Sick Hen

[Eggofarms]

She is still surviving. Antibiotics have been stopped. Her comb is looking redder. She's still weak and has an issue keeping her balance. She is actively chasing and eating grasshoppers but not a big fan of her actual food though. Not walking as much as a penguin.

Time will tell. We let her roam outside for a few hours but still brining her in to rest.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She is still surviving. Antibiotics have been stopped. Her comb is looking redder. She's still weak and has an issue keeping her balance. She is actively chasing and eating grasshoppers but not a big fan of her actual food though. Not walking as much as a penguin.

Time will tell. We let her roam outside for a few hours but still brining her in to rest.

I'm glad she's still hanging in there.

Try to encourage her to eat her normal feed, but sometimes they go off their feed when not well.
Try offering it as a wet mash. Bits of egg, fish or tuna are often interesting to them. Melon or tomatoes seem to be enticing as well.

The balance issue may be just due to infection, but it wouldn't hurt to give her some vitamin therapy to see if they help with the problem. 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily for a couple of weeks.

Thank you for the update.

 

[Eggofarms]

She passed away this morning. She seemed to get better but steadily declined the last few days. She wasn't eating and was weak. The lash eggs stopped but that may mean she had a larger internal one.

We were going to put her down today if she didn't pass on her own.

Now one of our younger chickens has something going on with her head...geez. she may have got pecked or stung. Like a knot on the side of her head that jiggles. Always something.

 

[Eggofarms]

Any thoughts on this? We just noticed yesterday. We just got her memorial day weekend.

 

[Saveria]

I am so sorry about your hen.

With the second one, does it look like anything is crawling around? I can't tell from the photos.

 

[Eggofarms]

Thanks. She was "my" chicken. Feel like we did all we could but it was time to put her down. I guess thankfully she passed on her own. She was inside in the AC. I always hate having to "euthanize" one of our birds.

I thought it was a bite, peck or sting. I didn't see anything crawling. My wife put some petroleum jelly on the area in case it was mites or something. The other 3 (that we got with this one) seem fine. This one seems fine. At first we thought her feathers were just ruffles until closer inspection.

The new chickens are more skiddish of us then our originals so they actively avoid being picked up. It took a minute to get the 3 pics. We are going to look closer this evening. It was late in the evening when we noticed.

 

[Eggofarms]

It's definitely swollen or filled up. It flops around. I thought she was missing an eye originally but it's just the lump. She's shaking her head like it's annoying her. May have to get some more antibiotics.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She passed away this morning. She seemed to get better but steadily declined the last few days. She wasn't eating and was weak. The lash eggs stopped but that may mean she had a larger internal one.

We were going to put her down today if she didn't pass on her own.

Now one of our younger chickens has something going on with her head...geez. she may have got pecked or stung. Like a knot on the side of her head that jiggles. Always something.

Any thoughts on this? We just noticed yesterday. We just got her memorial day weekend.

I'm sorry for your loss


On the newbie, it looks like there's some scabbing/injury there. Investigate that a bit more. I'd try swabbing it with Chlorhexidine to clean it well, then apply triple antibiotic ointment. With it being jiggly, it may be filled with fluid? Hard to know.
Hopefully it will start to heal, keep us posted.

 

[Eggofarms]

Thanks. I think she got pecked. They are still working it out amongst them when it comes to the pecking order. The swelling went down and seems normal besides the slicked up hair from the Vaseline.

 

[Eggofarms]

Or it may have been granny. The last of our originals. She doesn't tolerate them pecking around "her" stuff.