Starvation from illness? Can chicken recover or am I just prolonging life?

[Samweber94]

I have an older hen about 7 or 8 years old. She stopped laying about 3 years ago and the last six months she's gone through mysterious illnesses that caused runny poop and her to stop eating. Each time I would give her a round of antibiotics and deformed and she would get better but two weeks later or so would go right back to being ill. This most recent bout I ordered a different mix of antibiotics to try to knock whatever it is out for good but they took longer to get here and I didn't realize how little she was really eating. When I picked her up she was super sharp and a body condition of 1. There was no fat or muscle on her whatsoever . I'm suspecting she got a bad strain of ecoli or cocci

Anyway, I started the antibiotics and gavage feeding twice a day. Her poop is back to normal and she's survived the last month on the tube feeding alone ( pecking every so often at meal worms and seeds ).
My question is is it possible to bring this hen back from starvation and hownlong will that recovery take? She doesn't move and when she walks she's super unbalanced and still does not eat on her own. I am going on a vacation in a few weeks and will not be able to tube feed her then so I want to make a decision before then

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen. It sounds like she won’t survive without your tube feeding. Is her crop emptying overnight? I would stop the tube feedings and see if she will eat on her own. If not, it might be better to consider putting her down, since she will probably suffer while you are gone.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have an older hen about 7 or 8 years old. She stopped laying about 3 years ago and the last six months she's gone through mysterious illnesses that caused runny poop and her to stop eating. Each time I would give her a round of antibiotics and deformed and she would get better but two weeks later or so would go right back to being ill. This most recent bout I ordered a different mix of antibiotics to try to knock whatever it is out for good but they took longer to get here and I didn't realize how little she was really eating. When I picked her up she was super sharp and a body condition of 1. There was no fat or muscle on her whatsoever . I'm suspecting she got a bad strain of ecoli or cocci

Anyway, I started the antibiotics and gavage feeding twice a day. Her poop is back to normal and she's survived the last month on the tube feeding alone ( pecking every so often at meal worms and seeds ).
My question is is it possible to bring this hen back from starvation and hownlong will that recovery take? She doesn't move and when she walks she's super unbalanced and still does not eat on her own. I am going on a vacation in a few weeks and will not be able to tube feed her then so I want to make a decision before then

So what I'm reading is that you never got a real diagnosis, so you are continuing to throw antibiotics at an unknown problem? Not knowing if there is even a bacterial infection your chosen antibiotics can even cure?

 

[Samweber94]

So what I'm reading is that you never got a real diagnosis, so you are continuing to throw antibiotics at an unknown problem? Not knowing if there is even a bacterial infection your chosen antibiotics can even cure?

Her main issue was the diarrhea which was cured with the antibiotics each time the last two times . She got 100% better within the first 2 days of antibiotics Her crop currently empties and functions and she has been pooping normal after this last round of different antibiotics and cocci treatment that I finished 2 weeks ago and her diarrhea hasn't returned.