GREEN DROPPINGS, LETHARGIC, ADVICE PLEASE??

beanieroo

In the Brooder
5 Years
Aug 4, 2014
27
2
26
Connecticut
I have a young buff orpington hen, around 16 weeks, not yet laying, who I have noticed as of today to be having abnormal droppings and acting lethargic. I do not believe I have seen her eat today, however she is drinking water. Her diet consists of medicated chick starter/grower crumbles and occasional treats of grass clippings and carrots. She and her flock live outdoors with access to a run which has coarse sand. They are not yet allowed to free range in the yard, but will still eat bugs they find in their run.

The droppings are mostly clear/white with green blobs and I found one that was yellow with red blobs. The droppings have been cleaned out of the run and coop and she is currently quarantined. I have tried hand feeding her crumbles, grass, and carrots which she would normally eat with excitement, but she didn't seem interested.

Does anyone have any ideas?? Please respond ASAP if you have any clue. I'm really worried about her and need to know what's going on so I can figure out what to do.
 
Get some Corid 9.6% liquid or 20% powder, Probios dispersible powder, and some vitamins-electrolytes labeled for poultry from the feed store. Use Corid 9.6 at 2 tsp per gallon of water, or the 20% at 1.5 tsp per gallon of water for 7 days. Follow up with vitamins-electrolytes and Probios powder in the waterers for 3 days after. Young birds are also more susceptible to intestinal worms than older birds. I would recommend worming with Safeguard liquid suspension at .5 cc orally with a syringe (minus the needle). Do it again 10 days after. You'd best treat all your birds. Coccidiosis, worms are two very common problems with young birds.

Lay off the fibrous, hard to digest foods like carrots. Provide a good formulated feed, and access to grit. You are better off giving them fresh kale for greens when the fields are brown in summer. If you give grass clippings,make sure they don't sit in a container all day where molds and bacteria can grow. When feeding moistened feed, give enough that they will eat in 10 minutes or so to prevent rancidity and attracting flies. Keep the coops well ventilated and dry. Change water often and keep containers clean of algae and filth.
 
Do her droppings look anything like this?



If not, can you post a photo of what they look like?
Do you have an avian vet nearby, or if not a specialist, at least a vet who will test a sample to see if there is a bacterial infection?
 
Do her droppings look anything like this?



If not, can you post a photo of what they look like?
Do you have an avian vet nearby, or if not a specialist, at least a vet who will test a sample to see if there is a bacterial infection?

Most of them look like the one above but I found one that looked like this as well:

I called a vet a little while ago and described her symptoms and they said they really could tell me much without bringing her in with a fecal sample so I'm going to try to bring her in tomorrow.

Also thank you Michael Apple for your help as well, I'll keep all that in mind.
 

Most of them look like the one above but I found one that looked like this as well:

I called a vet a little while ago and described her symptoms and they said they really could tell me much without bringing her in with a fecal sample so I'm going to try to bring her in tomorrow.

Also thank you Michael Apple for your help as well, I'll keep all that in mind.
You're welcome. Keep us posted if you find out anything at the vet. Until you get the bird to the vet, make sure the bird doesn't get dehydrated. A little buttermilk moistened feed or soaked bread may encourage eating and will help soothe the intestines. Lots of things can cause green, watery droppings. Prolonged problems caused by protozoa, worms, bacterial infections are enteritis and blood in droppings. If treated soon enough, permanent damage won't cause future problems. For prevention, I feed a balanced diet and supplement water with Probiotics a few times a week. I always have Amprolium, Sulfadimethoxine, Neomycin, and Oxine AH on hand.
 
Okay, so she was at the vet on Tuesday. They said her crop felt quite distended so they flushed it out for her. They said it was either a crop impaction or Merek's that caused her crop to not empty properly, explaining why she wasn't eating. We kept her inside in the dog crate for the next few days to continue watching her because if it was Merek's we would have seen her health continue to decline. Thankfully, she had already improved by Wednesday. I got her some grit which the vet recommended. They have coarse sand in their run which I was told by other sources would work fine for grit but the vet said it would be a good idea to have some real poultry grit too. She began eating again and became much more active. At this point her droppings were still abnormal but it would make sense because she still wasn't back to eating normal amounts, and I guess it takes time for the food to work its way through her system. Thursday she was eating more and starting to have some normal droppings again, but still not 100%. Finally, today I brought her back outside since she and her droppings were all back to normal.

Lessons learned: Always give them access to granite poultry grit since it will work better than regular sand. While doing some research on crop impactions, I read that allowing them to eat long strands of grass isn't a good idea since stringy items/food can cause impactions so from now on I rip up all the grass I give them into smaller pieces about the size of pieces they would eat if they picked it themselves.
 
My chicken has the same symptoms and has lost weight. Her crop feels kinda mushy and her breath is some kind of awful! I have her a little olive oil this morning to try and loosen up whatever could be stuck in her crop. My next step will be a flush.
Wonder if I can do that myself. Don't know if I have an avian vet in my area or not.
 
Lessons learned: Always give them access to granite poultry grit since it will work better than regular sand. While doing some research on crop impactions, I read that allowing them to eat long strands of grass isn't a good idea since stringy items/food can cause impactions so from now on I rip up all the grass I give them into smaller pieces about the size of pieces they would eat if they picked it themselves.

I use granite grit too. I've mentioned it numerous times on other threads. Long pasture grass should always be kept short around range areas. Stagnant puddles of water should be prevented by adequate drainage and runoff. Keeping pasture grass short also prevents overpopulation of intestinal worm vectors like slugs, snails, and certain insects. This is a commonly recommended practice but is often ignored. Avoiding table scraps of fatty meats, dense, fibrous material (the trimmings and peelings we generally won't eat) is also wise. Some people use their birds as garbage disposals, then wonder why they have sick birds. I'm glad to hear your hen is doing well.
 

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