What is wrong with my aunts hen?

[Teresaann24]

My aunt has a ill chicken...She found her sick about 2 and half weeks ago.

Here is the symoptoms.

Can't hold her head up holds it streatched out and down

Can only stand for a short period and falls down

Rolls around onto back and forth

tumbles all over the cage

cannot get up to eat or drink

Aunt has been holding food in hand right under her beak

eats like she is starved

aunt feeds her water in a eye dropper

hen acts if it is blind

She found her about 2 and half weeks ago when she went out to feed them found her flopping all over the coop.

She has her inside under a heat lamp hand feeding and watering her.

She was gasping for air NO sneezing

Felt crop it is nice and full had some poo stuck AROUND not over her vent.

Nothing eles around vent not egg bound.

isn't pooping normal..Poo looks normal but isn't pooing much is what I mean.

She has been giving her antibotics twice daily.

Hen has not improved but has not gotten any worse.

I am at a loss what to tell my aunt to do I have searched the board with no sucess i though it was time to post and see what this hen may have and what she can do.

She does not want to kill her...because she does not seem to be in pain she coo's and makes normal chicken sounds.

But if this hen will never have any real life then doing back flips in a cage and being hand fed what much could she do?

Plz help me out with some advice to send back to my aunt???

Edited to add The hen is 7 months old

 

[RHewitt]

If this is a young bird it may be Mericks Diseases...definaltey need to isolate this chicken from the flock. She may overocme it if she gets enough nutrition while building up a tolerance to the disease. I struggled with a hen for two weeks and then had to put her down.
Wish you the best..suggest that you reasearch chicken diseases and look for suggestions for treatment.

 

[Teresaann24]

thank you...will look it up and see.

 

[speckledhen]

I have no idea what is really wrong, but if this has been going on this long and the hen is still in that condition, even with antibiotics and supportive care, sadly, I'd put her out of her misery. Sounds like she wont recover from this. Wish I had better news.

 

[Suellyn]

I am not well versed in diseases & conditions SPECIFIC to chickens, but IN GENERAL most of the symptoms you are describiing sound "neurological" (brain function related) in nature. The one exception is that you said she was gasping, which is respiratory, BUT, sounded like she was doing it when originally found "tumbling" in the coop, so was probably out of breath from struggling/fright (unless she is still doing it?).

Neurological problems have multiple causes, anything from head trauma, to stroke, to viral or bacterial or parasitic infections, toxins, nutritionally related...you name it! I'm so sorry I just don't know specifically... would probably take some major veterinary diagnostics to figure out...

Your Aunt seems to be giving all the basic supportive care that is reccomended for ill/injured birds: heat, hydrate, feeding... Maybe add some diluted Pedialyte or chicken vitamins to her care.

Honestly, it is probably going to come down to a "quality of life" issue, like you said. If there has been no improvement in 2+ weeks, then that is not a good sign, she may have some tough decisions to make.

The only other thing I can think of is to take her to a Vet for diagnostics & further treatment. Sometimes if swelling in brain is suspected they will administer corticosteroids, or maybe they would find a parasite or other treatable condition. To be quite honest, I kind of doubt it, though.

Your Aunt is a kind & good chicken Mommy to put all of this effort into the hen, I wish I could think of something more specific to help...

 

[Mrs.Puff]

I agree. You don't want to have a sick hen infecting the rest of the flock, or possibly the neighbor's flock. Sounds like her time might be coming to an end.

This is sad, but necessary.