What do I do now (chicken looks drunk)?

[FisherMOM]

what about worms?

 

[redhen]

hi..i'm really new to owning chickens ..but my thoughts are..if she is indeed suffering from some sort of malnutrition problem..i would really try to have food and water avaiable for her at all times..i think it may be important at this point.....best of luck, Wendy

 

[Renee]

Oh, fishermom, I hope yours gets better too. It is a difficult thing to clean out the crop without causing pneumonia in the chicken. Some say it is better to get someone with experience to do it so you do not drown them or cause them to aspirate water.

Maybe it is worms, but if it is something else, and I give her wormer while she is sick, I am afraid it will kill her. What do you think? I'll search for that topic too...

Thanks, Wendy, I'll stay up with her and see if she wakes up. If she does, I'll offer her some hard-boiled egg and water. I looked in on her again in the spare bedroom, and she's still asleep (I hope she's sleeping, anyway!).

 

[Renee]

Just read about botulism. Floppy neck, compost pile... hmmm. Perhaps I have poisoned Audrey.

 

[nnbreeder]

Lets hope not, I was really suprised that a popular magazine said it was ok to use chickens in the compost pile.

 

[nnbreeder]

Is she limp all over or is it spotty? Also could you please list all that you have been feeding her?

 

[Renee]

She is pretty limp overall, when I picked her up she just melted. Usually she resists being handled. Her neck in particular looks limp and stretched out. She appeared to be wobbly on her feet when she tried to walk back to the henhouse tonight.

They are free-fed organic layer pellets. Until about mid- July, they were fed medicated chick crumbles.

I have given them organic vegetables from the garden including yellow squash, an occasional tomato, green grapes, and cucumbers. I have given them yogurt or crumbled hard boiled egg on occassion. They also have free access to oyster shell. I grow annual rye grass and radish greens in part of their little yard for three weeks or so and then let them into the area which they usually wipe out within three days. Maybe she ate too much rye grass at once? Yesterday I fed them a half-dozen massive scarab beetle grubs from the compost pile. Oh yeah, and occasionally they get meal worms left over from the husband's wild-lizard feeding hobby.

They roam the yard and spend a lot of time under the avocado trees scratching in the dead leaves. They also love to scratch under the finch feeder, which contains Niger seed. Might it be a toxin from the Niger seed decomposing/composting?

I spread compost all over the flower garden quite thickly. I have toxic plants in my garden including Brugmansia and Milkweed. I chase them out of the flower garden when they start scratching there, but it is possible she may have eaten a milkweed pod. She has eaten a toadstool, with no ill effects, in the past, but perhaps she got a really poisonous one?
Thanks. She has turned around and is still asleep.

 

[sammi]

please describe the droppings in detail..color and consistency.
is there any chance you could have a fecal test (sometimes called a fecal float)..done? for worms and protozoa..(cocci)
with her being weak, it would be better to know for sure if she has a bad infestation of worms,(and what kind)... or cocci before treating.

as nnbreeder asked..is she weak all over?

can she lift her head..or is the neck like rubber?

check the vent for any drainage.
when did she last lay an egg?
have you found any soft shelled eggs?

check her over well, including the head for any sign of injury any heat or swelling..especially the belly area.
check the comb...is it cold or hot?
is it shriveled or flopped, or pale?

do you have poultry vitamins on hand?
electrolytes?
if not, and can't get them quickly..get some Poly-vi-sol
liquid baby vitamins..Enfamil brand if possible..no iron.
give by drops on beak..3 twice a day for 3 days..then once a day for a week..tapering off for another week.
this can be found at any pharmacy and some grocery stores.
if you don't have commercial mix electrolytes you can use Gatorade or Pediolyte diluted with water 50%.
if she's unable to drink..give by drops on beak with an eye dropper.

make up a mixture of layer feed, a small amount of water cooked oatmeal, plain yogurt, cooked egg yolk..not soupy, just puffy.
if she's unable to eat on her own..form into pellets or dabs and place in mouth, stroking the neck downwards to encourage swallowing.

check and see if she is thin and you can feel the breastbone..
if so..this would most likely be a nutritional thing, or malabsorption cause by worms or cocci.

recheck the crop for any lump.

if the hen is plump and has no crop problem..it's possible she has some sort of poisoning, such as Botulism from spoiled food.
could she have got into any lawn/garden chemicals, or any motor oils? any rodent poisons?

fingers crossed for the hen.

 

[Renee]

Hi Sammi,
I just checked her. Her poop is completely runny; very little green lumpy stuff, almost entirely whitish-yellow runny stuff that has soaked into the towel she is on. No blood, no orangey or red stuff.

I will take a fecal sample to someone tomorrow if I can find someone to do a test, and if I can scrape up enough poop. Does your average vet do this?

I recall that when I cleaned the poop out of the henhouse this morning and yesterday one of the roosting spots had very runny poop and the runny liquid was yellowish. I thought it had something to do with the other chickens just beginning to lay eggs, since one laid a shell-less egg from the roost two days ago.

She last laid an egg yesterday, no egg today. She usually lays an egg a day but not always. No soft-shelled eggs, but we did get that shell-less egg two days ago, one day before a different chicken laid its first egg. I don't know now who laid the shell-less egg.

She is weak all over. She can lift her head, but immediately lays it back down. Her neck is not like rubber, but it looks like it is hard for her to hold her head up.

There is no unusual drainage or even stuff on her vent, although a bit of the whitish poop is stuck on her now since she is in the cat carrier.

No signs of injury. She does feel hot to me, but she's laying on a towel so heat is accumulating under her. Her comb is warm, not hot, it is flopped, but it's always flopped. It's not pale. She whimpers when I handle her.

She is thin. I can feel her breastbone, and her crop feels empty to me. Very empty. How could she get thin in one day? She was on my lap yesterday and her crop did not feel this small nor did her breastbone feel so sharp.

Rodent poisons are a possibility, since we have a ground squirrel population.

Should I try to keep her awake and feed and water her tonight, or should I let her sleep and feed her in the morning?
Oh, thank you thank you for asking such intelligent questions. I feel better just knowing you are there.

By the way, you guys,what are you doing up at this time of night? Isn't it very late where you live?

 

[sammi]

I think I would wake her up and get some fluid into her..it's important she is hydrated...and see if she will eat a little..
(the yogurt and food could possibly help neutralize any poison)

check under her wings for heat..

concerned about the color of the droppings.
an Avian vet is best, but any vet can do a fecal test for worms and cocci.
make sure the sample is fresh as possible.
it would be good if the vet could determine if there is something in the droppings other then just pooh..
(such as egg substance), or possible poison, or bacteria, such as E-coli, etc.)
these kinds of tests will cost more..but will help determine what course of action to take.

when she was on your lap yesterday..how was she? alert?
chickens will often hide that they are sick until very ill..
recheck her belly area for any swelling or heat.

do you have any antibiotics on hand?


link to information on Botulism..(just in case)

click here


click here for E-coli