This chicken has been standing in the same place for at least and hour to an hour and a half what is

[ChickenLover200]

so i heard about that old wives tale that when chickens go on flat surfaces they can't walk they get temporarily paralyzed well it is not true (i think)
well the new problem is i have a barred rock here that has been standing in the same place for at least an hour... what is wrong with her?
She looks healthy to me but i did notice some white on her eye lids because she acts like she is sleepy is that normal to have white on their eye lids?
The comb looks normal and she has her chest soaked with water she has been drinking a lot and before she stood still she ate a little bit... here is a picture of her... What is wrong? (i don't know if i could take finding a dead chicken because the last time i thought something was wrong with a chicken and didn't do anything about it i found her dead that night so please help)
Picture: (this is where she has been standing for the past hour - hour and a half

below: when my mom rubbed her back her eyes closed like she was falling asleep... see the white on her eye lids.. is that normal?
(by the way my mom is not pinching her she is rubbing her but it does really look like she is pinching her

)

 

[cafarmgirl]

Well she definitely looks off. It's not normal for them to sit around with their eyes shut like that, especially when being handled. Check her crop, see if emptied over night, maybe she's impacted? Unfortunately there's a whole list of possible things that could be wrong and we need a lot more info about her.

Other then the checking the crop is she pooping and does it look normal? How old is this bird and is she laying regularly? Has she been checked carefully for lice/mites? Has she been on a regular deworming program? Any new birds added to the flock recently? Check her body all over, does she feel like she's lost weight or do you feel any abnormal swelling of the lower abdomen? Lots of questions, I know, but it will give us someplace to start to try to figure her out.

Check all those things and let us know what you find out.

 

[ChickenLover200]

Well she definitely looks off. It's not normal for them to sit around with their eyes shut like that, especially when being handled. Check her crop, see if emptied over night, maybe she's impacted? what does that mean?

Unfortunately there's a whole list of possible things that could be wrong and we need a lot more info about her.

Other then the checking the crop is she pooping and does it look normal?
my mom thought that her crop felt swollen or larger than usual


How old is this bird and is she laying regularly?

she has been laying regularly and she is about a year and a half old

Has she been checked carefully for lice/mites?

no lice and mites that i know of

Has she been on a regular deworming program?

we never deworm our chickens

Any new birds added to the flock recently?

no the last chickens added to the flock was about 4 months ago

Check her body all over, does she feel like she's lost weight or do you feel any abnormal swelling of the lower abdomen?
i didn't really pick her up because she acted like she was touchy...

Lots of questions, I know, but it will give us someplace to start to try to figure her out.

Check all those things and let us know what you find out.

it's ok with all the questions even though some i don't really know but thanks and please let me know as soon as possible what is wrong! also one more thing is she has been being pecked on lately and has a bald back and my mom thinks it is sun burnt could that have anything to do with it? but there is another hen that is a little worse than her with being brutally beat but she is fine...

 

[cafarmgirl]

Well I wish I could tell you what is wrong with her but many times chickens illnesses are obscure and all we can do is start treating what might be the most likely causes and go from there.

Here is what I would do, someone else might post some more ideas:

I would check her crop first thing tomorrow morning and see if it emptied overnight. If not then she has impacted or sour crop. That is not something I've ever encountered, even after years of chicken keeping so I'm not very well versed on it's treatment. I think most people administer some olive oil and gently massage the crop to help soften and break it up and see if the hen can pass it on her own. But first things first, see how that crop is first thing tomorrow morning. Sometimes there is a fungal infection that will either cause or result from impacted crop that requires treatment with antifungal meds.

Check her backside and see if it looks like she's had diarrhea or runny poops, if there's any stuck to her. Whether or not a chicken is pooping normal is a good indicator of what's going on.

Unless blood has been drawn by whoever is doing the pecking in your flock, and resulting in an infection, that should not be causing these symptoms. But it's not a good thing either. I'd pay close attention for a few days to who is doing this pecking and either pull that bird out for a week or so or get rid of it. Make sure your chickens have plenty of space so you can avoid ongoing pecking/behavioral issues.

It would be a very good idea to deworm all of them. Parasites can build up to a heavy load in chickens, they do a lot of internal damage to a chicken and can even cause blockages in their gut. I'd suggest using Valbazen since it works slowly over a period of days, therefore you won't get a big worm kill off all at once which can be toxic to the birds or can result in blockage.

As far as the new birds added four months ago...are all them healthy? Are any other birds in your flock showing any symptoms at all of being not quite right? Coccidiosis is always something to watch for when new birds have been added to the flock and the existing birds possibly exposed to a strain they are not immune to.

You might want to bring this bird in or keep her in a hospital cage so you can observe how much she eats/drinks/poops and then it will be easy to check that crop in the morning. If she doesn't seem to be drinking much you can give her water with a needless syringe or an eye dropper, go slow and careful so she doesn't aspirate it. Some electrolytes like Save-A-Chick in the water will help.

As far as treatment...you'll have to decide where you want to start. If her crop is emptying normally it might not be a bad idea to run a course of Corid just to rule out the possibility of coccidiosis since it can kill fast. After that give some vitamins and probiotic's and see how she is. I would deworm them after the Corid treatment as well. At that point, if she's still poorly you may have to consider if she might have some kind of infection and maybe give her some antibiotic's.

These are some things you can try. Sometimes all we can do is give it a shot and see if we can help. Short of going to a vet and spending a lot of $$$ to try to get a diagnosis. But be prepared that no matter what you do she may die anyway. Chickens hide their illness very, very will and by the time they are sick enough to show obvious symptoms they are very sick indeed.

 

[ChickenLover200]

I can't really separate her from the others because i have no where to put her..
and as for the pecking issue they haven't pecked on each other lately it was like a stage or something..
also the new birds are healthy but there were 4 that died in a period of time after we got them from being egg bound and dehydration thanks for all your help and i hope she will come through ok

 

[ChickenLover200]

She died last night...

 

[ten chicks]

She died last night...

My condolences,very heartbreaking when a pet dies.

 

[ChickenLover200]

It was the crop impacting

 

[casportpony]

It was the crop impacting

Probably not... When they start to die the organs shut down and the crop doesn't empty.

-Kathy

 

[cafarmgirl]

Sorry you lost her. Sometimes there just isn't time to figure out what the problem is.