- Jul 5, 2011
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I have a Buckeye hen that is lethargic and very skinny. During the rare times she walks in the coop, she uses her wings to brace herself. I don't see any injuries on her feet or legs though. She holds her tail at a downward angle. She isn't sneezing or weezing, but her whole body moves when she breathes. Sometimes this is more noticeable than other times. She has poo caked on her backside, where she doesn't get up to relieve herself. We have two other chickens who are giving us about two total eggs per day right now, but the sick hen has not been laying. She is eating and drinking, but I don't know how much. I have been hand feeding her some layer pellets and bringing a water bowl to her, just to be safe. She picks through the pellets though, and won't eat the oyster shells that are mixed in. I have added a small amount of oyster shell to her water, so that she would end up drinking some of the dust (is that a bad idea?). I have also been going around trying to find earthworms for her, and I bring her grass. She loves the worms. Today I noticed that she was only opening her eyes about half way. That could have been, I assume, because it was starting to rain though, and I had the coop door open. I've included pics of her that I took today. I'm not sure if they will help determine what's wrong with her or not.
What should I do for her? Also, can I clean the poo off of her without stressing her out too much? All of the chickens are fairly tame. I am a college student who lives at home, but I haven't been the chickens' primary care provider. From now on thought, I am going to take care of them. The general consensus from those family members taking care of her was to let her die. The others feel a little skinny as well, though not as bad as her, so I don't think they have been taking care of them properly. In fact, when I found the sick hen, she was laying in her waterer, unable to even get up, during a snow storm. This was on Sunday. I took her inside to eat, dry off and warm up, and she seemed some better by the next day. The next day it warmed up considerably, so we put her back into the coop. The other chickens don't seem to be bothering her.
Could parasites cause this? I don't think they have been wormed. What wormer is best? I have some food-grade dicotamaceous earth, but it didn't work for my dog, so I assume it won't work for the chickens either? If you haven't been able to tell by now, I know next to nothing about chickens. I feel like this is a lot to deal with all at once. It would be a lot to deal with even if they were healthy, because I am the type of person who researches things like this so that the animals can be cared for PROPERLY. I will not put my own laziness before the welfare of the animals like some certain family members of mine did.
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