URGENT!! Disoriented hen/acts like she can’t see/won’t move or stand/

[CarterChickens]

One of our hens has been acting weird for the last two days. She’s about 4 and we noticed yesterday when we let the flock out to free roam that she just stood in one area and looked like she was puffed up. She also has been having very runny poo almost like water. Today she has just been laying in her roosting house while the other chickens have been out free roaming. It looks like she’s disoriented when I go to check on her, she acts like she can’t see and will run into the walls of the coop. When she tries to get up and move around, she is unstable and runs into things. I’m not sure if she has been eating or drinking today, and we don’t know what to do to help her. Any advice and information would be extremely appreciated.

 

[aart]

When I have a bird that's acting off I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling. Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

Would be good if you could answer the questions here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/have-an-emergency-disease-please-read-first.3569/


Also @CarterChickens let us know....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[CarterChickens]

We’re in Louisiana, it’s been a little chilly the last few days but she’s been through the “cold snap” here before. She’s our oldest chicken, I believe about 4 and the only one acting odd. I don’t think I felt any hard or swollen areas on her but I honestly have no idea what I’m feeling for or where to feel or look. I’ve attached some photos to hopefully help my description.

 

[aart]

I don’t think I felt any hard or swollen areas on her but I honestly have no idea what I’m feeling for or where to feel or look.

She looks a bit swollen from the rear, compare how her belly feels to other birds.

 

[CarterChickens]

Ok, I have also tried to give her some food, applesauce and scrambled eggs, but she acts like she doesn’t see it and is not interested. She didn’t react at all when I stuck her beak in the applesauce

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC and sorry about your sick hen. She is molting, and that can be hard on older chickens. Has she laid eggs recently or has she stopped? Her posture looks a bit like some hens with reproductive disorders (internal laying, salpingitis, egg yolk peritonitis, or ascites.) If you can get some electrolytes with vitamins or Poultry NutriDrench into her tonight, that would be good. Liquids are most important, but you can offer chicken feed made wet with a lot of water, scrambled egg, tuna, and canned cat food. Whatever gets her eating. The vitamins can help with that. Keep her comfortable and warm enough. In the morning feel of her crop to let us know if it is empty and flat, full, hard, doughy, or puffy. Crop disorders can be on their own or related to reproductive problems.

 

[CarterChickens]

Thanks, I will. I believe she has stopped laying but I can’t be 100% sure, the last month before this weeks cold snap has been so hot and humid here we haven’t gotten much eggs from any of our four layers. Thankfully I’ll be home all day tomorrow and will be able to tend to her and keep an eye on her. I’ll have to go out in the morning and grab some supplies, vitamins and such, so hopefully we can cure whatever is wrong with her. She’s the last one out of our first group of chicks so I hope we can “fix” her.

 

[centrarchid]

Look closely at her eyes to look a pupil that is oddly shaped or where one pupil is much more open than the other. When she steps does she appear to favor one leg over the other? Has her voiced changed? Are other birds treating her like a stranger?

 

[CarterChickens]

Look closely at her eyes to look a pupil that is oddly shaped or where one pupil is much more open than the other. When she steps does she appear to favor one leg over the other? Has her voiced changed? Are other birds treating her like a stranger?

She has just been sitting in the roosting house while the other chickens go about their day doesn’t really make noise at all just sits there, that’s what she has done all day today.

 

[CarterChickens]

Update: this morning Goldie was still laying down, and now she is having a very hard time trying to get up and walk. We will be trying to get her to eat and get some sort of fluids in her. Any advice on what to give her to help or how to go about getting food and fluids in her would be extremely helpful.