[alisonwo]

A bit of advise please:  Blackie one of my dozen hens is poorly, she is 2 years old been a good layer but stopped laying some weeks ago.  She has the typical sick chicken stance, head down eyes half closed, she was drinking yesterday and eating, but this morning still looks the same, has not drunk anything but eaten a little corn.  I have her in a box over a warm radiator with food and water.  No obvious signs of say egg binding or impacted crop, although her underneath seems swollen, compared to the others and she is shaking her head a lot.  They were all wormed 2 weeks ago so its not that, not gaping with her beak at all.  Haven't a clue what is wrong, any ideas?? 

[joyfull]

is her chest rattly or her eyes bubbly? Does she have the sniffles?

[Holly Carney]

Sounds simular to ours - she had egg peritonitis!

[alisonwo]

Hi no sniffles or runny nose, no coughing or wheezing or sneezing

[joyfull]

get her to a vet asap if it is egg peritonitis, which will account for the underneath swelling but not sure about the head shakin bit.

[alisonwo]

Hi Joyfull - I don't think it is egg peritonitis, she hasn't laid an egg for some weeks so far as I am aware.  The head shaking is almost constant now too.

[joyfull]

check for mites and lice. What breed is she?

[alisonwo]

Black Rock Joyfull, will check now for lice and mites

[joyfull]

I would take her to a vets for a thorough check up if you dont find any crawlies - she could have something like an inner ear infection which could put her off balance so this could be why she is head shaking.

[alisonwo]

Will do Joyfull thanks for the advice

[alisonwo]

Hi Joyfull, hubby seems to think it could be impacted crop, have just got some cod liver oil down her and he is busy massaging her crop at the moment.  Absolutely no sign of lice or mites on her btw

[joyfull]

to tell if it is impacted she will show signs of a full crop first thing in the morning as their crop should be empty then.
Just out of curiosity what did you use to worm them?

[alisonwo]

We used Flubenvet Joyfull, it seems to the best one.  To update you her crop was hard first thing so it must have been that.  Having massaged her crop after giving her a little bit of cod liver oil we heard it gurgle as it moved downwards.  She has now had some sloppy porridge but still has not taken water, although she would have done in the porridge of course.  She is still in her box in our warm living room and although initially she perked up a bit, she has now hunched down again with eyes closed.  By the way she hasn't had a poo since we bought her in 4 hours ago.

[joyfull]

never timed mine as to their frequency of their poohs, but if she hasn't had any food going down there would be none to pass.

[Holly Carney]

Just because she hasn't laid recently doesn't rule out egg peritonitis - , we have lost 2 girls that way, the bloated abdomen is a sure sign, the first one we lost to it went on for about 2 weeks but i think that was only cos we we're tube feding her!
her poo's can be a big give away.

keep us informed xx