What's wrong with my hen?

[Von]

I have several RIR and ISA Browns. One of my hens began acting different a few days ago. Then I noticed that her comb is almost colorless and laying over on its side. Now she's almost dragging her hind end. I know she can walk, I've seen her, but it's infrequent. She's isolating herself from the others and once she's in a spot that she's chosen, she just stays there. And she's lost weight.

I've checked her vent and all seems clear there. And her belly isn't oversized so I don't think she's eggbound.

Please give me any and all ideas of what you think it could be!

 

[Chicken Lass]

Well, I hope you get better help, but here are a few ideas of what it could be from my learning. If her crop is hard to the touch, won't go down over night, and she has loss of appetite, she could have crop impaction (maybe that's why she lost weight). Or she could be egg bound if she hasn't laid in a while - I've struggled with that with my own ISA Browns. I had an egg bound one that had the exact same symptoms as yours, including other symptoms. (I heard that too much fatty foods can mess them up, and I found out that I was doing wrong by giving them too much scratch feed and not enough calcium and protein). Could be that it's a nutrition thing. All three of my ISA Browns got sick and died - the first and second from egg binding, and the third from different symptoms that I couldn't figure out. So far my others (mutts and Easter Eggers and a bantam rooster) haven't gotten sickly. Two of my ISA Browns also had pneumonia, which I treated with antibiotics after one of them visited the vet. That helped them get almost back to normal, but because they had underlying egg binding problems, they got worse again later. I sure hope your hen doesn't have egg binding, but I just wanted to tell you my experience in case. I know it's hard to diagnose things with chickens! Hope you get answers.

 

[Von]

Thank you! I suppose it can't hurt to treat her as if she's eggbound (I don't know that she is). I have too many chickens to know which ones are laying and which ones aren't so I don't know if she's laying or not.

 

[bigdaddyabc]

Search cocci or coccidosis and read the threads. See if it fits. It is more common than most folks think it seems. Pretty easy to treat, but hurry, sounds like she is moving along the process. Good luck.