# Sick Hen



## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

When I went to let my chickens out, I discovered one of my Partridge Rocks is very ill. I picked her up which she normally not even come close to letting me do and realized how wasted she was. Her crop is soft but bloated. I've separated her, but now how should I proceed?


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

The first thing I do is get them warm by placing them in a room or cage that's 80-85 degrees. Once warm, I check them for mites/lice and dust them if needed.

How old is she? Is her crop full of liquid or is it firm? What does her poop look like?


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Like Kathy mentions, poop is frequently a guide to what's wrong.

I'm sure you'll go thru the common causes like mites, lice, *worms*. I learned the hard way that worms called Capillaria need more than normal worming to kill.

Even in an adult, you need to consider coccidiosis.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Well at this point, I may too late. I looked online for issues with the crop being soft but bloated. I found several references to sour crop and what to do for yhat. The most consistent answers seemed to be plain cultured yogurt, which I have none at this time, mixed with a little olive oil and water. I used some cultured sour cream instead. I got a couple tsp down her and a tsp or so of water. I put her some fresh hay under a shelter. Now we wait. She is trying to lay down but is fighting it. I'll go back and check her in a couple hours.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I did massage a little and it brought up some foul greenish liquid and a little grass.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I just brought the hen to my garage and put the heat lamp on her. I thought she was dead but when touched her she opened her eyes but didnt struggle. I gave her more of my concoction and water which she swallowed down. At least she's closer so I don't have so far to check on her.
I didn't see any mites and I haven't noticed any weird poos. Her skin is dry and like a human who is dehydrated stands up when I pinch it together.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I wonder if you'd be willing to tube her? It would get more water into her, and you can add some electrolytes. Casportpony is the Mother of all Tube feeders . She has diagrams and everything.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I would actually try, but I think I'm too late. Jim said he thought she died right after we moved her.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

She was in the neighborhood of 3 years old.
She hadn't shown any noticeable signs that I noticed of being ill, but we were gone for a few days.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

So sorry for your loss!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Very sorry you lost your hen


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Thank you. I'm just sorry that I didn't realize that she was so sick. 

Question. . Can a chicken get depressed? This girl is the one on my broody thread that wanted in the nest while her "sister " was broody and setting who stealing the eggs , but wasn't truly broody herself that I separated.


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

Sorry for your loss.


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## farmer_dude48 (Oct 10, 2015)

Help we are new to chickens !!!

I fed my hens ( layer pellets and scratch mix +a little grit ) later I found one of my girls laying around she had a touch of running white poop and a prolasp from straining and her crawl was packed and kinda hard.....

I tried massaging her crop to get her to puke it didn't help...

Did I feed her to much??? I use straw for bedding would she have ate some of that ??? I always keep plenty of water for them to drink.. I don't know what I did wrong.. Any ideas?????


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

You know, I'm pretty new to chickens myself so I'll defer to some of oyr seasoned chicken folks to answer this one. She's obviously impacted but I really don't know what to do. This site has several very experienced raiser/breeders. If you dont get an answer soon you might try starting a new thread. There may not be anyone looking since I lost my hen yesterday. Hope you get an answer soon!!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Hi farmerdude, no you didn't overfeed your hen. If her crop feels hard and full, put her by herself and just give her water and see if the crop emptied or not overnight. If it didn't, then don't give her any food other than watery stuff, or pieces of bread white soaked in a bit of oil and some water, raw egg, or buttermilk. And she will need her crop messaged several times a day to help break up the mass. Eventually you will see some of the stomach contents come out in the poo and continue til it's gone. But do anything you can to get her to drink fluids or eat mushy watery food.

Yes they can eat straw or anything that can stop them up. Mine had weeds and grass do it.

Are you sure she doesn't have an egg stuck? 

I hope she didn't prolapse!


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## farmer_dude48 (Oct 10, 2015)

We checked for egg and didn't seem to be any..My wife reminded me that I gave them some head lettuce yesterday.. 

Going to check on her.

Thanks for the help.. I will let you know how it goes


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## farmer_dude48 (Oct 10, 2015)

Sadly she died last night...

I don't mind killing a animal for food as long as its done quickly and with little stress to the animal as possible.....

I don't like thinking a animal died because I didn't know what I was doing.......


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I'm sorry for your loss ! I feel the same way! We just lost one to probably very similar circumstances. I feel bad for this because she didn't act sick but when I did realize she was, it was too late.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Many times it out of your control. Crops may get impacted, but so do gizzards. There could be an egg problem. Cancer, tumors , etc. No one breeds chickens to live long. 

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure if there had been anything you could do, you would have done it.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I'm so sorry for your loss, we recently lost a broody hen and it's still sad to go to the coop and she's not there.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Yep... Always sad to loose them.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Can I ask you all were you get your animal meds without a vet?


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

nannypattyrn said:


> Can I ask you all were you get your animal meds without a vet?


I get mine mostly at feed stores.


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

nannypattyrn said:


> Can I ask you all were you get your animal meds without a vet?


I buy mine online. Many are sold as fish antibiotics or for pigeons.

-Kathy


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

I have only even bought stuff for lice... At the animal store and the hardware store.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Thanks, I see various folks talking about antibiotics oint, pills, shots and stuff, so I was wondering. Jim would never let me take a chicken to a vet, even if we had one who would see one, so I'm pretty reliant what I can find here or online. We don't have the large animals that some of you have like horses and such so I don't have need for a large animal vet.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

nannypattyrn said:


> Thanks, I see various folks talking about antibiotics oint, pills, shots and stuff, so I was wondering. Jim would never let me take a chicken to a vet, even if we had one who would see one, so I'm pretty reliant what I can find here or online. We don't have the large animals that some of you have like horses and such so I don't have need for a large animal vet.


I wouldnt take a chicken to a vet neither. For me, it would depend on what I'm dealing with. There are some chicken problems that I would automatically cull without question. Then there are others that I would provide long term care up to a month or two...but that's on rare occasions.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

If I had a bunch keeling over or getting sick.. I would take one to the vet.. Or stool samples, or a necropsy, or something like that.

Other than that... I couldn't justify the money spent.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I take our dogs and cat to a small animal vet. I probably could ask him questions if I needed to. We're new to him and still getting know him though. 
We usually just cull if they don't beat us to it.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

There's alot of variables in determining what could be wrong with a bird. Most vets dont know squat about birds and will still charge an arm and a leg. I try to determine what the problem ISNT first, then narrowing the problem down to what I suspect the problem might be. Some problems are cut and dry, others arnt, just depends on the situation.
I prefer not to give oral antibiotics, but have done so in the past and have ended up culling the birds. I culled a Barred Rock last month for suspected enteritis. I gave her liquid neomycin for 7 days, cephalexin for 5 days, probios the whole time with little or no improvement. Why pump all these antibiotics into their system when they could eventually cause internal organ damage, loss of egg production, excessive withdrawal periods? Culling is best.
If all my birds were keeling over or getting sick, I'd know it's something serious and would cull them in a heartbeat. Then I'd disinfect everything with oxine and repopulate in 9-10 months.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Thx,Dawg! We used chlorox diluted to disinfect for mites and the a permithium (sp) to kill the little suckers. I probably need to do it again.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I usually end up treating with broad spectrum stuff because I deal with some low immune system ailments and it could be any common bug. I think it's important to get a necropsy here and there to keep tabs on what the flock may be vulnerable to.


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## farmer_dude48 (Oct 10, 2015)

Help my girls are starting to get naked butts any ideas at all what I'm dealing with???


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

Might be Vent Gleet try this site http://www.ultimatefowl.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Index


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Naked Butt Syndrome


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

farmer_dude48 said:


> Help my girls are starting to get naked butts any ideas at all what I'm dealing with???


A couple pics might help.


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## farmer_dude48 (Oct 10, 2015)

Sorry don't have a way to take pics right now. They are starting to miss feathers from their bottoms all the way down between their legs. I thought they might have mites


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Mites look like pepper, are slow movers or dont move at all because they are sucking blood. Mites are 8 legged. Lice are white or off white in color and crawl fast. They feed off skin, feathers and fluff and have 6 legs.
If there is a very foul odor on their rear ends, it could possibly be Vent Gleet. Otherwise I would clean their rear ends as best as I could and apply Nu Stock to the red and/or bald areas. It's possible there's too much fluff and feathers were preventing feces dropping onto the ground, and urates are burning skin and causing irritation. The Nu Stock should heal the effected areas in time and feathers will regrow after the next molt. I recommend wearing disposable gloves when applying Nu Stock and shake the tube vigorously before applying it. Nu Stock is usually located in the equine section at a feed store.


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