[Izzy]

I have a poorly chook. On Tuesday afternoon she wasn't interested in food and stood away from the flock, hunched up with her eyelids drooping. I brought her inside. She is extremely skinny. So I put her in a warm, dark, draught-free spot in the hallway. I offered sweet, cooled porridge and water but she wasn't interested. She spent the night with her head under her wing. Was unchanged when I got home from work today but she had done 2 healthyish poos. I pipetted warm water containing sugar into her mouth and she took about 10 drinks from the sugary water. She barely opens her eyes and can hardly hold her head up.
 
She was a new POL in May and has been wormed twice this year. But obviously she is either not feeding or has a big worm burden. So if she pulls through I might manage to build her up.
 
But the shut eyes  - is that because she's just so near death's door? I'm sure I've read about light aversion as a symptom of something somewhere on t'interweb. There's nothing in my chook books.

[Marches Farmer]

Has the hen been outside on ground that previously had poultry on it?  Has she been wormed in the last month?  Have you checked her crop and vent?  Is her comb a healthy colour?  Have you checked her housing for red mite and her back end and under her wings for lice?  Are her pupils grey?

[chrismahon]

As Marches Farmer Izzy. Although you have wormed them what was it with? The crop condition is important as it could simply be sour crop, although the poo seems fairly normal. Clearly she hasn't been eating for a long time and is very run down now. Is her comb red?


We have two in a similar sounding condition. They are getting fed water and are left free ranging to encourage movement.

[Izzy]

Her crop is empty, not sour or compacted.
 
Comb small, pale, tinged dark (cold damage?).
 
Zero external parasites. Vent and skin nice n healthy. Feet healthy.
 
Wormed with the white powder that is a fiddle to imcorporate with pellets - Flubenvet I think? I have never been entirely confident about how sure you can be that each chook gets enough dose. Most recently I have followed advice on here to dribble oil over the measured amout of pellets prior to adding powder which was certainly better but I still feel only a proportion of the powder is going down each gullet.
 
We are going to the vet today, probably for despatch. Thank you all. Will update if she survives the vet visit.

[chrismahon]

May be a heart problem or internal tumours (lymphoid lucosis). Flubenvet only works added to food if the hen is eating -it could still be worms. Problem is as the worms die they give off toxins that can poison the bird, which is why it is important to control the level of worms regularly.