What is wrong with my hen ?

[Boergoatlover]

I’m having a really tough time with my ex battery hens and feel everything is going wrong and I can’t help them one of my girls has been diagnosed with heart failure another an ovarian tumour (although with medication she’s managed to keep going for a year post diagnosis) another I suspect has EYP but will be confirmed by vet tomorrow, some of my girls are now 6 and elderly. I feel I must be doing something wrong.

one of my girls however is seriously unwell and I have no idea why nor does my vet. She’s back tomorrow and I feel at the moment if I can’t find out what’s wrong and treat her the kindest thing to do will be to put her to sleep so she doesn’t suffer.

she had a big squishy crop Sunday so I took her to the vets Monday who admitted her with sour crop. They managed to treat the yeast infection and the crop went down fully. On Wednesday they gave her a small amount of food which she tucked into no problem. Wednesday night they phoned me and said she’s stopped eating by Thursday she’s eaten nothing at all. Thursday night she’s stopped drinking. I said perhaps she is distressed from being away from home. Vets said they could find absolutely no reason why she was not eating. They said she had started to sway her head.

on Friday I took her home to see if I could encourage her to eat, she started to peck at a few things but didn’t eat much. I also noticed she’s very wobbly and leaning forward and she occasionally looks up to the sky sways her head and looks like she’s totally glazed over.

she stopped eating and drinking all together Friday night. Ive been syringing water every hour (1ml at a time not sure if this is enough). And I’ve tried absolutely everything to get her to eat to no avail. However yesterday I put her in the garden for some air and she started to gobble grass, this seems to be the only thing I can get her to eat. This morning she was pecking but about 3 inches above the grass so she was pecking the air, this has made me wondered if she’s lost her eyesight and could she have had a stroke? She’s passing a few stools and I’ve attached a photo.

I love her so much but I do not want her to suffer I just have no idea what her symptoms mean and not does my vet. Any advice would be so much appreciated.

 

[Swbertrand1]

What are the breeds?

What does there feed consist of?

Do they get treats or free-range? What do they get for treats?

Are the other birds still laying (regularly)?



At 6 years of age, breeds that are raised for heavy egg-production might be approaching end of life, which would be consistent with a reduction of appetite despite being otherwise healthy with no disease.

 

[Boergoatlover]

What are the breeds?

What does there feed consist of?

Do they get treats or free-range? What do they get for treats?

Are the other birds still laying (regularly)?



At 6 years of age, breeds that are raised for heavy egg-production might be approaching end of life, which would be consistent with a reduction of appetite despite being otherwise healthy with no disease.

Thank you for coming back to me. They are all ex battery hens so a hybrid of some sort I believe. Feed wise they are on layers pellets with a little bit of corn and snack wise they get fruit such as water melon and a few grapes. Only two are now laying as I’ve also had a few start to internally lay so they have been implanted. it’s so sad to see them like this

 

[SCMommaHen]

Thank you for coming back to me. They are all ex battery hens so a hybrid of some sort I believe. Feed wise they are on layers pellets with a little bit of corn and snack wise they get fruit such as water melon and a few grapes. Only two are now laying as I’ve also had a few start to internally lay so they have been implanted. it’s so sad to see them like this

Could you post a picture of her?

 

[Boergoatlover]

Could you post a picture of her?

Yes of course I haven’t managed to get one of her head in the air but you can see a tiny bit her Leaning

 

[Boergoatlover]

I’ve had a tiny bit of progress with Edith this afternoon although I don’t know if it means anything good. I took her out for grass as this is all she will eat I put some sweet corn in front of her on the floor and after an hour she started to eat it and then proceeded to eat 1/4 of a can.

I noticed however she couldn’t see the sweet corn, she also actually seems to be lifting her head and stretching her neck upwards when she hears sounds like a dog bark or people talking. I left an empty bowl and when she started to walk she tripped. I therefore think she’s somehow lost her eyesight.

she is back in the house and now she’s started to eat the food in her bowl. I know this doesn’t necessarily mean anything and she might need to be put to sleep still but I’m glad she’s eating.

can they temporarily loose their eyesight ? I imagine if she’s gone blind then she will struggle for food and water. I’m not sure what’s going on at all

 

[Kiki]

Thank you for coming back to me. They are all ex battery hens so a hybrid of some sort I believe. Feed wise they are on layers pellets with a little bit of corn and snack wise they get fruit such as water melon and a few grapes. Only two are now laying as I’ve also had a few start to internally lay so they have been implanted. it’s so sad to see them like this

They would be better off not eating corn or snacks and only eating the layer pellet.