Sudden behavior & appetite change in 16mo Orpington; Egg issue??

[Faraday40]

We're dealing with an ill chicken (my fav lav orp, Cuddles) & I'd like some help troubleshooting & treatment advice.


Yesterday when outside taking some pics, I noticed she wasn't in my face asking for treats. When I threw some scratch near her, she gently pecked- not pushed her way to the center. I thought perhaps it was the 90'F heat, but a cool bath didn't perk her up.

She came inside last night so I could examine her funk.
Had watery poop. Once was yellowish - maybe an egg issue. No blood or worms in poop.
Gave a warm soak & tried some TUMS. She kind of spit out or stopped eating whatever treat I tried to mix it with.
Crop is not full nor hard. When I laid her on her side in my lap, she lowered her head & clear fluid came out. Not foul smelling liquid, so perhaps it was simply the position & too much water consumption.
Comb looks nice & red, not floppy.
Eyes & nostrils clear
feather shafts looked OK.
Skin white - no irritation.
Behavior = dull, quiet, isolated
Her last egg was Tues. It was odd shaped but I didn't think much of it then.

By morning, she pretty much stopped walking around.
I put a gloved, lubed finger 1.5" into the vent & felt no egg.
I mixed some Corid & electrolytes.
She's drinking on her own (not enough IMO) but not really eating.
I gave some yogurt (with hidden calcium). She ate some & pooped again.

Cuddles & a poop yesterday:


Cuddles & her poop this evening.




If anyone has gone through something similar or has an idea of what I should check, please let me know.
The only vet around here who sees chickens, also treats parrots & exotics. They are known to be very expensive. (Friend spent $385 to treat her rabbit.) Hate to sound cheap, but that's not an option. The rest of our suburban flock seems fine.

 

[Faraday40]

Cuddles. The BEST chicken in the world to me.
April 23, 2014 - May 14, 2016

To those of you who remember Cuddles, she was a special girl. I had wanted a lav orp for a long time & finally could afford 4 eggs. From those 4 shipped eggs, we hatched 2 chicks: Cuddles & Tank. Cuddles loved to sit on my lap & watch TV. She was always spoiled, but also gave back to me in many ways. I worked with her so she came running & responded to her name (not just the :Ch Ch Chicken call) She followed basic commands like "Go coop" ;"Go run", "Go crate" (travel cage), "up" = jump in my lap. The fun part was when I trained her to peck at targets. I would write words on cards & she would select the card with a tiny red dot. I could ask her the most complicated questions & she always got the answer correct! (to the amazement of many middle school students! LOL) We then went one step further & I taught her to peck at only the Queen of Hearts. As long as I did my part correctly & forced the volunteer to select Q-hearts, Cuddles (my physic chicken) could read their minds & peck at the card they randomly chose. It was so precious to see Cuddles think. She would look back & forth between cards often tilting her head to view at different angles before making her selection. My DD then decided to work with Cuddles. She tried agility training & got Cuddles to walk through a hoop. That was about it. Let's face it, Orps are not made for agility, but dear Cuddles tried her best to please us.

Cuddles loved the attention. She was fearless of visitors & would let anyone pet & hold her - in hopes that some sort of treat would be given. She loved her treats! Even without food, she jumped up into my lap for attention or simply followed me around the yard - "chatting the entire time.". Our backyard seems so empty & quiet now. I miss my Cuddles.

Back in early Sept, she had some type of severe illness & stopped eating. I dewormed, gave Corid, and even learned how to tube feed so Cuddles would not starve to death. She lived! I followed up with yogurt & ACV. Never sure exactly what it was, but she molted & life went back to normal for a while. In March, Cuddles had a mild relapse. Her abdomen felt swollen & hard. I knew she had something serious. It seemed like her poop was being blocked & her crop was slow. The digestive & poop issues cleared, but the firm abdomen remained. My guess is that she was internally laying or had tumors. We decided that chicken hospice was our plan. It continued to grow, but even when ill, Cuddles was the 1st to greet me every morning. DD & I were away on Sat. When we returned to lock up the flock, Cuddles looked weak. I planned to bring her inside for the night due to the cold. I sat on the sofa with Cuddles in my lap. She briefly seized, then placed her head in the palm of my hand. She looked up at me a drew her last few breaths. It seems that she waited for me to hold her one last time before letting go.

I have other chickens, even other lav orps, but sometimes the brightest stars burn out the fastest. Cuddles was MY chicken, my favorite, my companion, my comforter, & my friend. She was so much more than "a chicken". I guess I'm writing all this because only those who have fallen in love with a chicken can understand how sad I feel right now. RIP my dear, sweet Cuddles.

 

[Eggcessive]

Her droppings do appear to be abnormal, perhaps from an intestinal infection or she may be passing some egg material if she is having problems with her reproductive system, such as internal laying. Have you wormed the flock recently, and if so, what did you use? Many times will chicken illnesses it is guesswork, and sometimes we only find out what the problem was with a necropsy after death. After the first day of Corid, I would just mix it with plain water, since it's best not to mix with other things. Antibiotics such as enrofloxacin or amoxicillin may help treat an infection if she is laying internally. Those can be found online sometimes without a prescription for fish or pigeons. Here are some links to read about reproductive problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/959119/baytril-enrofloxacin-sources
http://scoopfromthecoop.nutrenaworld.com/tag/laying-issues/
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/egg-laying-issues/index.aspx
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/03/causes-of-lash-eggs-salpingitis-by.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/526089/egg-yolk-peritonitis

 

[Faraday40]

Cuddles update:
Poor girl is lethargic, quiet, & slow moving. Not interested in eating much & her back end now looks wet & poopy. So not like her!

She ate 1/2 egg & 2TB of yogurt with TUMS tablet yesterday. Drank some water with Corid - but not enough.
She pooped 4xs yesterday - runny with green. (No longer yellow)
Once when held at a bad angle, she vomited clear watery substance. I've also seen her shake her head fast - like a wet dog - and heard her wattles flap. IF sour crop, wouldn't vomit smell very bad? Doubtful it's impacted crop b/c it feels soft.

IF cocci, wouldn't she be feeling slightly better after 24-48 hrs of Corid?
Not egg bound b/c I tested 2x & never felt an egg.

I believe the TUMS/yogurt combo is helping her poop. (I saw contractions shortly after feeding it to her.) I'm thinking of driving out to buy some Duramycin-10. Isn't that what might help an Egg Peritonitis infection?

She's in the house w/ A/C, but I saw some open mouth breathing. Pain? Would aspirin help?

 

[Faraday40]

Crop & worming ?s

OK so I gave the flock Wazine in water today & will follow up next week with another de-wormer.

Now for my sick Cuddles:
She's overall stopped eating & drinking. Maybe a tiny peck at some scrambled egg.
She's sometimes making the open beak "yawns" like a crop problem. Also eating noises of her beak chewing (opening & closing quickly like when eating)
Walking very, very slowly. Lethargic.
I fear she's starving, so what next?

Could worms cause a crop problem? Should I tube feed some water with wazine & wait to see what happens?
OR
Should I try olive oil, massage & tilt to test for sour crop? (Again, she has no bad odor, so I hesitate in her weakened state.) The crop is flat, soft / squishy due to not eating.

The flock has never been wormed b/c I thought occasional garlic, AC Vinegar, & pumpkin seeds was all that were needed. After research, I'm sure Cuddles may have worms, but I'm unsure if that's all she has. Last egg was mis-shaped & exactly one week ago.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[enola]

If she is not drinking, she is not getting Corid. Do you think you could tube feed her?

 

[Eggcessive]

She may be having crop stasis or a slow crop due to her illness. Many illnesses can cause that, and it may appear to be sour crop, but isn't. If she isn't taking enough of the Corid, You can tube feed as suggested, and you can give some a couple of drops of undiluted Corid 2-3 times a day to bump up her dose. If using the powder you can take 1.5 tsp of powder to 2 tsp of water to equal undiluted Corid liquid. If a vet is a possiblility, I would at least get a sample of a few of her droppings checked. Here is a good link about tube feeding: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

 

[Faraday40]

I have the materials & am watching videos on tube feeding. Nervous, but that is my next step. I'm just trying to figure out what I should put in the syringe.

Fri-Sat, she ate & drank some on her own. Sun-Mon she mostly ate & drank only when we held the food / water bowl in our hands like a treat. Today, barely anything is going in. After 3-4 crumbs of egg (maybe 0.5 tsp) she did a big crop adjusting thing. Yesterday I saw a speck moving in the clear liquid of her runny green poop, so I bought the Wazine.

I could continue Corid, but doubtful that's it.
I could start Wazine (I added some Wazine to her water this morning - without the Corid - but she hasn't really had any.)
I could do electrolyte mix.

 

[enola]

The only worm Wazine will kill is round worms. Round worms looks sort of like a thin spaghetti when it is seen in manure.

 

[Faraday40]

Thank you for the links. Slow crop would definitely explain what I've been seeing since Sat night.

When I researched worming, a few people highly recommended Wazine 1st b/c a stronger, broad spectrum de-wormer may be an overload to an ill bird (or a bird w/o prior worming). The swimming spec I saw in the poop was barely visible with the eye. Only about 1mm. Do you think it could still be cocci? (I thought Cocci myself, but I never saw blood in any of her poop or in the flock.) I started Corid Fri night or Sat morning when she was still eating/drinking. I wanted to do something bc my outgoing, treat-loving hen was not fighting the flock for treats. I only saw a decline since Fri.