Very ill chicken?

[SammyG868]

Hello, I am very worried about my chicken. She has been very lethargic and slow for a few days now. I've done a general check to see if it's a crop(?) problem and her crop(?) isn't hard but she also doesn't through up(?) as such. She hasn't been eating much and she's just been sitting/lying down all day, with her eyes closed the majority of the time. Usually if I walk up to her she would make an attempt to make it hard for me to pick her up and what not. But today she let me check her legs, wings, throat etcetera without a problem. She is nearing 3 years old and she hasn't been laying much for the past maybe 6 months.
She is a Sussex chicken. She weighs less than a kilogram roughly (my scales won't pick up less than a kilogram but I compared her to a kilogram plate).

Any ideas if she is ill, it's old age or anything?
Any help is much appreciated, thank you.

She has literally just stood up and eaten a small amount of dried mealworms and this is her temporary accommodation.

 

[Nambroth]

Poor girl. It is very hard to guess without knowing more. Can you check her over for any symptoms? They might be very subtle. See if you can listen to her breathing for any clicks, or raspyness, etc. Are her eyes clear? No bubbling, discharge, etc from her eyes, nostrils, or mouth?
Does she seem like she can walk normally? Does she seem wobbly or as if she is weak, or has bad balance?
What are her droppings like?
Is she eating and drinking? I know you mentioned she ate a few mealworms (great!) but how about beyond that? Can you guess how much she's been eating?

One thing you can check tonight is to see if her crop empties properly. Feel to make sure she has food in it (not empty) before lights out, and then check again first thing in the morning before she's had access to her feed or water. The crop should be completely or mostly empty... at a minimum, it should be less full than when you checked it in the evening.

 

[cafarmgirl]

With symptoms like that she is really feeling crummy. Could be a whole lot of things but at this age, especially if she hasn't been laying for many months, hens are suseptible to egg laying/reproductive tract issues like internal laying with resulting peritonitis, and cancers are common as well. An avian vet would be able to tell you if that's something you are interested in.

Agree that you should watch her crop, see if there's any trouble there. Although when they aren't eating much of anything it can be hard to tell. Also, sometimes when they are sick with some other illness the crop slows down as a result.

Definitely try to at least get fluids into her if she's not drinking much on her own. They dehydrate really fast.

 

[SammyG868]

Sorry everybody helping, I've just got home, I had to go out for a while, she's passed away. It seems she choked on something or that it may have been her crop.

 

[SammyG868]

Sorry everybody helping, I've just got home, I had to go out for a while, she's passed away. It seems she choked on something or that it may have been her crop.

 

[SammyG868]

(Didn't mean to post that twice)

 

[Didymus]

So sorry. It is so hard to be not able to help, whether it be a chicken, cat, dog or child. I had no idea that there were so many chicken illnesses. She is now free of pain, and resting in a place that has no pain.

 

[Nambroth]

I'm really sorry to hear of her passing. My sympathies!