Sick hen- not eating but drinking a lot, lethargic.

[rdilbarova]

Hello,

I have a 5 month old hen (not laying eggs yet). Usually is bright and energetic but today is lethargic and weak. I found her with poopy butt this morning. She won't eat but she wont stop drinking.

Any thoughts?
I was thinking sour crop.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Does her crop feel normal (or is it hard or soft/squishy)? Sour crop is a possiblity. I'd check for lice and mites, as they can make a bird feel miserable and sap its energy. Another thought would be that she could have Coccidiosis. Birds with Coccidiosis, in my experience, often drink a lot, but don't want to eat. Do her droppings look normal? Even though she isn't laying yet, I'd check for egg binding (feel the abdomen--if it feels unusually hard, she may be egg bound. Sometimes, when pullets lay their first eggs they can get egg bound).

 

[rdilbarova]

Does her crop feel normal (or is it hard or soft/squishy)? Sour crop is a possiblity. I'd check for lice and mites, as they can make a bird feel miserable and sap its energy. Another thought would be that she could have Coccidiosis. Birds with Coccidiosis, in my experience, often drink a lot, but don't want to eat. Do her droppings look normal? Even though she isn't laying yet, I'd check for egg binding (feel the abdomen--if it feels unusually hard, she may be egg bound. Sometimes, when pullets lay their first eggs they can get egg bound).

Her crop is soft and squishy. I know that can be a sign of sour crop, and her breath does smell unusually bad.
She has been vaccinated for Cocci- I know it can still be a possibility, but I want to rule it out for now and look at the other options. She has not pooped in the 2 hours in which she has been isolated, so I do not know about the droppings.
I will go look at her abdomen though, I did not consider her being egg bound.

 

[pwand]

Can you deworm her, sometimes this can slow crops down. Drinking lots of water helps get that crop moving. Massage her crop.

Heres info for deworming.

Valbazen dosage on this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/606881/valbazen-de-worming-question

Safeguard:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...er-for-chickens-can-it-be-used-in-their-water
Kathy has good info at the bottom of this thread. #14
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/688579/fowl-pox-what-to-do-with-flock#post_12532231

 

[FarmerWife]

I had the same problem with one of my hens a couple of weeks ago, I usually keep antibiotics on hand, just in case. I put her in the shed to keep her away from the other chickens, and put duramycin in her water. She's fine now. Sometimes I use koi fish antibiotic because it comes in pellets just like their food, and they eati it with not problems. Depends on the issue though.

Dianna

 

[pwand]

I had the same problem with one of my hens a couple of weeks ago, I usually keep antibiotics on hand, just in case. I put her in the shed to keep her away from the other chickens, and put duramycin in her water. She's fine now. Sometimes I use koi fish antibiotic because it comes in pellets just like their food, and they eati it with not problems. Depends on the issue though.

Dianna

If its sour crop, you can't use antibiotics. It will make it worse.

 

[rdilbarova]

Update:


Whenever she bends down to try to eat, the water that she drank comes right out of her mouth.
Also, her poop is creamy white and totally liquid (although I am not 100% sure if this is poop or if she threw this up).

 

[FarmerWife]

I am still learning about how to care for my chickens, and hadn't heard of sour crop until today. So what can you do for them if this is the case? Thanks for the reply!

Dianna

 

[pwand]

Update:


Whenever she bends down to try to eat, the water that she drank comes right out of her mouth.

Also, her poop is creamy white and totally liquid (although I am not 100% sure if this is poop or if she threw this up).

Can you post a picture of the poop. I would say shes has crop issues, i am thinking it is sour crop.

 

[pwand]

Update:


Whenever she bends down to try to eat, the water that she drank comes right out of her mouth.

Also, her poop is creamy white and totally liquid (although I am not 100% sure if this is poop or if she threw this up).

I am still learning about how to care for my chickens, and hadn't heard of sour crop until today. So what can you do for them if this is the case? Thanks for the reply!

Dianna

I had this happen before with my hen, looking back she was impacted then it went sour. It took a month to get her through this. Its stressful. I never heard of this before until I was faced with this, people on here were so helpful and I learned a lot.

There are many things that can be done. They need lots of water. Some will tube feed water. I did a garlic clove in her water for 24 hrs. They need soft foods thats easily digestible, i used her food and put hot water in to soften it. No grains. Yogurt gave my hen sever diahrea, so i put probiotics into the water and food from a probiotic capsule. I also dewormed her, she had worms. In the end I used an anti-fungal cream to get her through this. Some has used Monistate. They can get impacted from eating long grasses, etc. then later it can go sour. That is kind of the short version of what I did. Here is a couple of links that are also helpful in dealing with this.


-------
Deworm her and dust her for mites and lice, even if you don't see them. Use Safequard or valbazen for deworming and sevins dust for the mites and lice. Depending where your located, hopefully you can get these.

There can be many things that can cause:

Impacted or Sour Crop, so to check this, you feel her crop first thing in the morning. It has to be flat. If Impacted it would have a solid mass. If sour it is squishy and can have a stinky smell, not always. Worms can slow down the crop, of course other things can cause this, like long grasses, hay, etc.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues.html


Deworming

Valbazen dosage on this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/606881/valbazen-de-worming-question

Safeguard:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...er-for-chickens-can-it-be-used-in-their-water
Kathy has good info at the bottom of this thread. #14
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/688579/fowl-pox-what-to-do-with-flock#post_12532231