Puffed, Sick Looking Chicken, Green and Yellow Poop

whitneywpanetta

Songster
7 Years
Mar 30, 2013
118
5
116
Atlanta, GA
Happy new year!

I unfortunately have had my golden laced wydandotte isolated in a crate for the last 48 hours. I noticed her spending a lot of time in the nest box and hanging out in the corner of the run last week. She is 7.5 months old had has not started laying yet, so I was thinking she might be starting to explore and not feeling quite right because her first egg was on the way. However, she seemed to just get worse, so I finally brought her inside to check her out.

We do have a neighbor's outdoor cat that comes around from time to time and I believe the cat may have attacked her one day last week. I walked out to check on everyone (they were free ranging in the yard) and found a small pile of Marky Mark feathers (the golden laced). I checked her over and there were no cuts, scratches, blood, just a few pulled feathers. This has happened to one other hen who was fine as well minus some feather loss.

Symptoms so far:
-Puffed feathers
-Not a lot of interest in food, water, or moving around
-Can stand, but prefers to sit
-Somewhat lethargic, not to the point of falling asleep constantly. She is generally alert when I go in to check on her
-Mostly white poop the first day, today mostly white and green, one bright green poop, some yellow. A mix between water and mixture, but far from the normal looking white/brown solid

What I have checked for:
-Egg bound, hubby stuck his finger in to feel around, there was no egg
-Feet are find
-No oozing anywhere
-No labored breathing, rasping, or wheezing

What I have done so far:
-electrolytes and vitamins in water
-Electrolyte mixed with food mash
-Warm bath
-Dropper water throughout the day to make sure she is getting something
-Offered food, she takes sometimes. It does look like she is pecking at it every now and then but not much

I am at a loss. I have seen no blood in her stool. There is no sign of worms in her poop. There are no signs of mites or lice. I have antibiotics, corid, and wormer on hand. Should I start one of these or wait it out?

Thanks for the advice!
 
I was separate her and bring her inside if possible. It's a little chilly out where I am (Georgia) and I think a little warmth and TLC can go a long way. If you have a dropper start with water in the dropper, just let it run along her beak, don't force it in. You can easily aspirate a chicken if you force water down their throat. A lot of times with my hens I will let a drop hang out of the dropper where they can see it and it encourages them to reach out and grab it themselves. Good luck, hopefully someone can help both of us!
 
Below are pictures of Marky Mark and her poo. The dark towel was yesterday, the light one is today. Not much poop so far today, all of it was been watery and white with some green. I also meant to mention her crop seems fine, although never very full since she isn't eating much. Her abdomen seems normal, she is on the boney side. I'm thinking she hasn't been eating much.








 
The green droppings with the white urates is a good sign that she has not been eating for awhile. The coral colored urates can be normal overnight on occasion. You said her crop seems fine, but does her crop feel puffy like a balloon at all? Does it empty overnight after she has been sleeping? A sour crop might be a problem if the crop never empties. Massage the crop to see if it helps. If that doesn't seem like the problem, then I would see a vet soon to get her droppings checked for worms and cocci. Try offering bits of chopped egg (if her crop is not puffy,) and add water to her feed to see if she will take some. Are your other chickens the same age, and all laying? Occasionally, a pullet can suffer from some odd things like kidney or heart failure, and sometimes those things can show up around the point of lay. Make sure that she has not tiny bugs, such as mites or lice near her vent area or elsewhere on her skin. If you should lose her, you may want to get a necropsy done by your state vet. I really hope that she starts to improve. Here is a good thread about learning to tube feed a sick chicken to give nutrition: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

Do you have the liquid Corid or the powder?
 
Last edited:
The green droppings with the white urates is a good sign that she has not been eating for awhile. The coral colored urates can be normal overnight on occasion.  You said her crop seems fine, but does her crop feel puffy like a balloon at all? Does it empty overnight after she has been sleeping? A sour crop might be a problem if the crop never empties. Massage the crop to see if it helps. If that doesn't seem like the problem, then I would see a vet soon to get her droppings checked for worms and cocci. Try offering bits of chopped egg (if her crop is not puffy,) and add water to her feed to see if she will take some. Are your other chickens the same age, and all laying? Occasionally, a pullet can suffer from some odd things like kidney or heart failure, and sometimes those things can show up around the point of lay. Make sure that she has not tiny bugs, such as mites or lice near her vent area or elsewhere on her skin. If you should lose her, you may want to get a necropsy done by your state vet. I really hope that she starts to improve. Here is a good thread about learning to tube feed a sick chicken to give nutrition:  https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

Do you have the liquid Corid or the powder?


Thanks for the response! Her crop has just been empty, which shows she hasn't been eating. I doubt sour crop, we have had an instance of that in the past. We have 5 other hens her age, 2 are laying, the rest haven't started. We have thre other hens, 2 are 2.5 yo and one is 3.5. The 3.5 hasn't laid in a month or so, but she is healthy and her normal self. I'm thinking she is just getting over the egg laying jump. One if the other two just finished molting. All other hens are acting and eating normally. I checked her over carefully and see no signs of mites or lice. Her vent seems normal.

I have Corie on hand. Should I start this despite not seeing signs of blood in her stool? Should I focus on getting food in her first?
 
The green droppings with the white urates is a good sign that she has not been eating for awhile. The coral colored urates can be normal overnight on occasion.  You said her crop seems fine, but does her crop feel puffy like a balloon at all? Does it empty overnight after she has been sleeping? A sour crop might be a problem if the crop never empties. Massage the crop to see if it helps. If that doesn't seem like the problem, then I would see a vet soon to get her droppings checked for worms and cocci. Try offering bits of chopped egg (if her crop is not puffy,) and add water to her feed to see if she will take some. Are your other chickens the same age, and all laying? Occasionally, a pullet can suffer from some odd things like kidney or heart failure, and sometimes those things can show up around the point of lay. Make sure that she has not tiny bugs, such as mites or lice near her vent area or elsewhere on her skin. If you should lose her, you may want to get a necropsy done by your state vet. I really hope that she starts to improve. Here is a good thread about learning to tube feed a sick chicken to give nutrition:  https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

Do you have the liquid Corid or the powder?


Sorry for not saying, I have powder Corid
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom