Sick Hen, need help with symptoms, disease, prognosis?

[bockbock720]

I have three Red Star hens, 2 of which are very strong and healthy. My third is not doing well, she is heavy, lower to the ground and slow on her feet, she cannot get up on her perch at night and the thing I've noticed is her feet have turned very pink. She is still waddling around, still eating and trying her best to keep up with her sisters but she is noticeably not well. She is of course, not laying but cannot even get up in the nesting box, where she was sleeping at night, after she stopped perching. Her comb, which is a little floppy to begin with, seems more droopy and very dark in color. Last year she did have sour crop, which I treated successfully but she is the most fragile of my girls. I have tried diatomaceous earth in their diet, in case it was something parasitic that I could flush out of her, but no change. Can anyone enlighten me here? My biggest concern is how much discomfort and/or pain she might be going through...

 

[Eggcessive]

How old is she? Can you pick her up and feel for weight loss, a prominent breastbone, or any fullness in how lower belly? Some laying hens may develop reproductive disorders such as internal laying, egg yolk peritonits, fluid in the belly from liver or heart failure, and crop problems that could be related to any of those. Most of the time we can only make them comfortable, offer them foods they like (chopped egg, wet chicken feed,) and put them down when they appear to suffer. If you have a vet that could examine her, test her poop for parasites, that might help, since worms or coxcidiosis can be treated. When I lose a hen, I will do a necropsy to look for a cause of death. You state vet may perform one as well, if you promptly refrigerate the body.