Weak, skinny hen help please!!

[ZepChick]

We have a 7 and a half month old EE hen who is not laying yet. Yesterday we found her sort of hiding from the others in a nest box, laying down. Her poop is bright yellow and is like a liquid. She is very weak and has very little balance. She lays down a lot and seems very tired. She has been drinking lots of water, but eating no food. What should I do? Any help at all is very appreciated.

 

[kinnip]

I don't have much time right now, but here is a link to some poo descriptions from dlhunicorn: scatology
I'll check back later with my research hat on. :aww

 

[ZepChick]

I forgot to mention that I stuck my finger in her vent to see if there was maybe an egg but all I felt was just the inside of her. No broken egg shells, or anything. I am really worried she won't make it. Thank you for the help Kinnip..

 

[warren]

Yellow poop can be due to not eating enough. I have just had a 3 year old with liquid yellow and small green solids for poop. I thought that she would not live long, but after encouraging her to eat she has improved and is almost back to normal. Try feeding your hen her favourite food by hand and see if she will eat. Mine love layers pellets mixed with small quantities of fromage frais... Just enough to make the pellets sticky. They also love sunflower hearts.
Yellow poop can mean a liver problem, and if this is the case there is probably little you can do about it, or possibly worms.

 

[kinnip]

If there are no other symptoms, just listlessness and yellow poo, I'd lean toward worms as an explanation, especially if no other birds appear ill. You may want to separate her from the others, so you can keep an eye on her eating, drinking and pooing habits. Also, birds can be cruel. I'd clean up any poo that's around your other birds to be on the safe side.
At the bottom of this page is my advice on wormers. I don't want to tell anyone to worm their birds with something not labeled for use in chickens, but the reality is that there aren't many things labeled for use in chickens. Ivermectin is probably the most popular and easy to obtain. It comes in many forms, but the fastest acting will be the injectable for cattle administered orally for the bird. 1/4 cc is enough for a large bird, with 7 drops indicated for a bantam. You'll have to decide where your bird falls in this range. Ivermectin can be lethal in relatively small amounts. Eprinex is safer, but harder to find. Whichever you use, you'll want to repeat the treatment in 10 days. Give the girl a little plain, live culture yogurt to help her immune system along.

 

[M@M@2four]

Yep, I was going to say worms as well. Separate her into her own cage or pen. I would give her pedialyte only to drink. You might want to try Ivermectin orally. I would also try a diet of plain cooked rice and yogurt(no aspertain). I had a polish roo that was on death's door like that. No worms, but wasn't getting food and the other chickens wer bullying him. After separating him and caring for him with pedialyte and rice/yougurt, he was a new boy in a week or so!

Good luck!

 

[sammi]

check the crop for impaction..

is it possible she is laying soft shelled eggs?
could the yellow be egg substance?

separate the hen to a safe warm draft free place where you can watch her.
yellow watery droppings can indicate parasites, E-coli, staph or strept infection, among other things.

make up a mix of layer feed, water cooked oatmeal, plain yogurt and cooked chopped egg yolk..make puffy, not soupy...give a couple tablespoons 3 times a day along with regular feed available.

with diarrhea she needs electrolytes..a commercial mix is best, but diluted Pedialyte will do in a pinch.

also..get some Poly-vi-sol liquid baby vitamins, Enfamil brand if possible, no iron..give 3 drops on beak once a day for a week, tapering off for a week.

the best way to know if it's parasites is to have a fecal test done at a vet...just take a fresh sample to be tested..
it would be good and quicker to know what the yellow droppings actually are..especially since she is so weak.
if it's E-coli, or other infection..an antibiotic will be needed..
do you have any antibiotics?
(LA-200, terramycin, Pen-G procaine, Sulmet, Tylan 50, Baytril)

BTW...GREEN in the droppings indicates lack of food.
(undiluted bile)

 

[ZepChick]

She passed away yesterday and we have no idea from what. Her droppings were yellow and green. We all miss her a lot.

 

[chickensrfun]

im so sorry

 

[Renee]

Dang. I'm sorry about your chicken.