Suddenly lethargic hen with strange bumps and clear saliva

[Intentfire280]

This is a very long post compared to most of the help questions I've seen. If I can get advice I would really appreciate it.

All right so this is my smallest of four Welsummers: The Runt. She's always been smaller than her sisters but she has a pretty active personality and is extremely vocal. However i went out around 7:00 this morning and found her perching on the steps of a shed we have and kind of looking like she was sleepy. I picked her up without too much resistance and the first thing I noticed was that she had a bunch of growths on her face that hadn't been there yet. If they had it was just the dry looking bit around her comb but definitely not around her wattle yet. Dry part also might have increased since it looks like she sort of has a dandruff on the back of her head. I also noticed after handling her that she had just a little bit of clear spit trailing down out of her mouth. From there I sat her on my lap and got her to let me look inside her mouth and there seem to be more clear spit around the back of her throat and sort of large thin bubbles. She ran away with decent enough energy but she's definitely not feeling herself. Crop was mostly if not completely empty, no strange smell compared to other chicken breath I've checked before, and wow the back of her mouth did look kind of pale I did not see any obvious sores. I don't think there's any discharge from the eyes and she's just about a year old.

She and her sisters completely free range our backyard mostly because I haven't gotten to integrating them into the main Chicken run and I just find it cute honestly. Now we are in East Texas which has been pretty hot and humid for the past few weeks. Once the Sun starts coming out all of these little free rangers retreat to underneath a work tool shed. The foundation is on a bunch of cinder blocks so it's lifted pretty high so none of the chickens really have to crouch their heads or anything to fit under there and just sort of hang out there until the sun goes down or they think I'm bringing snacks. I mention this because She also has had some strange sort of growths or bumps around her feet that I feel confident isn't bumblefoot considering I've already had to treat that with her sister. Figured it might be some sort of fungal growth from being under a shed all day everyday so I ordered some miconazole cream that has seemingly been lost by Amazon.
Now I don't know if these issues are connected or separate. Since she likes to dig through the compost and dirt a part of me is hoping she just ate something bad and will get over it while also having some sort of fungal growth. However she's usually the first to greet so I guess you could say I'm worried enough to finally use this account for any advice if it could be something like wet fowl pox or another respiratory infection. We've only really had dry pox in my flock before as far as I know. I know my photos probably stink so I'll try to get some better ones after I get out of church if need be. I snapped one last photo which hopefully is a sign that maybe she feels slightly better during the daytime as now she seems content enough to play in the compost even if she still does look kinda rough started roosting on the edge and sleeping right after. For the most part she's kind of just standing in place quietly while dozing off a bit. Comb looked pretty pale pale when she was at rest.

Once again sorry for the long thread and thank you so much to anybody who helps. Of course once I start calling her by her little title this happens, but I'm hoping for the best.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

This is a very long post compared to most of the help questions I've seen. If I can get advice I would really appreciate it.

All right so this is my smallest of four Welsummers: The Runt. She's always been smaller than her sisters but she has a pretty active personality and is extremely vocal. However i went out around 7:00 this morning and found her perching on the steps of a shed we have and kind of looking like she was sleepy. I picked her up without too much resistance and the first thing I noticed was that she had a bunch of growths on her face that hadn't been there yet. If they had it was just the dry looking bit around her comb but definitely not around her wattle yet. Dry part also might have increased since it looks like she sort of has a dandruff on the back of her head. I also noticed after handling her that she had just a little bit of clear spit trailing down out of her mouth. From there I sat her on my lap and got her to let me look inside her mouth and there seem to be more clear spit around the back of her throat and sort of large thin bubbles. She ran away with decent enough energy but she's definitely not feeling herself. Crop was mostly if not completely empty, no strange smell compared to other chicken breath I've checked before, and wow the back of her mouth did look kind of pale I did not see any obvious sores. I don't think there's any discharge from the eyes and she's just about a year old.

She and her sisters completely free range our backyard mostly because I haven't gotten to integrating them into the main Chicken run and I just find it cute honestly. Now we are in East Texas which has been pretty hot and humid for the past few weeks. Once the Sun starts coming out all of these little free rangers retreat to underneath a work tool shed. The foundation is on a bunch of cinder blocks so it's lifted pretty high so none of the chickens really have to crouch their heads or anything to fit under there and just sort of hang out there until the sun goes down or they think I'm bringing snacks. I mention this because She also has had some strange sort of growths or bumps around her feet that I feel confident isn't bumblefoot considering I've already had to treat that with her sister. Figured it might be some sort of fungal growth from being under a shed all day everyday so I ordered some miconazole cream that has seemingly been lost by Amazon.
Now I don't know if these issues are connected or separate. Since she likes to dig through the compost and dirt a part of me is hoping she just ate something bad and will get over it while also having some sort of fungal growth. However she's usually the first to greet so I guess you could say I'm worried enough to finally use this account for any advice if it could be something like wet fowl pox or another respiratory infection. We've only really had dry pox in my flock before as far as I know. I know my photos probably stink so I'll try to get some better ones after I get out of church if need be. I snapped one last photo which hopefully is a sign that maybe she feels slightly better during the daytime as now she seems content enough to play in the compost even if she still does look kinda rough started roosting on the edge and sleeping right after. For the most part she's kind of just standing in place quietly while dozing off a bit. Comb looked pretty pale pale when she was at rest.

Once again sorry for the long thread and thank you so much to anybody who helps. Of course once I start calling her by her little title this happens, but I'm hoping for the best.

Re-check the inside of her beak for any lesions.

The bumps looks like Fowl Pox, treatment options are in the article below, I suggest you read it through.

She's lethargic or not, I'm unclear from the post, it's quite long...

When was her last egg or is she molting?

Crop is hanging lowish, is it empty or not first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink?

Work on hydration, get her eating her normal feed. Paint lesions on the wattles and feet with Iodine to help dry them up.



https://the-chicken-chick.com/fowl-pox-prevention-treatmen/

 

[Intentfire280]

Re-check the inside of her beak for any lesions.

The bumps looks like Fowl Pox, treatment options are in the article below, I suggest you read it through.

She's lethargic or not, I'm unclear from the post, it's quite long...

When was her last egg or is she molting?

Crop is hanging lowish, is it empty or not first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink?

Work on hydration, get her eating her normal feed. Paint lesions on the wattles and feet with Iodine to help dry them up.



https://the-chicken-chick.com/fowl-pox-prevention-treatmen/

Thanks for the reply. I'm still stuck at the church and I'm the ride but I'll get to buying some iodine and rechecking her mouth with a camera and light asap. I can at least answer the parts I made confusing though.

Unless something's changed when I get home she was pretty lethargic and she was just standing or roosting and dozing off. I got my hopes up because I went outside again and she was walking around the compost bin but a couple minutes later she's wnet back to just standing there quietly dozing off while on her feet.

I can't be exact about her last egg since I kind of just let her and her 3 other sisters lay inside of some old pots. But I'm fairly certain she is still laying. They have all been slowing down a bit from what I assumed was the heat but I have been finding 2 or 3 eggs each day and I know I least caught her mid lay on one of these past 4 days or so. I don't believe she is molting.

I'll have to check her crop again as well but if felt empty today and usually is every morning.

Would this sort of iodine work? Last time any of my hens had fowl pox there was no trouble so I've never had to really treat it.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ideal-animal-health-gentle-iodine-wound-spray

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, you can use that Iodine on the lesions, just paint it on so you don't disturb the scabs too much.

If she's not laid an egg and should have, I would give her 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet today, then once daily for a few days to see if that helps. She may be having some problems expelling a soft shelled egg or other material.

When you can, get a photo of her poop.

 

[Intentfire280]

Yes, you can use that Iodine on the lesions, just paint it on so you don't disturb the scabs too much.

If she's not laid an egg and should have, I would give her 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet today, then once daily for a few days to see if that helps. She may be having some problems expelling a soft shelled egg or other material.

When you can, get a photo of her poop.

All right, still needs to get that second look at the mouth. She's hanging out in the very back under that shed I mentioned. Soon as I get somebody willing to pop into the Sun and help me I'm going to crawl under so I can isolate her and actually get an eye on things like her poop and what she's eating. She's never had issues with laying eggs before and they always have access to oyster shell but honestly yeah better safe than sorry.

Mainly just replying right now again to say Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[Intentfire280]

Yes, you can use that Iodine on the lesions, just paint it on so you don't disturb the scabs too much.

If she's not laid an egg and should have, I would give her 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet today, then once daily for a few days to see if that helps. She may be having some problems expelling a soft shelled egg or other material.

When you can, get a photo of her poop.

Alrighty another update. I can still only take a look at the mouth myself as my helper is occupied. I again got some spit at the opening of her beak but not the concentrated chunks that I've seen on images of fowl pox. I don't want to hurt her so still waiting to get a look that's conclusive. I got her isolated into a small dog cage and since it's hot I put a small fan on her as well. When I found her she was just sitting underneath the shed pretty much asleep. Honestly didn't want to disturb her but I figure putting her in one place with food and water is probably my best chance of getting something in her as crop is still empty.
The ironic thing is that this is the most active I've seen her all day, as she explores her cage and tries to figure a way out of it. She hasn't shown much interest in the food or water and I have noticed that she kind of rubs her beak on the ground and sort of throws her head to the side softly and in what honestly looks like attempts to wipe off or dislodge spit. Going to leave her be for be for now in the cage and hopefully I can get a poop sample.

Also learned that you have to post video links instead of MP4, so hey I know that now.

 

[Intentfire280]

Yes, you can use that Iodine on the lesions, just paint it on so you don't disturb the scabs too much.

If she's not laid an egg and should have, I would give her 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet today, then once daily for a few days to see if that helps. She may be having some problems expelling a soft shelled egg or other material.

When you can, get a photo of her poop.

I finally got a photo of a poop and her mouth. The poop isn't very much and she spilled her water on it a little but it seemed about as intact as I could get it. The only bad news is she kicked a bit and disturbed her toe scabs so those popped a little blood and I put some triple antibiotic gel on them for now. Hadn't put iodine yet, should I hold on that for at least the toes now that the wound is exposed? I never even knew fowl pox could cause scabs on the feed like it would their faces. Those scabs had been there like over a week or more before any other issues. In any case thing is sitting kind of hunched and probably exhausted from all the prodding.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Nice photos of the inside of her beak, I don't see any lesions, but she does have quite a bit of saliva doesn't she.

Hard to know what's going on there, she seems pretty alert in the video.

I'd work on getting her hydrated and eating. Re-check the crop to see that it's emptying.

You can put triple antibiotic ointment on the feet if you wish.

 

[Intentfire280]

Nice photos of the inside of her beak, I don't see any lesions, but she does have quite a bit of saliva doesn't she.

Hard to know what's going on there, she seems pretty alert in the video.

I'd work on getting her hydrated and eating. Re-check the crop to see that it's emptying.

You can put triple antibiotic ointment on the feet if you wish.

So still thinking wet fowl pox right? I think I saw her drinking some but she might have just looked at it and then quit. Her crop has been empty all day. It's getting late now so I'm thinking for now I'll just carefully drip her a little bit of Pedialyte and water. In the morning I'll try fresh feed again and maybe some egg. Thinking I might need to consider forcing a wet mash if she gets weak. She really doesn't seem interested in eating beyond a quick few pecks. Still alert enough but definitely more interested in getting to sleep. Thanks again for the help. I'll update the thread depending on how things go.

Updating this real fast, I think I felt just a little bit of something in her crop while changing her cage. Might just be water but at least it's something.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So still thinking wet fowl pox right? I think I saw her drinking some but she might have just looked at it and then quit. Her crop has been empty all day. It's getting late now so I'm thinking for now I'll just carefully drip her a little bit of Pedialyte and water. In the morning I'll try fresh feed again and maybe some egg. Thinking I might need to consider forcing a wet mash if she gets weak. She really doesn't seem interested in eating beyond a quick few pecks. Still alert enough but definitely more interested in getting to sleep. Thanks again for the help. I'll update the thread depending on how things go.

Updating this real fast, I think I felt just a little bit of something in her crop while changing her cage. Might just be water but at least it's something.

I don't see any lesions inside the beak, so I'm not sure if it's Wet Form of Fowl Pox or not, could be she's at the beginning stages of it showing as lesions in the beak, so I'd check that every day.

As for the external lesions, you can paint those with Iodine to help dry them up.

Is she molting? Sometimes they go off their feed during molt.