Wound or something wrong with hen's head and she's ADR

[hrhta812]

Buffy, our Buff Orp is ADR, eating and drinking very little, and I noticed her comb is over to one side and there's a rough patch right on top of her head, like an abrasion or something. We've had a 'possum attack earlier this week - could the 'possum have scratched her head? The rough spot on her head is not bloody, it almost looks more like a scabbed area. She didn't seem to be low in the pecking order before, but now the others are being mean to her.

She has a dirty looking bottom but always has [we've had her about 5 weeks, she's fully grown, between 1-2 yrs old we were told]. Her poo is watery looking. She's also a little wobbly sometimes now - she stumbled when I took this picture - notice her left leg is turned funny. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the leg, it just seems more like overall weakness.

What can I do for her? I have several kinds of antibiotics here for other uses - should I try sulfatrim? What is the best way to dose? I have capsules or pills but I have a pill crusher and can make a powder for mixing. [I rescue dogs and cats so I do some home doctoring on them and keep stocked with abis].

 

[leadwolf1]

I would give her vitamins/electrolytes in her water and some extra protein...mealworms, scrambled eggs, etc. Keep an eye on her and make sure that the limp doesn't get any worse. Good luck with her, hope she is feeling better soon.

 

[hrhta812]

Okay, I think I did the photo the right way this time. D'oh!! Can I put Pedialyte in the water? That's the only thing i have on hand as far as electrolytes. I'm new at the chicken gig.

 

[leadwolf1]

Yes, you can use pedialyte. That leg looks really twisted. Do you know if she was like that always or maybe an injury?

 

[hrhta812]

Her leg is actually okay, she's just wobbly sometimes. When I took this picture, I caught her mid-step and trying to turn so it looks very strange. She doesn't move around much and has her head down frequently. She seems to be clenching the muscles around her vent area a lot, almost like a pulsating motion. She came out with the others for free range time but she just acts lethargic. She was interested in yogurt I splattered but didn't eat much, and she ate some of a raw egg we cracked in front of her that came from a different coop group, but she's just feeble and weak.
I think I will try bathing her tomorrow if she's still alive and acting sick - it's been really hot all week but today it got cooler and it was too late in the day for a bath when I had the time to do it. I didn't want her to get a chill.

 

[hrhta812]

Buffy is still hanging in there, not better but not worse. I'm very confused. I've read all sorts of descriptions of chicken diseases and nothing fits. Today I gave her some pedialyte, and I had added a few drops of liquid vitamin B to it. She did pretty well; I was on my own, so I bundled her in a blanket so only her head was free and she cooperated pretty well.

I only did two rounds of a 3 ml syringe full and some dripped off the side of her beak, but she swallowed some, too. I wasn't sure how much would be okay and didn't want to over do it.

I also gave her a bum-soak in tepid water for a few minutes and had her dry in the sun - I'll have to repeat that with warmer water to get more of the icky stuff off her bum area feathers. She didn't seem any worse for the wear after the bath.

After reading some ideas on other threads on sick chickens, I tried feeding her a scrambled egg and she ate it with gusto. That made me feel hopeful. She's still ADR but hopefully she'll pull through. Crossing my fingers for a perkier tomorrow...

 

[klmclain1]

I wonder if she's older than you think??? Mix some of her regular feed with some canned cat food. If you can separate her for awhile, do so and give her nothing but pedialyte to drink for a few days. Get some polyvisol without iron and put that in her pedialyte/water too. She's got a nice red comb so I don't think you have any kind of parasite problem. If the wound doesn't look infected in any way, I'd just leave it.

 

[rositaranch]

in my own personal experience, your hen is either old (the butt mess) or needs to be isolated from the others and just given some tlc...

 

[hrhta812]

So far, so good! I think Buffy is herself again, although she hasn't layed any eggs yet. She's definitely got her appetite back and is up and about, pretty much back to normal. All I did was, for two days in a row, gave her a bum-soak, some Pedialyte & liquid Vit. B drops, and fed her scrambled egg for dinner. She seemed to be perking up so I let her do her thing and each day she got a little more back to normal.