Lethargic hen, not wanting to eat, green poo

[Peep-Chicken]

Here we go again with a sick chicken. That’s the problem with having old girls.

I have this Swedish Flower Hen Reid who is 4 years old. Last week I saw her being lethargic. She’d come outside and just sit. So I brought her inside. The first night she ate on her own, not enough to fill her crop though. After that she didn’t want to eat, even treats. I learned how to tube feed, and I’ve been doing that the past couple days. I brought her outside yesterday and she acted pretty good, she ate some and ran around and played with the other hens. She still is ‘sad’ though and doesn’t eat on her own. She did this last year too, where she was lethargic for a few days, but had gotten better with Wazine. I’ve done Wazine this past week with no results. I heard that that only kills one type of work though, so maybe Reid has something else?

 

[azygous]

How is the quality of her eggs? This is one cause of lethargy in an older hen. If she is having shell quality issues, she could have a stuck egg, or worse.

Along with that, she could be suffering from a reproductive infection. Feel her belly below her vent. If it's swollen and red, she may have an infection.

If you suspect worms or coccidiosis, I highly recommend taking a stool specimen to your vet and asking for a fecal float test to see if coccidia eggs are present in a heavier than normal load, and if worms are the culprit and what species they are so you know which medicine to use to target them.