Hello Everyone,
I am at a loss right now and am hoping your collective wisdom can help. I have an apparently sick hen. She is about 4-5 years old. In the last 48 hours she has stopped eating. The first day she spent the entire day just sitting on the perch in the coop. I brought her inside. She drinks water, but does not eat anything. I tried to tempt her with strawberry tops yesterday. She took a couple but immediately dropped them. She spends her time standing and sitting in the box in which I placed her. Right now, she is drinking water with added electrolytes. Thank you for any suggestions you can provide.
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That is weird. I am glad to hear your chicken recovered.
K. Can you look in her mouth with a light to see if she has anything observable? The thing that leaped to my mind was an illness (can't remember the name right now) which some of the wild doves get which makes them unable to eat properly. I believe there are observable symptoms in the mouth, a lot of 'swallowing' behavior and decline. Sorry your girl is suffering.
I looked, but did not see anything that looked abnormal (but, admittedly, I have never looked inside their mouths before). I will observe her more carefully to see if I see a lot of swallowing. Is mostly standing instead of sitting a symptom? I looked up egg binding, but that described repeated attempts to sit to lay an egg and that does not appear to match. I hate to see any of my birds suffering.
Thank you.
K. yes give another look. The water and the electrolyes should certainly aid her at least for the time being. If she is standing I would say she still has 'strength' - I don't remember specifics on the disease I'm thinking of but sitting would be more likely with it (insufficient strength).
I am not seeing her swallowing a lot so maybe the it is a sour crop as suggested from Az Hobby Farm.
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