Sick or Hurt Hen

[micstrachan]

I agree it looks like Marek’s or some other neurological condition. Can you show us a picture of her bloated belly?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen. It can be difficult to diagnose a sick chicken, but you can try to do an exam on her to rule out some things. Mareks could be a possibility. You describe her crop as being full of water. Crops can be boggy at times for reasons other than a crop disorder, but she may have the early signs of sour crop. Check it first thing in the morning before she eats or drinks. Feel her lower belly between the two legs for tightness or enlargement. Internal laying or reproductive infection can cause those. Look her over for mites and lice under her vent and elsewhere. How does her comb color look today? Can you get her to eat some dry or wet feed, scrambled egg, tuna, liver, or other foods to coax her to eat? Prop her up or try making a sling for her if she will tolerate it. Does she move both of her legs now? If she should die at some point, I would try to get a necropsy by the state vet, or at least do one at home. Hopefully, this is related to an egg she laid the day before, possibly affecting a nerve in her leg.

For what it is worth, I have a hen who spent 5 weeks last winter, who could not balance, and stayed in a basket where I had to hand feed her watery food 3 times a day. Eventually, she was able to walk around again without falling, and now free ranges all over my yard. I still don’t know what her problem was, but since she has not laid eggs for years, I suspected an internal infection that put pressure on her leg nerves.

 

[HuskerHens18]

I have some pretty upsetting news. She survived the night and looked the same, not better or worse. I called the vet right after opening and the emergency vet refused to see her because she was a chicken. The farm vet is on vacation and the backup is full up on appointments until 4pm. So I take the 4pm appointment. 1pm rolls around and she takes another huge drop in health in a matter of minutes. Her beak started opening to breathe and she kept her eyes closed. I decided to rush her to the vet anyway, as I was going to lose her one way or another. Conveniently, the vet was available when I showed up but I wasnt allowed to stay. I had to do a quick explanation of what's going on, what I think it is, and what I personally think she needs. I get a call 3 minutes later about her enclosure, (pen with 1 flockmate) and they said that's the only info they needed. An hour later I get a phone call that she passed away, I was horribly upset as they sounded pretty confident during the previous call. Turns out all they did was put an Oxygen mask(??) On her and watched her die. They didn't even try to find a problem. I'm having a cheap necropsy done to see if it really was water belly or not. I probably would've been better off attempting my own drain, I just didnt want to screw up and make her suffer worse, I'd have hated myself.

I apologize for last night, I beg for help and then only respond to two messages. There was an "incident" involving trespassers and shot cattle. It was a shocking and long night, and today was stressful as well for many reasons.
I will update with what the necropsy finds, and if any other chickens fall ill. All are fine today.

Thank you all for your help and support, it means so much to me. I have requested Isa be cremated after necropsy so she'll always be with me wherever I go, just like she loved.

 

[ladybugchickenfarms]

I have some pretty upsetting news. She survived the night and looked the same, not better or worse. I called the vet right after opening and the emergency vet refused to see her because she was a chicken. The farm vet is on vacation and the backup is full up on appointments until 4pm. So I take the 4pm appointment. 1pm rolls around and she takes another huge drop in health in a matter of minutes. Her beak started opening to breathe and she kept her eyes closed. I decided to rush her to the vet anyway, as I was going to lose her one way or another. Conveniently, the vet was available when I showed up but I wasnt allowed to stay. I had to do a quick explanation of what's going on, what I think it is, and what I personally think she needs. I get a call 3 minutes later about her enclosure, (pen with 1 flockmate) and they said that's the only info they needed. An hour later I get a phone call that she passed away, I was horribly upset as they sounded pretty confident during the previous call. Turns out all they did was put an Oxygen mask(??) On her and watched her die. They didn't even try to find a problem. I'm having a cheap necropsy done to see if it really was water belly or not. I probably would've been better off attempting my own drain, I just didnt want to screw up and make her suffer worse, I'd have hated myself.

I apologize for last night, I beg for help and then only respond to two messages. There was an "incident" involving trespassers and shot cattle. It was a shocking and long night, and today was stressful as well for many reasons.
I will update with what the necropsy finds, and if any other chickens fall ill. All are fine today.

Thank you all for your help and support, it means so much to me. I have requested Isa be cremated after necropsy so she'll always be with me wherever I go, just like she loved.

I’m sorry for your loss
Hopefully the necropsy helps you figure out what was going on.

 

[HuskerHens18]

Necropsy came back earlier this evening. She had "very diseased looking lungs". They believe it was a 24hr pneumonia, but aren't positive. Because she died on Friday, they couldn't do any tests because she would've been dead too long. They don't test on weekends. I now have to keep an eye out for other sick chickens, they're very worried this was contagious.

They said they could tell she was a young healthy hen before this, her other organs looked amazing. Her body showed no signs of slowing down laying either, she still had a lot of developing eggs in her so everything in her reproduction area was healthy.
It honestly breaks my heart more.