Green Watery Poop, Weakness, Undigested Seeds... Farting??

[omga747]

Hi all,
I have a Buff Orpington, age unknown but at least 3 years old presenting some concerning digestive symptoms. For the past week or so she's been lazier than usual, not eating too much and pooping very watery. Yesterday, we brought her inside into the hospital ward to keep a closer eye on her and start some treatment. She's not too interested in food, but generally willingly eats her pellets mixed with water as a mash. Yesterday we tried feeding her some cantaloupe seeds, and at least some came out the other end pretty much undigested. Poops are either basically water with white urates, or wet and very green (plus urates) if she's eaten some of her feed recently. The green color is interesting since we haven't fed her anything green in the last two days. Her legs are also getting weak. She can stand and walk around but refuses to jump up and down steps. She also stumbles and her chest hits the ground if she's dropped from even a few inches high. And the most strange, a couple times when I've been hand feeding her some watery mash, I swear she's farted. I suddenly smell something akin to a nasty cecal poop, but there's no poop, and the smell dissipates pretty quickly.
Any advice on what ailment this might be? I've been searching for hours, and my best guess is hairworms/threadworms.
Many thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My first guess is that she hasn't had access to appropriately sized grit - otherwise, the seeds wouldn't have come out the other end.
A good probiotic will help too, like Gro2Max.

 

[Tonyroo]

@Eggcessive , can you help?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Photos of your hen and the poop may help.

When was her last egg?

Sounds like her crop may not be emptying. I'd check on that. Treat her according to this article.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[omga747]

I'll add on that none of her flockmates (3 RIRs) have any similar symptoms. I think her crop is emptying because she does poop after being hand fed. I'll check tomorrow morning to be sure though. No yeasty smell from her breath. She hasn't laid an egg in a few months, but she's been an inconsistent layer ever since we got her a little less than 2 years ago.

As far as not enough appropriate grit, that could be possible. The flock has crushed egg shells available free choice. I also have some oyster shell available but don't usually offer it (might be time to change that). I let her out in the yard just now and she wanted to eat dirt. My local feed store has granite grit available, so might need to make a trip over there tomorrow morning.

 

[omga747]

The one and only Big Chicken. And some of today's poops. Missing a water + urate blob from the morning.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

As far as not enough appropriate grit, that could be possible. The flock has crushed egg shells available free choice. I also have some oyster shell available but don't usually offer it (might be time to change that). I let her out in the yard just now and she wanted to eat dirt. My local feed store has granite grit available,

Can you take a sample of her poop to your vet to see if worms might be an issue?

I'd re-check her crop to make sure it's emptying.
The poop is not too bad. It's cecal poop with a mixture of other material.

The only time I've had a hen pass gas was when she did have a reproductive disorder and her crop was very slow. But, the crop was quite gurgly too.
Not saying that's what's going on, but re-check the crop.

Getting some granite grit to offer free choice is a good idea. Sometimes appropriate grit can be found in dirt/soil, but I like to just provide it regardless, that way I know they have the right thing.

OS isn't hard enough to be suitable for grit, but it should be put out for them to take what they need free choice as well.

 

[omga747]

This morning, she had pooped a bit (a bit looser than what's pictured above), but her crop was definitely not emptied. Felt hard like an impacted crop. She drank a bunch of water first thing, so after that she got a crop massage. Seemed to help loosen everything in there. Next order of business is picking up some coconut oil for further crop massages and granite grit.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd start with the crop massage and coconut oil to see if that helps.

Here's the treatment(s) that I use when dealing with the crop. Do keep in mind that sometimes a crop can be sour, impacted, slow, etc. at the same time, so you may need to administer more than just one "treatment", like you may need to give coconut oil (I always give coconut oil regardless) along with a stool softener, yeast cream, etc.

Crop issues are often a symptom that signifies something else going on. In laying hen, crop problems seem to go hand-in-hand with reproductive disorders, but worms, coccidiosis and infection can be a few other conditions/causes as well.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[omga747]

Here's a poop from just now. I gave her a few more cantaloupe seeds yesterday to test her digestion and one came out intact this morning.