[Beano]

I have a young hen around 18 months old that has not been well for approx. a week.
It started on Sunday 17. She just looked down and was not eating or scratching around with the others. She spent most of the afternoon hunched up in the crab apple tree. On Monday 18 I took her to the vet who was convinced it was not contagious and that it was a gastro-intestinal infection. She was prescribed Baytril for 4 days and she seemed to pick up by the end of last week. I'm still not happy with her though. She picks up layers pellets or corn and just drops them again. They were wormed two months ago but I have started worming them again this week, just in case. She will eat cake, grapes, nuts etc. which is better than nothing. Her poo is runny but I think that is due to the fact that she's not eating properly and she seems quite weak. The last egg she layed was a week last Friday and it was perfectly fine. I might try her on some bio yogurt tonight.
I would welcome any suggestions on what to try next.

[Beano]

She was slow to come out of the coop this morning and it was a job to get her to eat anything. The only thing she ate was some boiled egg. She was quite weak this morning with runny poo. I really dont know what to try next.
I'm in work at the moment and I'm just hoping she will have perked up a bit by tonight.

[Casey76]

As she still isn't right I'd be tempted to take her back to the vet, as the antibiotics obviously haven't had much effect

[helens-hens]

The very fact that she is eating is promising even if she is being a bit picky! Have you tried making the layers pelets into porridge by adding and mixing in a small amount of warm water & per haps adding a pinch of poultry spice (if you have some)? Mine love this and it will be more nutricious for her.

Hope she picks up & gets better soon

[Beano]

Thanks for the replies. I have found that she will have a little sip/peck at layers pellets when I've just added water to them and they are very sloppy. I'll try some poultry spice in it tonight. She was quite chirpy last night and was as fast as any of them when it came to having Flubenvet on grapes. She also had a roam around the rest of the garden with the others when I got home from work. It's just that this morning she had gone back a step or two.

[Beano]

She's still sick!!
I took her back to the vet on Friday and was given more Baytril and a sachet of powder (electrolite) to put in her water. The vet said that it is essential that we get her to eat.
We have tried everything : boiled egg, chick crumb, fat balls for wild birds, raisins, cake, cat food. The only thing we can get her to eat is fresh corn on the cob and then she only picks at it. We're getting desperate. I'm amazed that she keeps going on so little food.
She feel so skinny and she is still squitting watery poo but that might be lack of food.
She drinks a lot but will not touch the electrolite water. We are keeping her separate during the day withing sight of the others because they are starting to sense that she is weak and are picking on her and so that she has a chance to eat. I've left her today with both sets of water a saucer of bio yougurt, chopped up tomato, sweetcorn and some chick crumb with raisins.
I've spent most of the weekend watching her and willing desperately for her to eat and get better.
What on earth else can I do? Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

[joyfull]

make a gruel up of chick crumb and try syringing in a little bit at a time (you do have to be careful doing this and do just syring into her mouth not down her throat).

[Beano]

Thanks joyfull, will try that tonight.

[newChickenMummy]

Hi Beano

I just lost one of my girls and she had the same symptoms as yours, turns out it was a prolapse but we didn't realise until we took her to the vets but she had to be put to sleep 

Has the vet checked her vent?

Liz x

[Beano]

Hi newChickenMummy,
Sorry to hear about your chicken.
The vet did have a look at her vent and I did. There was nothing to be seen there. Am I right in thinking that it would be visible from the outside?
She did eat some cat food last night. The strange thing is, we chopped a tomato up for her and left it in a saucer and she hadn't touched it in the day but when i threw some on the ground in front of her she ate it.

[newChickenMummy]

Yes you would see a red lump coming out of her vent and this would quickly attract flies who will lay eggs inside her. Could she be eggbound? Did the vet have a feel of her tummy? Other thing to consider is impacted or sour crop, I haven't experienced this with any of mine but if you have a feel it should feel a bit like a beanbag and not hard or really soft/squashy. If you can open her beak smell her breath as hens with sour crop will have a nasty smelling breath.

My thoughts are with you its very distressing to see one of your girls like this.

[Beano]

The first vet had a good look and feel of her and I have had a check to see if I could feel anything but nothing. I've also checked her crop and it just feels emptyish.
I'm beginning to think that she might have picked something nasty up off the ground. She's always been a big forager, much more that the others which would explain why they have been ok.
Both times at the vets, they were convinced it was gastro-intestinal. They took her temp. both times and it was on the high side of normal.
This has been going on since the 17th of last month and she's still mooching around. We are both fussing over her and trying our very best and I don't think that she is ill enough or suffering so much that we should have her put down.
The last vet she saw said that we should perservere with her and that's what we'll do for now.