seem to have any symptoms that would suggest breathing problems or lack of oxygen. Maybe a mild case? But then why was there a drop of blood one day? If we can't think of anything else, maybe we should try to treat for water belly.