10 month old hen, lethargic, losing weight, watery white/yellow poop

TheGeekySheep

Songster
7 Years
Jun 27, 2012
454
212
171
Noticed all of this within the last three days, I have her quarantined with mash and water with electrolytes now. Just wondering if this collection of symptoms rings a bell for anyone:

lethargy
seems "drunk" when walking
losing weight, not eating
most poops look normal, brown with white, noticed some that were very watery clear/white/yellow
deathlike smell, not coming from head or mouth, probably from droppings?

Checked for mites (none), egg binding (nothing in there), impacted/sour crop (crop was empty). No coughing or sneezing, no runny eyes. Palpated everywhere, nothing seems swollen. Vent is clean.
 
The "deathlike smell" is striking. Have you looked her over closely for a wound? There is one respiratory illness, coryza, that causes a bad smell. I'm afraid if the smell is coming fom her insides, her gut or something, that doesn't sound too good.

How about worming? It's not usually recommended to worm a sick chicken, but if you haven't and they have a big load of worms, maybe it is better than doing nothing since they can die from a heavy load and its effects on them. Valbazen in particular is supposed to be relatively gentle on them if the have a big load. Use 0.5 ml per large fowl, or 0.25 ml for bantams, by mouth. Give once, then once more in 10 days. Toss eggs for 21 days. It s a cattle wormer. If you feed store doesn't have it, you can get it shipped quickly online from Jeffers Livestock, Amazon, or probably a bunch of other sources. Or, your vet may do a fecal for worms for relatively little money if you just bring a sample.
 
Last edited:
Yes, it smelled like roadkill, not terribly strong but noticeable. I looked her over closely for a wound or external infection. I did consider coryza because of the smell but there's no discharge or respiratory trouble. I'm worried it might be an internal infection.

I will look into Valbazen since they've never been wormed. I didn't consider worms because they have a large run with sand but don't free range (too many predators, day job, etc.), but I suppose they could pick up worms from the sand?

Thank you for your input.
 
Enteritis might be a possible cause. Brown foul-smelling diarrhea is a symptom, and it is usually caused by clostridium perfringens infecting the small intestines. Many antibiotics with treat it such as amoxiciliin, penicillin, Gallimycin (erythromycin,) bacitracin, or neomycin. Of course this isn't a diagnosis, but here is some reading about it:
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...verview_of_necrotic_enteritis_in_poultry.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis
 
Last edited:
Do you have something like this to put feed or water into the crop ..

I could rig something up but I'd rather not stress her out or prolong her suffering if it's not something she'll get better from.

Enteritis might be a possible cause. Brown foul-smelling diarrhea is a symptom, and it is usually caused by clostridium perfringens infecting the small intestines. Many antibiotics with treat it such as amoxiciliin, penicillin, Gallimycin (erythromycin,) bacitracin, or neomycin. Of course this isn't a diagnosis, but here is some reading about it:
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...verview_of_necrotic_enteritis_in_poultry.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis

I have access to tetracycline, but I don't see that listed. "Necrotic" describes the smell very well. :(
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom