Sick or injured hen

[julzspirit]

Hi. I just now joined because I have a 2 year old Buckeye hen that suddenly started refusing to leave the run about 3 days ago. She isn't walking or standing, but flapping to travel short distances. She has also stopped laying, which is to be expected, given the circumstances. Neither I nor my husband can feel any obvious injuries. Her poop is greenish, though at first her malarkey was yellow. We thought nothing of it at the time. We have isolated her to a box in the house with fresh food and water, for constant observation (the other hens and the roo bothered her, and our brood coops have babies at the moment). We have a small flock, 1 roo and 14 hens, plus the 11 chicks. She is eating and drinking very little, and her disposition has become mostly passive, but also sometimes doesn't want to be touched. I put her in the garden with me this morning and she didn't do a dust bath or scratch or eat. As I mentioned, we feel nothing to suggest being egg bound or broken bones. We are thinking maybe internal injuries? Or a sprain? The roo has his favorites and sometimes won't leave them be. We had a similar issue with a hen a year or so ago, and the other hens pecked her bloody and would likely have killed her. But she walked like a penguin, back straight and head up and waddling. This one lays down and flaps. Does anyone have any information and suggestions? We love our henny-pennys, and I go to rather silly lengths to keep them safe and healthy. (As in keeping the last one in the house for 4 months, until she was walking normal, could defend herself, and chose to rejoin the flock. I know, over the top!) So anybody, please help? Thanks so much!

 

[julzspirit]

Hi, again. My name is Julia and I am new to this forum. I posted my problem yesterday and have had no feedback. So here is an update, and would be grateful for any advice and feedback. After reading through many of your posts of problems and possible solutions, today I gave Beebee a bath in Epson salts, and checked her wings, legs, feet and abdomen. She doesn't really appear to be injured or in pain, though she seems a bit sensitive on her left side. That may also be where or how I picked her up, or that she was just plain displeased. She tolerated the bath well and allowed me to hold her on my lap to dry her and while she had a bit of shivers. I noticed, though, that her vent seemed slightly swollen - but what do I know of the size of a hen's vent! I've only really ever seen it when they poop. Thanks for any help.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry that it took a couple of posts to get an answer. She may well have a sprain or other injury, but it sounds like she could have something similar to your previous hen that sounded like she may have had internal laying or egg yolk peritonitis. There is not a lot that can be done for reproductive disorders. I would keep her in her box with food and water, and add some poultry vitamins and minerals to her feed or water. Think about worming her with Valbazen, SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer, or getting a sample of her droppings checked by a vet. With chickens, a lot of things may have to be ruled out before coming up with a diagnosis. If possible a vet may help a lot. If her appetite is not good, try adding water to her feed, and offer some egg and tuna, plus some plain yogurt for probiotics.

 

[julzspirit]

Thank you, Eggcessive. We are grateful for your input. My husband & I were just talking about yogurt, and possibly Pedialyte, which we did with a few of our first and second dozens of peeps. A few were bound up, but we only lost 1, so it worked. Beebee was tired from our bathing adventure and the heat, drank a little and slept much of the afternoon. She seems more alert again this evening. (She was quite alert outside this afternoon when a brown thrasher was going through its repertoire, with one call soundin like a bird of prey!) We do have a very good vet here; he studied poultry science at Auburn. Thw last time this happened, he said she was the most docile chicken he'd ever seen. Hopefully we won'the need to be seeing him, but glad he's here. We will be picking up yogurt tomorrow. I will keep you apprised of her health progress. This is only our third year raising chickens, and I see from some of the threads that we have been lucky indeed! Thanks so.much for your advice.

 

[julzspirit]

Oh and by the way, is yellow malarkey normal or common?

 

[Eggcessive]

Yellow brown droppings can be normal, but if you see bright yellow sulfur colored it can be a sign of E.coli infection, common in egg yolk peritonitis. With light yellow that looks like cooked egg, that can be a sign of internal laying. Pictures can always be helpful.

 

[julzspirit]

That is very helpful. No pics, I only coincidentally noticed and now her poop is basically green. Well a yellowish green. I think I will give her another Epsom salt bath tomorrow, and if I notice it looking like that again I will get a picture. So if it is the peritonitis, is a visit to the vet for antibiotics in order?

 

[ellenscoop]

Not to alarm you but green colored droppings is usually indicative of liver damage, resulting from increased excretion of biliverdin. Have you tried out PoultryDVM's symptom checker tool yet?

 

[julzspirit]

No, honestly didn't know ow it existed. Consider me marginally alarmed. Only a little, but resigned as well. I will look at it. Much as I hate to even think it, these things are bound to happen. I would much prefer my hens not suffer, though would prefer more that they not get sick. So I will do whatever possible to keep them healthy, and failing that, comfortable and not suffering. Thanks for all your info and help. Much appreciated.

 

[Outpost JWB]

There is a "poop chart" created by The Chicken Chick. I tried to copy /paste it here for you, but I'm not able to. The chart shows what is normal and indicates possible problems with abnormal poop. Please keep us posted and good luck.