Topic: What's wrong with my chicken?

[Morris]

Hoping some of the poultry experts will be on soon.

One of my hens hasn't laid for a couple of days. She is normally a one a day girl.

Anyway, she is today very floppy and sorry for herself. She is drinking but not eating. At first I thought she might be egg bound but I can't feel one in her abdomen. Then I thought crop and yes, her crop does seem a bit squishy and hot. Though seems quite empty also, certainly not ballooning with fluid.  I held her upside down and clear liquid came out of her beak, I massaged gently and got a bit more - about a teaspoon in all, probably. After this she perked up very slightly.

I looked up sour crop and it said brown, foul smelling liquid - this is clear and doesn't smell.

Otherwise, her comb is red, a bit floppy, her eyes bright when she opens them, and she doesn't have any parasites. They are wormed but are just coming up to it again - however I would be amazed if it is worms, as they don't free range. (They have a good size run on concrete with a thick layer of hemp bedding kept clean.) Her vent is clean and normal looking. The run has a shade covering. No-one is doing abnormal droppings. My other 3 are so far full of the joys of spring.

Any thoughts? The vets are shut, if she lives til tomorrow I will ring them. The only medicinal things I have to hand are citricidal, echinacea, and cooking apple cider vinegar - and natural yogurt as well.

Thanks very much for any help.

[goodlife]

You propably fine her back to normal by morning... ::) But..check that there is plenty of 'fresh' grit..sometimes they can be bit picky.. ::)
Other than that there is much else to do now.
However..if she doesn't look good in the morning..it is time to some 'action'. If you have glucose powder or even some sugar..mix some in water (sugar you need to put in hot water to melt and cool it down) and then take your girl on your lap..open the beak and with pipette or syringe squeeze little into her mouth..force 'feeding'..
Ideally you would do this every other hour or so..but only 1 day.
As she haven't eaten..some energy from glucose may just perk her up, enough to get her interested of food again.
While you doing this..have a good look into her throat..is there any grass stuck in?..or something else that may upset her?

[Morris]

Thank you very much for your advice Goodlife.

Sadly it is no use now, she died this evening  :'(  :'(

She was my favourite, admittedly not very friendly but a beautiful hen with gorgeous plumage and a sweet crest on her head. And she laid blue eggs. She was only two. I don't know what caused it. I spent this afternoon madly cleaning out and disinfecting the house/run and all their feeders and drinkers. I hope the others don't get sick as well, hopefuly they won't as they seem completely healthy.

RiP Gloria.

[julie24]

sorry to hear about your chicken, i keep quite a lot of girls and unfortunately this happens quite a lot. they do go down hill quickly, sometimes lice can make them very ill. check your other girls around their vents, they look like little light brown things and there will be signs of egg laying on the feathers. you can get a johnstons flea & mite spray from a decent pet shop. the hot weather is not helping either so give them lots to drink and mine respond to lots of greens in hot weather, another good thing for them is dandilion leaves which is even better as they are free.

[Morris]

Thank you Julie.

It wasn't any lice or anything. And I wondered if it was too much green stuff rather than the reverse?? They get a perfectly balanced diet from their pellets, don't they, but when they are getting loads of other stuff perhaps their diet becomes out of whack?

I suppose I shall never know.

Buried her under my crab apple tree today. And the other three girls are, so far, fit and well - an egg each today.

[goodlife]

Oh dear..sorry to hear that.
Out of balance diet doesn't really affect like that..first sings would be the lack of eggs and then either going thin or fat..depending what they get to eat.
Any paracites would cause combs going pale..anemia.
So something like that is either bacteria or spoiled food in crop...or she could have swallowed something unsuitable..like you said, you will never know.
Now bacteria would cause chance in droppings and/or discharge from 'somewhere'..sneezing etc.
So it may well be something has spoiled in crop and cause 'poisoning'..best prevention for that is availability of grit all the time and not giving too much 'muchy' food..like bread, potatoes, grass clippings from mower...they just stuff themselves with slowly moving stuff. So any treat only in small quantities or they have to 'work' at it to get them...
Anything desease wise you propably would have noticed other symptoms before death. But well done with scrubbing..one cannot be too careful...

[louise stella]

Ahhh sorry to hear of that!  I lost two of mine earlier this year (for different reasons).  You get so attached!   The trouble is they hide illness for as long as they can to keep safe from predators who would spot a sick chicken.  So it's often too late to do anything once you notice that one's ill!  xxx