Necrotic Enteritis? Something else?

Symptoms:
2-3 days ago she started isolating herself from her 3 other flock-mates. Looking uncomfortable, depressed. At first I thought it might be impacted crop and spent time massaging it (which she seemed to like..?). I isolated her in a dog crate so I could monitor her inputs (food/water) and outputs (poop). Unfortunately she is not taking many inputs from what I can tell and the outputs are diarrhea and some with blood in them.

Bird details:
She is a Buff Orpington whom we purchased as a chick in Jan '12 (named: Chicken Noodle). She has been healthy and growing as expected until this illness. She sleeps in a fairly large coop and has about an acre of fenced yard to free range in most of the day. She has 3 flock mates purchased at the same time, and an additional 8 younger mates, whom were added to the overall flock about 3-4 weeks ago, after about a week of isolation. All have been on Purina ChickStarter (medicated) and I mixed in chick-grit into the feeder. They have ample water through poultry nipples which they all seem to use fine. Her face/eyes/nose are all clear without discharge and no "coughing" or respiratory noises.

Environment details:
I have not used any sort of fertilizer or pesticides in any part of my yard for 8-10 years (gave up on a nice yard long ago). The coop gets it's litter changed about once a week and they mostly sleep on the roosting bars. The feeding area of the coop is on a concrete floor with no litter. I do have two dogs which are indoor/outdoor and use the same backyard. I was thinking she might have gotten too much long fiberous grasses in her crop, but it's not hard, mostly squishy (no foul smell though). There are doves and other wild birds in and about the chicken run area so one of them might be sick perhaps.

Current Actions:
I have started her on Neomycin Oral Solution (purchased at Tractor Supply). I also hand feed her yogurt and added a probiotic powder to her water source. The first dose was just administered.

Research so far:
I went to numerous websites (mostly universities) looking for illnesses and symptoms. There are a scary number of ways a chicken can get sick, but her symptoms sure seem isolated to just one or two things. I also spoke with a country vet who recommended the run to TSC for the Neomycin. He did say "her fate might already be sealed".. *pout*.

I'm not giving up as long as she seems able to stand and accept the treatments.

I have included some pics in case it helps isolate the ailment. I have not ruled out Coccidiosis either, but I would have thought that the chick-starter medicated feed would help with that.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044#
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis
http://fowlfacts.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=afflictiondiseaseff&action=display&thread=1213

Thank you in advance for any ideas you might have!

Michael

Why did the vet recommend neomycin? did he say what he thought it might be?

Does neomycin treat cocci too?

It was a phone call to him where I described all of the symptoms (and lack of other ones). He didn't see her or the pictures.

If it is Necrotic Enteritis the Neomycin will help. If it's Cocci then it would only help stop a secondary infection.
I suppose I could get some Corid (Amprolium) to treat for Cocci as well and then I cover both. I think TSC has that as well.

I don't know if you can mix them or not. I was just curious.

Good luck with your chicken

Thanks!

So far she's no worse and might actually be more perky. I gave her a 2nd dose of the Neomycin this evening and more yogurt, with extra probiotics tossed in for good measure. She seemed interested in the yogurt and ate it willingly. It looks like she is now starting to eat some of the chickstater (medicated) on her own. We might just pull this one out. I will keep her isolated until her droppings return to "normal" though and stick with the treatments as antibiotics should be run through a full course.

Sounds like you've got things under control now. that's great. Good luck.

Howdy Wisher... Thanks for checking in. I suspect it might mean you have a sick girl.. :-(

Here's the update.

I nursed her with the antibiotic for several days to kill the bad bugs in her gut. She started showing some improvement (more active, tail held a little higher, etc). I then added some "probiotic" powder to water and putting that into her as I weaned her off of the antibiotic. The thought was that as the antibiotic killed the "bad bugs" it would also kill the "good" bugs in her system, so they needed to be replaced back in. Does any of that really matter? I don't know, as I am not trained in vet medicine.

BUT, the good news is that she is a healthy and happy member of our little flock (7 girls, 1 boy). (I have some spoiled hens! But we love em!)

Any real country person would likely laugh at this city boy. I know I must have spent $ 30-50 in different things trying to nurse a $3.50 chick back to health. I suppose the upside is that I have enough large animal grade antibiotic and probotic to last me well past their expiration dates..! (all of that stuff is sold for goats on up to horses! so tiny tiny doeses to my pullet)

I hope your flock is happy and healthy, and if not, perhaps this post helps a little bit..

Here are a few pics related to the topic.

All the best!

Michael

Oh, good! I am thrilled to hear that happy ending! I was actually researching "enteritis" while looking into the meds in wild game starter that is used to prevent it in quail. Your thread was one of the many tangents I managed to get off on and I just wanted to know if your girl made it.

No, no laughing here. I just bought 100# of starter crumbles (two fifty pound bags) for one chick because I needed 22 - 24% protein and my only choices were 30% and 18%. Lucky for me, those, mixed half and half make 24% but MAN do I have a lot of extra starter!

I see you are new here, welcome!! I'd like to invite you to come on over to "The Old Folks Home" thread and chat with us. It may be a chance to commune with a smaller group of chicken lovers and have a bit of social fun as well. It is in the Random Ramblings forum and all are welcome. I know it can be difficult to find a regular thread to join, so if you want, try ours!

Thanks for the update.

Thank you SO much for posting this information and the pics of the medications you used. Your info saved the day!

I also have Buff Orpingtons, and a large amount of space for them to range, and have had 2.5 years with no issues. Then I introduced 6 new pullets, all very healthy, and also had an increase in wild birds hanging around. I don't know which caused the problem, or something else entirely, but I lost one chicken to whatever this is and had a second one looking ill when I came across your post. (Desperate late-night Googling of symptoms!)

The symptoms were identical, so I followed your lead, went to TSC and got her Neomycin, and I used Sav-A-Chick for the probiotic. Ta-da! Three days later she is out there with the rest of the flock, looking so much better. And I discovered that chickens love Chobani yogurt! The only thing I did in addition was pull up a kale plant and give that to her -- that's a real treat for my group, and I knew things were looking up when she started ripping it to shreds!

The biggest challenge was figuring out how to dose a chicken's water feeder with a medication meant for a 600 lb animal...