Sick Hen(s)

[mstakes]

I have four 2-year old hens. They have all been good layers. Since last fall only one hen is laying. Three have not laid a single egg since October.

One hen (RIR, or production red) is visibly ill. She waddles and moves slowly. She has been this way for a number of months. She has bright green poop and quite a mess on her feathers near her vent. We have treated them with Corid, but she remains ill, and she, and the other 2 don’t lay. The fourth lays nearly daily.

Layer pellets and clean water are always available. They live in a house with a big run. They free range the backyard for an hour or two every evening. Any suggestions?

 

[littlefarmgirl9]

My first thought reading this was peritonitis, because of the lack of egg production. Green or discolored poop is common with this, too. However, if your sick hen has been slow-moving and visibly ill for months, there is probably some chronic disease or cancer that she has. I doubt there’s much you can do for any of this. Simply helping to ease her discomfort is your best option.
As for the other two, I think maybe a change in diet is in order. Three out of four hens not laying is not just a coincidence, especially if two of them aren’t showing any other symptoms of illness. More protein, maybe? Chickens need about 15 to 20 percent of their feed to be protein. Further research on feed composition may be in order.
Examine your sick hen’s crop. I lost a chicken to reproductive cancer (I think), and she had a history of sour crop and bouts of lethargy. Her poop was watery and mostly urates toward the end, with a dark greenish tinge to the solid material. If your hen’s crop is full in the morning, she may have sour crop as a side effect of peritonitis—or perhaps some sort of kidney malfunction, which would explain the green poop.
Sorry I couldn’t be more conclusive. These chickens are tough to figure out sometimes!