SOS - Lethargic hen with greenish poop and not eating/drinking

[Fintechie]

Update - I found her sitting on the roost this morning. First 3 pictures below.
Crop: empty (but didn’t eat yesterday other than injected 15ml liquid);
Examined : doesn’t seem to have egg bound. Hubby used hand in glove to trace back internally; found nothing hard reachable in or near the tract. Only a bit yellow spats on the glove(fingers). He used to be a doctor (for human) and checked twice.
Feed: injected 20+ML liquid (hydration), 300mg calcium and one pill of multi vitamin. She didn’t like any intake.
Bath: 30-min epsom salt warm bath with massaging her soft part(belly and rear); then I did not feel any hard object inside(originally thought I did). She seemed enjoying both the bath and blow drying.
Now she is tired and seems weaker. Back in her own coop. Last 2 pictures.

 

[Fintechie]

Probably worth to mention- she used to eat a lot and has a big crop. But never any foul smell. Not sure possible a sour crop before? But she ate mostly the crumble layer feed, not a big fan of others.

Her tail feathers do seem a bit ragged. But that part never really molted throughout the year. And yes a bit molting is going on now.

During bath I checked carefully- She is clean, no bugs (lice or other) found on her.

I will put out some scrambled eggs and crumbles and water for her.

Still trying to convince hubby to tube feed her. He worried that she could get hurt if we can’t do it right.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Here's how to crop feed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

@HeatherKellyB or @Overo Mare may be able to offer some tips on tubing, both have a lot of experience.

She may have some reproductive issues going on usually this seems to be the cause of decline I've seen in my hens. Sometimes a hen rally, other times they continue to decline.
Giving supportive care like you are doing is what I do.

 

[Fintechie]

Here's how to crop feed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

@HeatherKellyB or @Overo Mare may be able to offer some tips on tubing, both have a lot of experience.

She may have some reproductive issues going on usually this seems to be the cause of decline I've seen in my hens. Sometimes a hen rally, other times they continue to decline.
Giving supportive care like you are doing is what I do.

Thank you so much for the timely response. What are the possible reproductive issues? Tried to look up online. Hope some of them can live with like us human ladies. How do I know when is a point of no-return? My BO is a wise grandma in the flock, only one in fact. So I assume she knows what she is doing. I hate to see her suffering including force feeding her…

 

[APK]

I wouldn't recommend tube feeding because you can drown the bird or aspirate food into the lungs. Best approach is prepare an electrolyte with water and pinch of sugar and even smaller amount of salt, and give it to her with an oral syringe. Don't hold the beak open and squirt in a lot as that can go into the lungs, just drip it in a little at a time in her mouth and let her swallow it. Keep her hydrated with electrolytes and let her eat the solid food on her own.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much for the timely response. What are the possible reproductive issues? Tried to look up online. Hope some of them can live with like us human ladies. How do I know when is a point of no-return? My BO is a wise grandma in the flock, only one in fact. So I assume she knows what she is doing. I hate to see her suffering including force feeding her…

Laying hens can suffer from a number of reproductive disorders like Cancer, Salpingitis, Egg Yolk Peritonitis, Internal Laying, etc. Any of these can show up as similar symptoms so it's very hard to put a "name" to the condition unless they die and the internals are inspected.

Knowing when it's time. If they are more of a "pet", then I offer supportive care (fluids, food, vitamins, etc. Antibiotics, deworming or other medications as I feel may be beneficial, but it's rare that I give antibiotics. I do give a hen a few days to see if they will rally, but if they don't and I feel they are suffering, then I put them down. It's never easy to let them go, but as the years go by, it does become easier to i.d. a hen that needs more time and one that does not.

Tubing is safer than syringing, you will be able to actually feel the tube in the esophagus leading into crop. With syringing you are basically just squirting fluids into the beak and hoping the hen will swallow. With either, there can be risk of aspiration.

 

[Fintechie]

We just gave another batch of syringe feed of electrolytes and med (which I will stop going forward). She doesn’t seem feeling well. I think I need to prepare for plan B. How does make it less painful for she to go? I read somewhere that a certain position that chicken will just lose consciousness and doesn’t feel pain or fear…

 

[Fintechie]

She had not touched the food (scrambled egg, corn or crumbles feed) at all. Can’t tell if touched water, seemed not either. Thus the syringe feed. I hope I didn’t inadvertently make her feel worse

 

[Fintechie]

Just to update - My BO was gone around 6pm. We didn't see what happened. But it seems that she either choked on food or her own vomit and suffocated.

I put out a plate of bits of rib-eye steak (raw) and a few small grapes around 5pm to replace the plate of scrambled egg, crumbles feed and cracked corns, which she didn't touch. Both are small plates. I stayed a bit when she tried to pick up a grape but dropped. So I left that. It looked that she ate most of 2nd plate. Not sure what made her to eat because she hadn't eaten on her own since early yesterday.

I felt so much guilt now because I felt my action of syringe feeding and 2nd plate may have caused her death. Wonder if she could've survived this without my intervention. Haven't cried this much for a long time. I really loved her. Hubby is burying her in the yard. May she rest in peace and look over her playmates and her broods.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Just to update - My BO was gone around 6pm. We didn't see what happened. But it seems that she either choked on food or her own vomit and suffocated.

I put out a plate of bits of rib-eye steak (raw) and a few small grapes around 5pm to replace the plate of scrambled egg, crumbles feed and cracked corns, which she didn't touch. Both are small plates. I stayed a bit when she tried to pick up a grape but dropped. So I left that. It looked that she ate most of 2nd plate. Not sure what made her to eat because she hadn't eaten on her own since early yesterday.

I felt so much guilt now because I felt my action of syringe feeding and 2nd plate may have caused her death. Wonder if she could've survived this without my intervention. Haven't cried this much for a long time. I really loved her. Hubby is burying her in the yard. May she rest in peace and look over her playmates and her broods.

I'm very sorry to hear she died.

You did what you could for her. Sometimes they go downhill quickly.

I don't think you did anything wrong. Contents of the crop can easily spill out during the last throws of life making it look like that was the problem.
With her darkened comb and your description, likely she was suffering from organ failure and/or reproductive problems. Without examining the internals, these are only guesses.

They are so easy to love that's for sure. I had a special BO named Lucy that was very dear to me, it was hard to let her go.