How do you tell if your chicken is in pain?

[specklesmom]

Are there any signs, other than the obvious, that would help me determine if my chicken is in pain? She is very quiet seems to just about fall asleep on her feet, is eating very little. She has been on antibiotics for egg yolk peritonitis and under the vet's care for 11 days. She also has been on Reglan for 8 days now. Could that account for her behavior, or lack thereof? I will ask the vet today, but thought you experienced chicken "parents" might have as much or more insight into this. It has been extremely hot here, 103 the last two days, but I have her inside the house during the worst of the heat....

Any ideas?

Thank you!!

Debby

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

basically the chicken is suffering from a bad case of antibiotic E.coli in the gut
I am sure you are doing every thing you can

is there going to be a time when you can feed her some probiotic to try and help jer gut flora to reestablish

I think chickens unless moved such as a joint injury and the chicken jerks at the pain from the injury you can't tell
generally when a chicken wants left alone it stands or lays down and sleeps

sleep is sulice to a chicken

any questions email me

 

[Jenski]

Reglan for 8 days? I'm not a vet, but that seems like an awfully long time to be on a drug that forces autonomic muscle contractions in the digestive and reproductive systems. Besides the acute discomfort of having her stomach/intestines/reproductive system squeezing every few seconds, I would be afraid that coming off the drug might cause issues with her system having trouble picking up its natural contractions once again. Now I am not recommending you go against vet advice, but if it were me I would call the vet and ask about it anyway.

One other "tell" of pain in an animal is quicker respiration. Pulse rate would also be elevated. If you don't know how to tell these, you could set your sick hen next to a healthy friend (since this appears NOT to be contagious) and compare their breathing rates.

Their eyes will also tell you if they are in pain.

My vet has also told me the same thing Miss Glenda has said above - - that the gut flora are destroyed by prolonged antibiotics, often causing equally bad problems. I agree - probiotics!!!

I imagine peritonitis is quite painful. Sorry to hear about your girl. Please keep us posted on how she does.

 

[crait]

I check for a big bloody spot.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

what is the bloody spot mean
that the chicken has pain?
I second Jenski's thoughts

any questions email me

 

[crait]

If you ever see blood on a baby chicken, it's probably in some kind of pain.

 

[CallyB57]

Prissy (my EE pullet) kept going to sleep, in the middle of the day, very early to roost and stayed late on the roost. She wouldn't eat much, so I got out the plain yogurt and some applesauce and gave it to her for 3 or 4 days in a row. She seemed to like it a lot, and now she has almost stopped her 'sleepy' behaviour. I have fans on my chickens, as they would be dead now if I did not find a way to cool them. They 'siesta' in the hottest part of the day - I put a bottle of frozen water down in the 3.5 gallon water dispenser to cool it off - they take to the cooler water like bees to honey on the stifling days when temps hover around 3 digits. I also covered put roofing over part of their pen even though it is shaded completely most of the day...there is only an hour where sun could shine into the pen. Also, I take my water hose and adjust it to a 'mist' setting and wet the grass, trees, henhouse roof, the pen floor(I just barely dampen the dirt in the pen), but doing this drops the temps suddenly and dramatically (about 10 degrees). You can notice right away that they stop the heavy panting and begin to move around more. Hope your bird recovers.

 

[specklesmom]

Thanks for the input. I will call the vet first thing in the AM to ask about the reglan. This afternoon the vet drained a lot of fluid and said this should help make her more comfortable. Tomorrow morning we are hoping she will be much improved. If not, we are thinking, and the vet agrees, that we may just be prolonging her situation which could not be positive for her. I am hoping she will be greatly improved tomorrow!!! I appreciate the information.

Debby