Very Sick Barred Rock Hen... Help!

kids&chicks

Hatching
11 Years
May 26, 2008
9
0
7
SC
She is a little over a year old, fine up until a couple of days ago,, she started acting lethargic, inactive and now she is not moving at all,, she is not eating or drinking. I have been giving her liquids with a syringe. Her eyes are always closed and her head in laying on her back. She has labored and shallow breathing,, I have felt her neck and breast and her crop is not engorged. Her neck is in an "S" shape and if I try to move her head or neck she started to flop around and her head swings all over. There are no mites and all of my other hens are fine. We did have a black snake in the coop, which is now gone. They are free range during the day and closed up at night. The neighbor has found a copperhead or two on his property and we thought maybe a snake bite. We also have an 80lb dog that gets excited and starts running crazy through the yard and thought he may have accidently ran her over, breaking something. Thoughts??

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I hope your hen is still alive.

I had the same thing happen with a hen, and it turned out to be botulism poisoning, and she recovered, with help from Sammi on this forum.

Have you gone over her very carefully to search for injuries or bites? That would be my first step.

You should probably isolate her so the other chickens don't pick on her and just in case she has a disease. Keep her in a warm, dark place.

You can give her 50/50 Pedialyte and water (or gatorade in a pinch) with the syringe if she is not drinking. That will help keep her hydrated.

She may fight off whatever it is if she is kept hydrated. You can also get some Poly-Vi-Sol liquid baby vitamins (no iron) and give her three drops a day on her beak for a week, and then taper off.

Good luck.
 
She is still alive and we have her in the house. She actually seems a bit better,, she is taking water from the syringe, and I am off to get the poly and pedi! Will keep on this track, hopefully she will make it through. I have checked her everywhere and she looks fine.
 
yikes - she looks so alarmingly bad in the photos i would have flown to the vet! hoping fervently that she will get better! jj
 

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