Hen with a Limp, Labored Breathing, Drooping Tail, and Fatigue [Update: Worm Found]

[Tiffany Wikk]

This morning my Speckled Sussex hen, Brynn (13 mo old) began limping. I've looked over her foot and leg and can't see anything obvious that looks like an injury.

She lets me touch it as if it doesn't hurt but favors it when she walks. I gave her half a pill of Vitamin B complex, 400 IU of Vitamin E, 630 mg of Calcium Citrate +D3, and some Nutridrench. She's eating and drinking plenty. She hasn't lost her appetite. I cleaned and wrapped her foot up for protection and padding, and she seemed to walk a little better after that.

I put her back out with the other chickens, and she ran straight to the nest box. I left her out there for about 10 minutes and came back to check on her. She was out of the nest box standing next to the waterer and had her tail drooped. I scooped her up and brought her back inside, and now she's sleeping on a blanket next to me on the couch. Her tail is very drooped, and she's definitely not feeling well.

Weights:
10 Months Old: 5 lbs. 11.5 oz.
11 Months Old: 5 lbs. 8 oz.
13 Months Old: 5 lbs. 10 oz.

She has pood several times. Most are relatively normal size poos but a little runny.

She lost all of her bottom feathers on March 2, 2024. Her bum has been very red for quite some time. She isn't growing the feathers back yet.

Her abdomen is about the size of a grapefruit. It is not rock hard, nor is it sloshy and squishy. It is firm but squeezable. It varies on hardness depending on whether she is breathing in or out. I can feel the air sac. The abdomen sags lower than her keel (?) bone. I can still feel her keel bone. It is not very defined though.

She has labored breathing that pulsates her tail and bottom up and down. She is holding her wings away from her body. It is 78 degrees inside, yet she is panting. She was moving all about this morning, but now she is laying down sleeping.

Here's a picture of her bum from a bit ago (it looks the same now):

Here's some from today:

Stance:

Labored Breathing:

 

[alinas2010]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive

Can you take a look at her? What are the options?

How is she doing, guys?

 

[Tiffany Wikk]

How is she doing, guys?

Brynn is hanging in there. She's been asleep most of this time. She's not interested in food anymore. We just syringe fed her a little more Nutridrench and some sugar water. She walked around a bit and is now back to sleeping.
Thanks for helping, Alina!

 

[Eggcessive]

Did you see any green bruising or swelling on her leg before you wrapped it? She kind of curls her toes and acts like her foot is a bit numb when she takes a step. Was she vaccinated for Mareks when she was a chick? I would offer her wet chicken feed and some scrambled egg up to her beak several times a day, in case she cannot get to them. Do you have a rooster or cockerel who could have hurt her? Her red lower belly probably is due to feather picking. Has she been laying eggs? Could you get a picture of her normal dropping with the white cap?

 

[ChicNmom]

Is there a lot of weight in the saggy abdomen? That could cause the panting if there is pressure building up.

 

[Tiffany Wikk]

Thank you so so much for taking your time to help! I am truly grateful!

Did you see any green bruising or swelling on her leg before you wrapped it? She kind of curls her toes and acts like her foot is a bit numb when she takes a step.

No, I couldn't find any bruising whatsoever. There is virtually no swelling, but there is perhaps a tiny amount on one of her toes.

Was she vaccinated for Mareks when she was a chick?

No, she was not vaccinated for Marek's unless the hatchery vaccinated without my knowledge.

I would offer her wet chicken feed and some scrambled egg up to her beak several times a day, in case she cannot get to them.

Will do!

Do you have a rooster or cockerel who could have hurt her?

Yes, I have a Speckled Sussex rooster that's the same age as her. Overall he seems to be a very good rooster compared to what I have heard of other people's roosters. I haven't observed him being rough with the hens. He's been very gentle with them. There may have been an accident that I am not aware of, though.

Has she been laying eggs?

I am unaware of the last egg she layed. If I had to make a guess, she hasn't regularly laid since early June. (This was when we de-wormed them all and several others went into shock from an overload of dying worms seen in this thread. I'm not aware of her consistently laying since then.) She may occasionally lay, and I miss it. She isn't laying every day. We have two Speckled Sussex hens and we only get one SS egg at a time, and I'm pretty certain that's our other hen's --not Brynn's.

Could you get a picture of her normal dropping with the white cap?

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of her more normal poos from earlier today. I thought she had just injured her foot at that point and wasn't aware she was going to go so downhill from there.
Here is one of her more recent poos that was stranger than the others (~5 hours ago):

There were two other poos she gave while we were syringe feeding her some Nutridrench (~1hr and a half ago):

 

[CCsGarden]

Thank you so so much for taking your time to help! I am truly grateful!

No, I couldn't find any bruising whatsoever. There is virtually no swelling, but there is perhaps a tiny amount on one of her toes.
View attachment 3917917

No, she was not vaccinated for Marek's unless the hatchery vaccinated without my knowledge.

Will do!

Yes, I have a Speckled Sussex rooster that's the same age as her. Overall he seems to be a very good rooster compared to what I have heard of other people's roosters. I haven't observed him being rough with the hens. He's been very gentle with them. There may have been an accident that I am not aware of, though.

I am unaware of the last egg she layed. If I had to make a guess, she hasn't regularly laid since early June. (This was when we de-wormed them all and several others went into shock from an overload of dying worms seen in this thread. I'm not aware of her consistently laying since then.) She may occasionally lay, and I miss it. She isn't laying every day. We have two Speckled Sussex hens and we only get one SS egg at a time, and I'm pretty certain that's our other hen's --not Brynn's.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of her more normal poos from earlier today. I thought she had just injured her foot at that point and wasn't aware she was going to go so downhill from there.
Here is one of her more recent poos that was stranger than the others (~5 hours ago):
View attachment 3917920

There were two other poos she gave while we were syringe feeding her some Nutridrench (~1hr and a half ago):
View attachment 3917931
View attachment 3917932

The second picture of her poo is very white . my hen had white poo like this as well. I heard that heat can cause this.
Looking at the other pictures it seems like she's not eating a lot. Did she have full crop this morning? Or yesterday?

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

Her red lower belly probably is due to feather picking.

I am @Tiffany Wikk's sister.

Thank you so much for helping us, Eggcessive! We really appreciate you and all the work you do to help us chicken keepers on here. I specifically look up posts from you to learn!

When Brynn first lost her feathers back in May, I made a thread to see if anybody could help me. Some of our other hens were losing feathers too. Several wonderful people came and helped us out! They suggested feather picking may have been the issue. Several of our hens started doing much better when we applied the advice given!

Brynn and Molly (both Speckled Sussex) stopped losing feathers, but never grew their previous feathers back. I never see any blood from broken pin-feathers. They just don't ever seem to develop any new growth. I haven't witnessed any feather-picking myself.

I believe they should have enough protein in their feed: 19-20%.
Recently, I started learning from U_Stormcrow about the importance of Methionine in a chicken's diet. I went to examine the two feeds we use. One of them was excellent: 0.55% Methionine.
However, the other one is quite low: 0.1%
I am going to try to increase their Methionine intake to make sure they have enough to grow feathers properly.

The part that concerns me the most is that Brynn's abdomen is red, flaky, and seems to be swollen. Since we are new to chicken keeping, I have trouble knowing what to feel for and to know what I am actually feeling.

I have been worried about Ascites or EYP, but I really don't know much about them.

Thank you so much for helping us out!

 

[CCsGarden]

The part that concerns me the most is that Brynn's abdomen is red, flaky, and seems to be swollen.

That concerns me too

 

[Elspeth Dinsmore]

The second picture of her poo is very white . my hen had white poo like this as well. I heard that heat can cause this.
Looking at the other pictures it seems like she's not eating a lot. Did she have full crop this morning? Or yesterday?

Thanks for helping, CC!
Thankfully, Brynn eats a lot every day. She's my forager. When she was three months old, she attempted to swallow a 12 inch snake whole and alive (I was able to grab it before she swallowed all the way and pull it back out .)

She always has a very full crop at nighttime. I noticed the past few days that she hasn't completely digested everything in her crop by morning time. It does go down significantly, though.

She foraged for hours yesterday and ate all sorts of things.

This morning she continued to eat a lot despite feeling poor and not being able to walk well.

Tiff said that she was continuing to eat while laying down. "She was acting like a goat."