Diet help for blind chicken! Liver is failing, diet is killing him

[Banana01]

Please help! My blind chicken is one year old, and possibly due to molting season, he is suffering for the first time i have seen. I know he is not sick or diseased, it is 100% diet related. The last month, his poop has been solid green. His comb is black in the morning, but changes to red during the day after I feed him, and slowly turns black again by nightfall.

I used to feed a certain pellet feed that he loved, but my feed store quit carrying it. I have tried three other pellets and he doesnt like them. He eats a little bit of formulated pellet feed, but his diet is 90% corn and 10% pellets. I have been supplementing with a B complex vitamin that comtains B1, B2, B6, B12, B7, B5, B3, folic acid, ascorbic acid, D3, K3, and methionine.

From what I have read, it may be due to lack of grit. Also maybe lack of calcium. I am really worried that if this continues, he will need to be put down because he is suffering.

Please any ideas what I can do? He is 100% blind, so solid diet options would be ideal, I was thinking maybe dried lentils? Dried peas?

Liquid diet option would be ideal also if there are supplements I can add to his diet. I can blend and make a liquid? Right now he fills his crop twice a day with corn and will take liquid from a dropper. He cant get grass and bugs to supplement.

Any food thoughts? He eats solid corn and without the free ranging to supplement it, he is having a rough time.

The pictures are of the foods he doesnt want to eat, and his poop. He isnt eating much pellet at all, only whole corn.

The other photos are of him a month ago, and one from today.

 

[Banana01]

First try at supplemental feed

10g maca powder
10g avena oatmeal
5g tuna
20mL tuna oil and water
Some grit sandstones

He loved it. He ate the entire bowl of liquid and the solids he ate with some help. Hopefully will see improvements tomorrow. Still looking for a solid diet ideas at least during the molting season.

 

[Chickeeaholic]

I’m sorry you don’t have any replies. I’m new to chicken raising so I can’t offer much, but I had prairie dogs at one time and when they didn’t get enough fresh grass one of them had liver failure. I also know of a farm where they only give their chickens corn but they free range. They don’t have this problem.

My chickens free range a few hours a day too, I see them eat a lot of grass. I’m just adding these things up thinking it might be a good idea for fresh grass, dandelion or even fresh hay to be added to his diet?

 

[jher77]

I give my chickens fermented cracked corn about once per week or later. It is supposed to be easier to digest, increases vitamin absorption, and gives probiotics. That's better than just dried corn. I dechlorinate the water (3 drops of 3% hydrgen peroxide per gallon) to be used and let it ferment it for 3 days. You could also try fermenting the chicken feed.

I have also quartered up a human multi-vitamin and given a chicken before for a few days without ill effects. I use the ones that don't contain iron, mens 50+ I think. Pull on wattles to open mouth and stick it in and they will swallow it.

Another thing I have had to do is open a chickens mouth and give it grit. Probably not a good thing if it has an impacted crop though.

You might want to keep track of his weight. That can help you determine what direction he is going in.

Anyways that gives you something to think about.

 

[6BeachChicks]

I’m not 100% sur, but I think that @U_Stormcrow did a feed thing? Sorry if I’m wrong.

 

[Eggcessive]

The green droppings may not be a sign of liver failure, but just not eating enough. If you continue to give mostly corn, which chickens prefer to other foods, he will not get better. If would stop the corn, oats, peas, etc., and just feed a balanced chicken feed. If using pellets, wet a small amount each day, and add a bit of plain yogurt, egg, or tuna to make it interesting. He will prefer the egg and tuna most likely, but I would try to get him eating the balanced diet. Then you would not need to buy all of the vitamins. Human B complex has many of the ones you are giving. He should not need extra calcium, except what the pellet has, since he doesn’t lay eggs. They only need 1% calcium anyway, and your pellet if for layers, probably has 4 times that much.

Many chicken problems cannot be diagnosed without lab work, or having a necropsy done after death. Chronic respiratory disease or a fungal disease called aspergillosis could be a reason that he is failing. But I think if you could get him used to eating a normal balanced feed, he would get all of the things he needs. Probiotics which can be found in some dairy products, can be helpful to health.