Chicken with lethargy, diarreha, and pale comb

[Fergie]

Okay.... I went and ripped off the tags from my old feed bag, and new feed bag, and I don't see dates on either of them. One has a "product number", and the other one has a "lot #". Is it appropriate to talk about product names here? I will if anyone is curious. Neither bag or tag has a date on it. I just looked. It makes me kind of frustrated thinking the makers of animal food don't have to be as honest and up front as the makers of people food.

I am wondering if I can add vitamins to the same water I put antibiotics in....? I am treating my gals with antibiotics, so have been hesitant to add vitamins, too, for fear that it would interfere with the potency of the antibiotics in some way...

 

[threehorses]

Heck yeah! Product name doesn't mean the product is bad. It could be that the feedstore stored it wrong, the wholesaler stored it wrong, there was a fluke and an individual feed store "hand" let a bag stay that shouldn't have to save the money being taken from his paycheck, etc....

So since it doesn't at all implicate the food, you can tell us.

Some feeds aren't designed to be complete ...which doesn't make them irresponsible - it just means that someone might use them that knows how to design the supplements to make that food work.

And no - never do anything but antibiotics in antibiotic water. Which antibiotics?

 

[Fergie]

Okay, the old feed, which we used 5/6 of, before the vet recommended we change feed was "Organic Pride... Layer 16% Pellet... for laying chickens, ducks and geese". The one we are using now, is "Nature smart... organic layer complete 16 pellets (BW)... for laying poultry".

The antibiotic we are giving is Duvet brand "Duramycin-10... tetracycline hydrochloride soluble powder". It appears to be working for Speckles. Although... she appears to be moulting, which should slow down her egg laying cycle, and give her body a chance to heal from the peritonitis. We are keeping or fingers crossed.

 

[dlhunicorn]

she had diarreha( very watery yellow with some white)

...my information says that this usually indicates liver disease.
Milk thistle is known to help liver issues... go to your vet to get this (they will advise you on dosage)...
I would suggest you also give a good supplement like AviaCharge or if you do not have or cannot get (it is available online for purchase through McMurry or Strombergs) then you can go to your petstore and look for baby parrot/bird formula (this is a powder you mix with water) and mix that up to a porridge consistency and then mix that through her feed to concentrate the nutrition ... this will help address any deficiency issues from her eating insufficiently and malabsorption from being ill.​

 

[FrizzleRuger14]

Everything I have researched about symptoms of chickens being lethargic, having diarrhea, and exhibiting a pale comb have been about hens. The information on here was beneficial to my knowledge, however, I have had these symptoms with my Frizzle rooster who passed today. Does anyone have any inputs on what might have caused it for him? I haven't had too much luck with finding extensive information on the Frizzle breed.

Thank you

 

[MrsCluckles]

I would not give her the antibiotics, and would give her the yogurt. I would also try to see if her droppings are the yellow from yolk, or yellowed feces. That's going to be the most important thing.

Yellow droppings (mostly yellowed urates, the 'white' crystals on top of the droppings and mixed in) can indicate liver involvement for one reason or another. there are a number of causes, including liver failure due to some other illness or condition that happened quickly.

It will be most important to make sure she's eating and drinking. She likely is too weak to so you must facilitate that. I would recommend mixing a little yogurt with water and boiled egg yolk, mixing that into some crumbles (a tiny amount) and trying to get her to eat that. If she doesn't, you can mix a little of that into some water and dribble it into the side of her beak. The "soup" with the crumbles and what not will give her a little nutrition and energy. You can even mix karo syrup or honey in both of the mixtures, or oatmeal ground to a powder in a food processor. Just make sure the oatmeal soaks really well before mixing it with either. Oatmeal or the karo/honey will give her some more quickly accessed energy to hopefully fuel her to eat.

However, the most important thing will be to determine some other symptoms so we can figure this out if she makes it through the night - and even if she doesn't.

First, tonight, check her thoroughly for any signs of mite infestation or lice. Check carefully in the most moist/warm areas (under the wing, back of the neck, near the vent). We must rule out parasite infections which can take her down and make her anemic very quickly.

Also feel her weight - is she heavy in her chest/keel bone area, or emaciated? Is she very heavy and lumpy in her abdomen between her legs (feel very delicately in case of a softshelled egg) or is she hard there? Does her crop feel empty or full? Are her combs moist and waxy, or shrivled and scaley? Any signs of broken skin, redness around the vent, labored breathing, etc?

Hello I know this is an old post to reply on but you seem like you know what your doing and nobody can help me but please help me my roosters comb turned purple and over 2 days it fell completely over and his breed doesnt do that he's a bantam cochin calico and he started to lose weight and barely wants to eat or drink, his beak is pale in color and his wattle and comb has shrunk ALOT I mean alot, and he is lethargic doesnt want to move much he just wants to sleep, i thought he was anemic because we found mites in the run of the coop and we treated the ground and him with diatomaceous earth and his 1 hen he is with, i put poultry cell rooster booster in his water to get his blood levels up and it isnt helping, his crop is rock hard but it only goes down a slight bit overnight so does he have impacted crop? His eyes arnt swollen or running his nose isnt running and every else seems fine except for his fecal, its green and watery and it switches from that to orange or light light brown foamy runny, I'm not sure what's wrong but please help.