[R_A_W]

Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice about my pet hen, Mavis.
She's a Rhode Island Red hybrid and about 3 years old.
She's been off colour for a few days now and I don't know what's wrong with her.
Very wistful looking, perking up for a little and then standing still/sitting down for long periods of time. Comb looks paler and a little darker perhaps. She also seems to have watery diarrhoea and a bit of a dirty vent. Eating and drinking OK, if a little less. She isn't wheezing or anything, I've checked the poop for worms and couldn't find anything. I'm always on the lookout for red mite etc, have checked both her, the coop and my other hen Dolly and can't find anything at all. Dolly is absolutely fine.
Mave has also stopped laying, but then again she doesn't lay much anymore because I know she's quite old now.
Any advice? Could this just be the effects of old age and constant laying setting in? She's a lovely bird and I don't want to have to say goodbye to her just yet 

[helens-hens]

Hi there

I'm not an expert but diarrhoea can be a sign of worms, do you know when she would have last been wormed? Hens have to have quite a heavy infestation for them to be visible in the droppings. Is the diarrhoea a 'normal' colour?

Does she have any sign of a temperature?

[R_A_W]

I wormed her earlier, she really seems to have improved now. There weren't any worms in the poo but of course that doesn't mean that she doesn't have worms.  Comb seems back to a normal colour and she's more active now too. And she yammed a load of corn earlier too so fingers crossed that she will get better.

She started stretching her neck out and to the side, which scared me. So I gave the lady that sold me her a call and we wormed both of our hens. Thanks for your advice 

How do you know if your hen has a temperature?

[helens-hens]

Stretching her neck out like that could be because she was trying to move the contents of her crop (you mentioned she had just a fair quantity of food (I have seen mine do that).

Apparently the way to see if their temperature is too high is to feel the temperature under one of her wings and then compare by doing the same with a healthy hen. If their temperature is really high you would probably notice just by handling her (I had one like that last year & unfortunately she died the following day).

It sounds as though she is on the mend, that's the main thing 

[8doubles]

Are there any poisonous plants she has been pecking at ?

One of my hens decided to eat foxgloves (digitalis) which did her no good !

She`s still with us but it slowed her right down.

[grinling]

what did you worm her with?
have you cleaned her vent area and checked inside (vasaline finger) for broken egg?
Is her crop solid/foul smelling/hard?
Does she have access to green vegetation?