# Help! My chicken won't eat and keeps closing her eyes



## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

This morning, I noticed my 3-month-old chicken, Tokay, did not touch her food. She also seems a little lethargic - has been sitting down mostly and sometimes just closing her eyes while standing. She is usually very energetic and has a big appetite during feeding time. We separated her from the flock to monitor her. We have containers for her water and food, but she has barely touched them. Felt her crop and it doesn't seem impacted. What should we do?

_Some background (this is my first time raising chickens) _

Tokay is a black australorp chicken (we think). We keep her and our other chickens (there are about 30 of them in total) in a big chicken house. They are fed a mix of chopped bamboo leaves and chicken starter twice a day (9 am and 4 pm) and have a constant supply of water.


Any advice? She's one of my favorites so I'm really concerned.


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

I don’t have any advice other than to keep doing what you’re doing for her, and soon enough one of the others will have some more questions for you, I think. 
[mention]danathome [/mention] for instance- what other questions do you have?

I do wish you luck, I hope she starts feeling better soon.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You can see she absolutely does not feel well.

Try mixing some of her feed with water, sometimes that's a temptation to eat. Try different treats, a little bit of sweet fruit. Yoghurt.

Since you have her in the house what do her droppings look like? They tell a tale. There is a possibility she has internal parasites.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

BTW, her eye looks odd. Is there a crust there?


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

Overmountain1 said:


> I don’t have any advice other than to keep doing what you’re doing for her, and soon enough one of the others will have some more questions for you, I think.
> [mention]danathome [/mention] for instance- what other questions do you have?
> 
> I do wish you luck, I hope she starts feeling better soon.


Thank you!


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> You can see she absolutely does not feel well.
> 
> Try mixing some of her feed with water, sometimes that's a temptation to eat. Try different treats, a little bit of sweet fruit. Yoghurt.
> 
> Since you have her in the house what do her droppings look like? They tell a tale. There is a possibility she has internal parasites.


Will try that! We have a bit of fruit and yogurt here. Thanks so much! 

Her droppings were mostly watery and clear/white, but she had about two today that looked like they may have had some blood mixed in. Asked a friend of a friend (who is a vet), and we were advised to buy sulfa-based antibiotics for coccidiosis. Mixed that into Tokay's water and administered some via dropper. We also gave her a capsule, so hopefully that'll make her better.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> BTW, her eye looks odd. Is there a crust there?


Didn't notice a crust, but I'll check again in the morning


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Manokie said:


> Didn't notice a crust, but I'll check again in the morning


Keep us posted and welcome to the forum! There are folks here from all over the world sharing their birds.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's great that you had a vet to ask. So many don't. I was wondering about cocci, your mention of blood would have led me to that possibility. 

Watch your other birds. They might need it added to their water. 

Have you had them all along or did you just get them?


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

Poultry Judge said:


> Keep us posted and welcome to the forum! There are folks here from all over the world sharing their birds.


Thank you!! So happy to have found this forum. Great community here


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

Yes, welcome! I’m glad you found a probably answer and I do hope she gets back to better fast! There are some wonderful people on here I have been privileged enough to meet, you won’t be disappointed if you hang around!

You should treat all the birds, as I understand it, though someone else can maybe correct that if I’m speaking out of turn!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Overmountain1 said:


> Yes, welcome! I’m glad you found a probably answer and I do hope she gets back to better fast! There are some wonderful people on here I have been privileged enough to meet, you won’t be disappointed if you hang around!
> 
> You should treat all the birds, as I understand it, though someone else can maybe correct that if I’m speaking out of turn!


It's why I was wondering if the birds are new to the property even though they're three months old. 

I probably would treat all just to play it safe. So, you're right OM, it is a good idea.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> It's why I was wondering if the birds are new to the property even though they're three months old.
> 
> I probably would treat all just to play it safe. So, you're right OM, it is a good idea.


The birds were born here. We have a couple of free-range chickens that roam the property. 3 of our broodies hatched some chicks between late March and mid April of this year (plus a batch that we had incubated), so we have around 30+ chicks living in the chicken house. It was built just last month. 

I'll treat all the chicks just to be safe. Planning to give them probiotics as well


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

Overmountain1 said:


> Yes, welcome! I’m glad you found a probably answer and I do hope she gets back to better fast! There are some wonderful people on here I have been privileged enough to meet, you won’t be disappointed if you hang around!
> 
> You should treat all the birds, as I understand it, though someone else can maybe correct that if I’m speaking out of turn!


Thanks overmountain! We were also advised by a poultry technician to treat all the birds. Read up a bit about cocc, and apparently it can be spread to the other birds through contact with feces. Good thing we separated Tokay from the others. Don't want a whole flock of sick chickies. We'll give them antibotics too just to be safe


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Cocci is present in the ground so they can pick it up just about anywhere. Usually as they get older their immune systems are strong enough to combat their presence. 

BTW, take a look around. You'll find it's not chickens 100% of the time. I think we cover just about everything there is in our day to day lives. And we love learning about how other countries keep their birds.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Cocci is present in the ground so they can pick it up just about anywhere. Usually as they get older their immune systems are strong enough to combat their presence.
> 
> BTW, take a look around. You'll find it's not chickens 100% of the time. I think we cover just about everything there is in our day to day lives. And we love learning about how other countries keep their birds.


Time to explore the forum!!

UPDATE: We've given tokay 2 doses of oral antibiotics and some medicated water. She has still been kind of quiet and expelled a clear liquid from her mouth twice. Right after, she would eat a little


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

Poor thing, really nothing I can help with unless the vet.. Prayers though good luck!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Manokie said:


> Time to explore the forum!!
> 
> UPDATE: We've given tokay 2 doses of oral antibiotics and some medicated water. She has still been kind of quiet and expelled a clear liquid from her mouth twice. Right after, she would eat a little


Well, that bit is odd. If she does it again talk to your vet. Is it possible she's had too much water and is emptying her crop some?

As sick as she was look for absolute proof she's doing better after four days. What are her droppings like now?


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Well, that bit is odd. If she does it again talk to your vet. Is it possible she's had too much water and is emptying her crop some?
> 
> As sick as she was look for absolute proof she's doing better after four days. What are her droppings like now?


Droppings white and watery. Tried to massage her crop to see if there was any fluid that needed to come out. She vomitted a bit just one more time after that. Doc said to give the medicine 3 days to work so I'll keep monitoring. 

Oh, and I tried giving her yogurt. She was not having it! HAHAHA


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

And be grateful you have a vet! Just sayin- even my local vet yesterday couldn’t think of anywhere to refer me. 
Hope she continues doing alright, and gets well soon!


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

Overmountain1 said:


> And be grateful you have a vet! Just sayin- even my local vet yesterday couldn’t think of anywhere to refer me.
> Hope she continues doing alright, and gets well soon!


Yes! We are SO LUCKY!! And lucky to that we have so many poultry supply stores in area - I think its because raising poultry for livelihood (and for cockfighting) is so big here. 

Thank you for your concern! Am trying not be a helicopter chicken mom LOL


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

She's still not eating. Can you think of anything else available to you that she might be tempted to try?

Yeah, some of them have a negative response to it. You can try some cooked oatmeal with a little sweetening in it. No artificial sweeteners.


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

Manokie said:


> Yes! We are SO LUCKY!! And lucky to that we have so many poultry supply stores in area - I think its because raising poultry for livelihood (and for cockfighting) is so big here.
> 
> Thank you for your concern! Am trying not be a helicopter chicken mom LOL


Ha! You are definitely lucky to have vets and feed stores around you!


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> She's still not eating. Can you think of anything else available to you that she might be tempted to try?
> 
> Yeah, some of them have a negative response to it. You can try some cooked oatmeal with a little sweetening in it. No artificial sweeteners.


No, she isn't  This morning she was super weak so we fed her some starter mixed with water through a dropper. She vomited some out, so we tried to make her expel the liquid. So much fluid came out - even clumps of the antibiotics and some of the yogurt we gave her yesterday  We're thinking maybe she hasn't been able to digest properly.

I'll explore more things she might want to eat. I guess she didnt feel like eating the past 2 days because everything was just stuck in her crop. Keeping her on vitamins and electrolytes now. HUHUHU poor baby


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

Hope she is feeling well tomorrow!💕


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

She needs to see the vet. Something is going on with her crop since nothing is passing through. 

As soon as possible. She's knocking of the door of crossing that line that there is no return from.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> She needs to see the vet. Something is going on with her crop since nothing is passing through.
> 
> As soon as possible. She's knocking of the door of crossing that line that there is no return from.


I brought her to the only available vet I could find this morning. She gave her oral antibiotics and just advised us not to induce vomiting and to give her small amounts of water and food throughout the day (0.5 ml at a time). No other veterinary clinics accept chickens  I'm starting to feel really hopeless


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I know the feeling. All of us know that feeling. We do what we can for them when they're down. Sometimes it's just out of our hands. Hard to accept, I know. 

This is a crop issue. Even avian vets are not great with chickens. Your vet probably only had a very short period studying the health of poultry but she's giving it a try anyway.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> I know the feeling. All of us know that feeling. We do what we can for them when they're down. Sometimes it's just out of our hands. Hard to accept, I know.
> 
> This is a crop issue. Even avian vets are not great with chickens. Your vet probably only had a very short period studying the health of poultry but she's giving it a try anyway.


Yeah  I was heartbroken when I lost my first two chicks. One had wry-neck syndrome so we fed him regularly with a dropper and took good care of him. Couldn't save him no matter how hard we tried. 

Right, I appreciate her help, regardless. I just wish I could talk to an expert here  We really scoured the area for a vet that could help her


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

When it involves the crop there is little that we can do without the help of a vet. Things like sour crop we can recognize and treat. If the crop is not emptying there is a reason. Since she's already on a sulfa drug I doubt highly it's sour crop or it would have improved by now.

This might help you to understand what might be going on with her: Crop stasis in Chickens

We all know a lot but that doesn't mean we have fixes for all of it. Sometimes a vet is our only option. And even those with good knowledge of poultry issues can't fix everything.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> When it involves the crop there is little that we can do without the help of a vet. Things like sour crop we can recognize and treat. If the crop is not emptying there is a reason. Since she's already on a sulfa drug I doubt highly it's sour crop or it would have improved by now.
> 
> This might help you to understand what might be going on with her: Crop stasis in Chickens
> 
> We all know a lot but that doesn't mean we have fixes for all of it. Sometimes a vet is our only option. And even those with good knowledge of poultry issues can't fix everything.


I was hopeful that the medicine would work by now. Thank you for the link. It's very helpful. We fed our chickens water spinach stalks last Sunday. That might be the culprit. Could be a GI obstruction, but can't tell for sure.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't think it would have manifested that quickly. 

Something that might help you in the future, check each one for bright, round eyes. You don't have to pick them up to do that. It's usually the first sign something isn't right even though they seem to be acting normally. It's only after they can't hide their illness that they show signs of it. That can take quite a while. 

Observation is really your best friend when it comes to these guys. If you notice something that doesn't look right, observe first. Watch what might look different. 

I've found this one thing in my toolbox that is most effective.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> I don't think it would have manifested that quickly.
> 
> Something that might help you in the future, check each one for bright, round eyes. You don't have to pick them up to do that. It's usually the first sign something isn't right even though they seem to be acting normally. It's only after they can't hide their illness that they show signs of it. That can take quite a while.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Robin. This is an important lesson for me. I should be observing the chicks more carefully. Time is of the essence


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Observation is the most important thing. It might take several days to determine something is actually wrong. Like pullets just getting to lay their first eggs can be really down until they lay that first egg. But they're OK and need no intervention. 

It's learning. We still learn something new everyday, even those that have raised them for years. 

One of the things that help us when we're trying to give answers is a complete picture of what the owner sees. The crop thing was a tough one but once you mentioned the throwing up it had me thinking in that direction.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Observation is the most important thing. It might take several days to determine something is actually wrong. Like pullets just getting to lay their first eggs can be really down until they lay that first egg. But they're OK and need no intervention.
> 
> It's learning. We still learn something new everyday, even those that have raised them for years.
> 
> One of the things that help us when we're trying to give answers is a complete picture of what the owner sees. The crop thing was a tough one but once you mentioned the throwing up it had me thinking in that direction.


Waah I'm thankful for this forum and the chicken community  so many questions answered because of other people's years of experience with these things. I'm learning A LOT too, the hard way huhu

It's a bit sad that the chicks' health can deteriorate so rapidly that you have a really small window of time between when the symptoms first show and when things get really bad


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It depends on what the problem is on how quickly intervention is needed. Most of the time we have a few days once we see that change in the eyes. By the time they show signs of illness thing are really, really bad. 

We do try. We love sharing stories about our flocks, our other critters and the dumb things we get into on a daily basis. We're not cliquish and really enjoy faces. Those from outside the US teach us so much even in ways that are not always poultry based.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> It depends on what the problem is on how quickly intervention is needed. Most of the time we have a few days once we see that change in the eyes. By the time they show signs of illness thing are really, really bad.
> 
> We do try. We love sharing stories about our flocks, our other critters and the dumb things we get into on a daily basis. We're not cliquish and really enjoy faces. Those from outside the US teach us so much even in ways that are not always poultry based.


Happy to be part of this community


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Tokay passed away earlier this afternoon  We tried to make her last moments comfortable. This morning, she got to eat her favorite chopped bamboo leaves. We also brought her out to see the view from the mountainside. Thank you so much for all your help. As much as it breaks my heart, some things are beyond our control. We did our best to save our favorite baby, but at least (I'd like to think) she is happy in chickie heaven now, eating all her favorite foods.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

One of the most unselfish things we can do is let them go when all else has failed. You allowed that to happen, it showed your care. 

I'm sorry this didn't work out better because the pain for us chicken is people is real when we lose those we care for.


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## Manokie (Jun 22, 2021)

robin416 said:


> One of the most unselfish things we can do is let them go when all else has failed. You allowed that to happen, it showed your care.
> 
> I'm sorry this didn't work out better because the pain for us chicken is people is real when we lose those we care for.


Waah, so hard to let go. But thank you  We keep some, we lose some.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yeah, it's what we say but it's not the way we feel.


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## K10sal (May 16, 2020)

I’m so sorry you lost her. I know how tough that is. I went through it last year, and Robin is who helped me. It was the sweetest little Polish. It appeared to be wry neck, but unsure why. I gave it all I had and had to accept the outcome. But it wasn’t easy.

I wonder if feeding starter at 3 months old could present a problem for some? Here’s my train of thought…
I will occasionally go on a high protein diet as I’m trying to build muscle. But I can’t stay on it for long. My kidneys start to hurt (almost feel similar to a kidney stone), and I get constipated. Once upon a time I ended up in the hospital for severe vomiting…and come to find out, it’s because nothing was moving in my intestines due to pain medication from surgery. I would imagine that chickens too have a limit on the amount of protein their bodies can handle. Some may tolerate the higher amounts for longer than others. I wonder if it’s possible that the higher protein in the starter was just too much for Tokay? I’m not a vet nor a chicken expert…just trying to think of possibilities.

sending you hugs


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