Subdued chicken with diarrhea, stopped laying, no appetite

[Barbara Good]

Hi all,
This is my first post so please forgive any breaches of forum etiquette - I’m trying my best! I’m looking for help with one of my chickens. She arrived in our garden about two month ago as a “stray”, refused to leave, and so we’ve been taking care of her since then. I don’t know how old she is or what breed (total chicken novice). She laid an egg a day until about a week ago, then suddenly stopped (at least, the eggs I could find, she laid them in all sorts of places). She is usually a very friendly and food motivated girl, follows me everywhere, and is insistent on coming into the house. This stopped two days ago - she put herself to bed (we normally have to take her to the coop), and hasn’t wanted to leave the coop since then. Yesterday she laid a shell-less egg, spent most of the day panting with her wings held out, or just sitting down doing nothing. She had several bouts of diarrhea and is now producing white/watery poo with larger green bits. We have a second chicken (re-homed as a companion for the first), she is currently sitting on eggs, but exhibits none of the same symptoms.
I can’t see any sign of trauma or injury. Where I think her crop is seems fine, but lower down over her breast was swollen and saggy yesterday. It seems smaller today but she hasn’t had any food for 24 hours. Two days ago I caught her eating a toad and she managed to get a tiny sip of coffee before I got to her (I know this isn’t good for her but she hopped on the table before I could stop her - she is honestly more like a small child than a chicken).
I took her to the vet yesterday who though there may be an obstruction in her crop. They gave her IV fluids and we’ve been drip feeding water since then as well. This morning they started her on a 4 day treatment of antibiotics, anti inflammatory and pain relief. She’s been isolated in a dark box for the last 24 hours. I let her out to stretch her legs, she returned to the coop and drank enormous amounts of water. Most recently she has had some pink tinged mucus / discharge around her bottom, I’ve cleaned her up and will check again for more.
I really don’t know how much of this is normal, or if what the vet is doing is the right thing, but she is just so not herself at the moment, there is definitely something wrong but I’m at a loss how to help her.
Thank you if you read this far, I hope someone can offer some advice.

 

[Perris]

hello @Barbara Good - welcome to BYC

Sorry to hear of the troubles your poor girl is having; those symptoms are beyond my ken, but perhaps @azygous or @dawg53 or @Eggcessive or @Wyorp Rock will be able to help... good luck with her.

 

[Eggcessive]

If you can post any pictures of your sick hen and droppings. How warm is it where you have her? A shell-less egg can be a sign of a reproductive problem, or a lack of calcium. Those can make the hen feel weak and lousy. Crop problems can also compound the problem. I would get some human calcium citrate or other calcium with vitamin d, and give her one orally for the next 3 days. Make sure that she gets plenty of fluids and offer some moist chicken feed and a little scrambled egg bits. What do you normally feed the hens? Continue the antibiotics, and check to see that her crop is emptying overnight. If she has a sour or bad odor from her beak if you press on her crop, and the crop is not emptying, she might be getting sour crop. Here is some reading about crop problems and treatment:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[azygous]

The toad and the coffee may be causing some of her problems, but most of the symptoms point to a double egg event. This is where two eggs travel down the oviduct in rapid succession so that neither one may get an adequate shell. This makes expelling them difficult. One almost always forms a blockage and it causes symtoms such as those you're seeing.

It's good she's already getting an antibiotic to prevent infection if the second egg has ruptured. But she also needs extra calcium to help her contractions to get the egg out. Give her one of these each day until her egg is out or you see her revert back to her normal behavior and poop.

 

[Barbara Good]

Thank you all so much for your help! We’re at the vets again this morning for the antibiotics and I’ll try to post photos when we get home. She is still very subdued, and producing lots of very watery poo, and then just sitting in it Her tail feathers are always down too. I’m not in the US so not sure I can get that exact supplement, but will try to find something suitable. She normally has a chicken mix with crushed egg shells but leftovers / wild foraged food as well.

 

[Barbara Good]

Also to add - it’s warm, around 25 degrees (Italian sun), but the coop is in the shade and the other hen isn’t showing any signs of overheating.

 

[Barbara Good]

Here’s Hei Hei - the first two photos are from Wednesday with panting / wings out. The third is earlier today, she’s eating and drinking but her tail is still down.

 

[Barbara Good]

Her crest has always been like that, since she arrived.

 

[Barbara Good]

Thank you all again for the help and advice. The vet thinks her crop is looking less swollen today but it’s still soft and squishy. I’ve had a gentle feel of her tummy and around her bottom and it doesn’t seem like there’s anything backing up, but again, total chicken novice here. I gave her an Epsom salt bath to clean the diarrhea off / soothe her bottom and it seemed as though she was flexing / pulsing her vent, but not really straining as such. I can’t see any changes around her vent, another photo (she’s bedraggled after the bath).