Please help. Second hen in 3 days is dying.

[NorthwoodsChick]

My 1.5 yr old hen La La Livvy has had 2 days of watery clear diarrhea. Today she is lethargic in the run, laying in front of a waterer, eyes half closed. I picked her up and watery fluid poured from her mouth- crop is water balloon like. She has no respiratory symptoms but resp rate is up. Belly soft, vent normal. Last egg 3 days ago (usually lays every other day).
I separated her, carefully expressed the crop which had a lot of saliva. I gave ACV and coconut oil and sugar water then egg yoke. Swallows normally. She perked up but not motivated to stand. On Thursday her sibling Daphne had the exact progression of symptoms and sadly died on Saturday in a floor level nest.
3 other hens have pudding consistency green stool for less than a week. The entire flock was started on Corid treatment dose Saturday; since then 2 of the 3 green poopers have improved.
They get Prince 18% all flock, rare treats. Free range in daytime. No parasites. coop was sanitized on Sat after Daphne died. All other 11 are active. Ages 1.5 years and two 6 week old chicks.
I did necropsy on Daphne- detailed in another post but no clear conclusions, just fatty liver and mostly clear peritoneal fluid- no foul odor.

I feel like I am missing something. I thought coccidiosis because of the rapid onset quickly followed by death. But I am second guessing now- Livvy is my flower- child hen and I am so afraid she will die by tomorrow.
Any ideas, suggestions? I have liquimycin IM on hand but not sure that won’t worsen diarrhea.
Please help with differential diagnosis if you can.

 

[TaylorGlade]

If it weren't impacting more than one bird, I might suggest sour crop - but I am totally new to this. The fact that a couple have seemingly responded to Corid is promising, but Cocci doesn't usually cause balloon crops or water to pour from their mouths to my knowledge. If possible, I would quarantine the sick chickens from the rest of the flock. Here's hoping that someone with a lot more knowledge than I have can weigh in here.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Could she have eaten something moldy or rancid?
I'd address the crop symptom per the article linked below.
When was the last deworming?

Last egg was 3 days ago - I'd be inclined to give her extra Calcium for a few days a well.
Is she prolapsing?
You asked in your necropsy thread if it was normal for a hen to prolapse upon death - I have never seen that happen with any of mine, so likely the prolapse was there before she died.

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

From your other thread that you did a necropsy - did you happen to take any photos?
Liver was large and fatty - was the color off? Fatty Liver Disease perhaps.
Would be interesting to see the yellow-white fat globules - makes me think Salpingitis.

Liver was large and fatty- no obvious tumors. Lots of abd fat

The posterior peritoneal space had a small amt of semitransparent fluid with what looked like small yellow-white fat globules—not sure what that is but could be significant.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/diarrhea-1-dead-one-with-cyanosis.1594468/

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Could she have eaten something moldy or rancid?

When was the last deworming?

Last egg was 3 days ago - I'd be inclined to give her extra Calcium for a few days a well.
Is she prolapsing?
You asked in your necropsy thread if it was normal for a hen to prolapse upon death - I have never seen that happen with any of mine, so likely the prolapse was there before she died.

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

From your other thread that you did a necropsy - did you happen to take any photos?
Liver was large and fatty - was the color off? Fatty Liver Disease perhaps.
Would be interesting to see the yellow-white fat globules - makes me think Salpingitis.




https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/diarrhea-1-dead-one-with-cyanosis.1594468/

Thx for the reply.
First off, she survived the night. Crop was not completely empty this morning but was much smaller- still squishy. Eyes are open but she just lays down.

It may be possible she ate something moldy from the open compost- all of the chickens have access to it. It has also been hot/cool at night and rainy so they choose to stay in the run more. I use dry litter in there and pick up daily.

Livvy’s vent is normal. No egg that I can feel. I treated with calcium citrate 3 days before she became ill because someone on her end laid soft shelled egg- she was among the suspects. The hen that died was treated as well, but vent was normal up until I found her dead. No shelled egg on necropsy. I have only one photo of the vent but wasn’t able to take more with nasty gloves on. The liver was large and fatty (cream colored) streaks- looked like that from my meat birds.
You could be on to something with a possible reproduction infection, and now I wonder if my ill hen now has crop failure because of underlying issue. Crop content doesn’t smell yeasty or sour at all. I have noticed for a few months there are calcium wrinkles or odd shaped eggs.
Should I give an IM antibiotic?

Since the flock free ranges I don’t provide adult grit. I have chicks so use chick grit, but I do not feel small grit in the crop at all in Livvy. There is a lot of small pebbles, sand and so forth in my yard- could lack of grit be a contributor? Nonetheless I will get some and begin to offer all the time.

 

[Lillith37]

Just this week I discovered I wasn’t giving the right sized grit to my flock. They were all getting fine grit because that’s what the shop had, but I kept finding poops with little rocks in them. The main culprit is my biggest hen (3kg+) who also suffers intermittent crop stasis/slow crop. I put out medium grade grit yesterday and it was almost all gone this morning. I think a lot of my adult birds may prefer it. Even if your flock free ranges, I would still offer grit and oyster shell so they can have it if they need it.

 

[McChooky]

My 1.5 yr old hen La La Livvy has had 2 days of watery clear diarrhea. Today she is lethargic in the run, laying in front of a waterer, eyes half closed. I picked her up and watery fluid poured from her mouth- crop is water balloon like. She has no respiratory symptoms but resp rate is up. Belly soft, vent normal. Last egg 3 days ago (usually lays every other day).
I separated her, carefully expressed the crop which had a lot of saliva. I gave ACV and coconut oil and sugar water then egg yoke. Swallows normally. She perked up but not motivated to stand. On Thursday her sibling Daphne had the exact progression of symptoms and sadly died on Saturday in a floor level nest.
3 other hens have pudding consistency green stool for less than a week. The entire flock was started on Corid treatment dose Saturday; since then 2 of the 3 green poopers have improved.
They get Prince 18% all flock, rare treats. Free range in daytime. No parasites. coop was sanitized on Sat after Daphne died. All other 11 are active. Ages 1.5 years and two 6 week old chicks.
I did necropsy on Daphne- detailed in another post but no clear conclusions, just fatty liver and mostly clear peritoneal fluid- no foul odor.

I feel like I am missing something. I thought coccidiosis because of the rapid onset quickly followed by death. But I am second guessing now- Livvy is my flower- child hen and I am so afraid she will die by tomorrow.
Any ideas, suggestions? I have liquimycin IM on hand but not sure that won’t worsen diarrhea.
Please help with differential diagnosis if you can.

Excess water in the crop and coming out of its mouth is associated with drinking too much water, ascites or worms

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Excess water in the crop and coming out of its mouth is associated with drinking too much water, ascites or worms

I have not seen worms, ever. Abdomen is not squishy and she’s had diarrhea although no real stool in 24 hours. Seems there are lots of diseases crop symptoms. Should I withhold water? it contains Corid

 

[Lillith37]

You don’t need to see worms for them to be there, unless you mean you are doing fecal tests? I think you can use most worming medication alongside Corid safely. If you haven’t wormed recently it could be worth a shot. The same conditions that favour coccidia favour worms, i.e. rain, wet ground, warm weather.

 

[Lillith37]

Wyorp mentioned if your hens could have gotten into something mouldy and you mentioned they have access to the compost. I used to keep my compost where my hens could access it and then after reading up on botulism I moved it… scary stuff. It can cause sudden onset of symptoms and death very quickly. Not saying that’s what’s happening for sure in your case but it’s something to seriously consider.

 

[McChooky]

Perhaps @azygous can help?