Urgent! Skinny, lethargic hen, drinking a lot of water.

[Ederle]

I have a 3-year old bantam, Esmeralda, who has been losing a lot of weight recently. I noticed this weight loss about ten days ago, and so I gave her Valbazen, assuming that worms were the problem. She was acting fine, just thin--the only odd behavior that I noticed was that she was drinking a ton of water. No signs of worms in her poop.

Fast forward to Monday, she started acting lethargic. She didn't want to eat blueberries (her favorite) but when I offered her some cooked egg she ate it with some enthusiasm. I gave her electrolytes and probiotics, but she didn't really improve. The next day she was acting the same, and I dewormed her again, this time with Wazine. Now, 24 hours later, she is still lethargic. She drinks A LOT but doesn't want to eat, no matter what I offer her. I have been regularly giving her electrolytes and probiotics through a syringe.

TL;DR:

-Three years old, Old English game bantam

-She does not seem to have an impacted/sour crop, it is large in the evening and small in the morning, and her breath is not foul.

-Her poop is basically water with a little bit of brown and white stuff in it, nothing solid. I have cleaned her vent thrice now, it keeps getting dirty.

-She has not laid an egg in about a week and a half

-Most of the time she stands up with her head tucked in and her eyes closed.

-She is very thin. She ate yesterday but refuses food today.

-She is very thirsty, and has been drinking a lot of water, to the point that she throws up sometimes (when she bends down, the water comes back up).

-I have been giving her cooked egg, electrolytes, and probiotics daily. She also ate some cat food.

What do I do? I've dewormed her twice recently, and I also dewormed the entire flock in September (with Valbazen). I have not seen worms expelled in any droppings. She is breathing just fine, no wheezing or anything, no discharge. She is just lethargic, very thin, and her droppings are very runny. She wanted to eat yesterday and the day before, but not today. At this point I have no clue what my options are, other than putting her down. If it's not worms, what is it? All of my other hens seem fine, no signs of illness whatsoever.

 

[Ederle]

Anybody?

 

[Rae T]

I have a Silke going through the same thing. She's gotten steadily worse over the course of 2 days. She's weak, drinking a lot of water, shaking her head a bit. I don't think she's egg bound. Give looked everywhere and found that people have seen the same symptoms but no one has answers...she's about 7 years old, so I thought it was just age, but others have described it in younger birds. It's horrible and I have no idea what to do.

 

[Ederle]

I'm sorry that you have to go through this with your hen

After some examination, I did notice that my girl seems to have a spongy abdomen, but it doesn't feel like it is filled with fluid or anything, and it isn't swollen... I just don't know what to do at this point.

 

[Rae T]

Thanks, please let me know how yours is doing. My girl died last night when I was out checking on her. The rest of my flock looks fine, so I'm praying it was just old age. She was the sweetest hen, I wish I could have done something for her.

 

[Ederle]

I'm sorry. She was very lucky to have you as her owner...seven years is a long life for a chicken, and I'm sure it was a happy one. If none of your other hens seem ill, then it's probably just an old age thing, I would think. My hens had coccidia once, which is contagious, and they all started showing obvious symptoms at the same time.

One possibility I came up with while researching is kidney or liver failure, although it doesn't match the symptoms exactly.

As for Esmeralda, she seems like she's improving a bit...although I say that with caution, because you never know. I still can't figure out what's wrong with her for sure, but she does seem a little bit perkier than she was yesterday. I was honestly afraid she wouldn't make it through the night, I was fully expecting to find her dead this morning. So I'm crossing my fingers that she'll continue to improve.