Botulism will happen very quickly, has bright green and very very smelly droppings, and has the nickname "limberneck" because it causes a limber neck and paralysis.
In any case, very smelly droppings mean a very strong bacterial infection in the digestive tract.
In case it was botulism, you can do a flush. This is one of the rare cases where I'd even suggest using a flush to flush otu whatever bad bacteria have taken over her gut. Then she MUST have good bacteria to replace it, and nutrition.
Two solutions recommended by MSU that I have used are the molasses and the epsom salt flush.
For molasses, it's 2 cups of molasses per 5 gallons of water. (That's 16 ounces of molasses per 5 gallons of water -> less than a 1/2 cup of molasses (0.4 cups) per one gallon of water. Since she can't drink, use the solution. This is also one heaping teaspoon per cup of water. Warm.
For epsom salt, 1 teaspoon of Epsom Salt in 1 fl oz water.
(reference: http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/solutions.html )
One of the ways you tell if it's botulism can be pulling at some feathers. If they come out easily and you're seeing these symptoms, it's botulism. It still could be. Clostridium is a VERY smelly bacteria and is very hard to treat, and not treatable like most bacteria because it's gram positive. If you smell it, it can sometimes run you out of the room. Does this sound right?
Note: flushing is VERY VERY stressful to their systems. But at her rate, it she might not get much better - and I really can't tell from here, and might not be able to tell from there honestly. But if you decide to flush, you just give that fluid in the crop. You'll use a long dropper. If you look in a chicken's mouth, you'll see the main big throat. Also you'll see a hole that opens and closes as the bird breaths. That's their air hole. You must get past that air hole with the dropper so that you empty the syringe or dropper into the actual crop and don't drown her. Unless you can get her to swallow the water (maybe with molasses, doubtful with epsoms).
She'll need probiotics (plain yogurt), and food after this. The treatment itself could kill her. But if you feel this is life or death and truly feel it's botulism and feel you have no other choice, at least there's this.
It's a tough call. I wish we could know if she got into something for sure.
Edited by threehorses - 7/11/09 at 8:41pm
