Suggestions for Lethargic Hen?

[BuddingGardener]

@Seaslug totally happened with my Easter Egger last year. She acted like she was dying for a day then dropped all her feathers overnight. We'll watch her again tomorrow morning and see how she's doing, but it sure is a relief to see her eating and drinking again!

 

[BuddingGardener]

Update: Got ahold of the vet! She had an elevated white blood cell count while on the amoxicillin, so we are going to try switching to a different antibiotic. My chicken is having good and bad days, she's up and down. She did start molting the day she refused food and water, and now she's back to acting more normal. Most of the time she looks good but occasionally she passes thick blood clots in her poop, I'd say about once every couple of days. Her fecal results were completely normal so there are no parasites involved.

Hopefully the new antibiotic will give her the final push toward improvement, but if there's still issues going on we will re-do the x-ray.

EDIT: The antibiotic is sulfa-trim 1 ml twice per day, which she was on the last time she had an inflammation/infection problem and it helped her then. Fingers crossed that this'll knock out what's bothering her!

 

[Seaslug]

I'm hoping it isn't reproductive and hope things start to improve and stay improved.

 

[BuddingGardener]

I'm hoping it isn't reproductive and hope things start to improve and stay improved.

Gosh, same. I'd like her system to rest and heal up while she's molting. She passed a larger clot with fresh blood overnight in the coop, but she behaved normally throughout the day. I'd love to see the bleeding stop with some time on the sulfa meds. She is definitely on the early side of a hard molt, so I'm thankful she shouldn't be trying to lay any eggs anytime soon; she could use the rest. I'm just telling myself that we're doing what we can to keep her comfortable and help her out, and whatever happens from here, she's getting the best care we can provide for her.

 

[BuddingGardener]

I thought I'd update on how my hen is doing!

The Sulfa-Trim appears to be doing the trick. Within a day after starting, the bleeding in her stool started to taper off to discolored brownish-orange mucus, then completely disappeared by day 3. She is now behaving totally normally... and in an extremely heavy molt.

We're very pleased that she's hanging in there and we'll keep an eye on her when the seasons shift back towards longer days in the spring. She had some troubles when she started laying again last year, so I'm bracing myself for something similar this year. For now, all is looking much better, and I'm thankful.

 

[Seaslug]

That is wonderful to hear. She is looking good. I hope you and your husband are doing okay as well.

 

[BuddingGardener]

That is wonderful to hear. She is looking good. I hope you and your husband are doing okay as well.

Thank you very much. We're doing better, it was a stressful month but we're coming out the other side. I appreciate the well wishes through this, and I hope the upcoming holiday season is a good one for you!