Very ill RIR hen with extreme weight loss **Update - Salpingitis Confirmed**

[WTCluck16]

Hi everyone. I was given my moms 4 RIR hens (3 years old) over the summer to add to my existing flock, who were born this past Spring 2014. I did a 6 week quarantine, which went well, and they've been with my flock for 4 months. About a month ago, one of the RIR's (Ruby 1) got bright green diarrhea and was acting lethargic. I took her to the vet, and was told to give vitamins and worm for coccidia. I used Corid on the whole flock. The hen was still sick and was down to skin and bones. I gave her nutri-drench and scrambled eggs, and anything I could get her to eat. She stopped eating and passed away. A week later, another one of the older RIR's started the same symptoms(Ruby 2). I took her to the vet, and they gave her a b-12 injection. I was told its possibly a vitamin deficiency. They are on a 16% layer feed with free range twice a week. No treats. I dewormed the flock, including the sick hen with Safegaurd liquid to be sure it isn't worms, but she is still very sick. A third RIR (Ruby 3) has started the green diarrhea symptoms, but is still active. I'm at a loss since the local vet can't seem to help. The second hen is now extremely thin, and I doubt will make it through the night. She's wrapped in a towel on my lap as we speak. I feel terrible, and can't watch the 3rd hen go through this, like the first two. My younger chickens are all fine, as well as the 4th RIR (Ruby 4) from my mom.

The symptoms start with runny green poo that sticks to their butt feathers. Loss of appetite with weight loss. Loss of balance and weakness. Fluffed feathers and sunk in head. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. How did you mix the Corid, and how long did you treat them? Were they vaccinated for Mareks disease when your mother got them? If you lose another, I would take or ship the refrigerated body into the state vet for a necropsy, and ask them to test for Mareks. Mareks can cause a variety of symptoms in each bird, sometimes wasting, or lameness, paralysis of a leg, wing, or neck, tumors, eye changes--not the same in every case. It is caused by a virus, but please don't take this as a diagnosis, just a possible problem. I'm sorry for your loss. Here is a link for your state vet to call about necropsy rates: http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

 

[WTCluck16]

Thank you for your quick response. I honestly don't remember how much Corid I gave. I have it written down somewhere, so I will try to find it. I had gotten the dosage info off a BYC thread. I do remember that I treated for 5 consecutive days.

I highly doubt they were vaccinated for Mareks disease. She got them from a farm store a 3 years ago. But I will do some research about the disease.

I will call the Indiana number on the list you linked. I had previously called Purdue University b/c I thought that is all that Indiana had, and they charge $125. Hopefully the lab on the link you provided is more in my price range. I badly want to find out what's going on and hopefully prevent any more illness, but I don't have much money.

I bought Ruby 2, the very ill hen, some buttermilk and she drank more than I've seen her drink in a long time. She seemed to like it a lot. She also ate some banana tonight. I just wish I could get her to eat some of her layer feed, b/c I know bananas are not all she needs but she just picks around at the feed.

Again, thank you very much for the information.

 

[Eggcessive]

You're welcome. The treatment dosage for Corid is 2 tsp of the liquid, or 1.5 tsp of the powder Corid per gallon of water. You may try scrambled egg, raw egg mixed with buttermilk, canned tuna, or a small amount of ground meat mixed with chicken feed to tempt her to eat. Here are my favorite 3 links on Mareks to read:
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/#/disease/Marek's_Disease

 

[WTCluck16]

I did find the second link on Mareks very helpful. They definitely have some of the signs of Classical Marek's (nerolymphatosis). Eeeek!
Although I'm hoping I don't lose Ruby 2 and 3 from this, if I do, I will definitely find a way to come up with the necropsy money. I'll go crazy if I have to go through this with all the others and not know what's wrong. I have 10 younger chickens, and 6 ducks.

I've had no luck with scrambled egg, but I will definitely try the raw egg with buttermilk. And I will try mixing her food in if she shows interest.

Is Corid something I should re-dose? I know I am due to re-dose the safegaurd de-wormer in a few days. Thanks for the dosage info. I've read many of your posts before posting my own, and have always found your advice helpful.

 

[Cacique500]

Is her diarrhea very runny? I'm working with one of my BR's right now and I think she had clostridium perfringens - if you search that link you'll find a picture somewhere of what the poop looks like (almost all water, very few solids). Any undigested grains/food in the poop? That was the big tipoff for me. We're just finished dosing with Tylan and still too early to tell if that worked. Got her on heavy probiotics now to make up for the antibiotic we just gave her.

Good luck with it and hope she gets better!

 

[WTCluck16]

Her diarrhea is runny most of the time. Usually a small amount of solid green with off white, yellow and clear liquid around the solid green. I will try to post a picture of a recent poo when she has one next. Her recent poo's haven't been reaching the towel b/c her butt is starting to mat with poo. I am going to try to use the kitchen sink sprayer on her bottom today to get her cleaned up, as well my other RIR with the same diarrhea. I have just the second ill hen Ruby 2 in the house for now. Ruby 3 has diarrhea, but is still eating and active outside with the others.

(My 5 y/o son named all the RIR hens that my mother gave us Ruby 1-4, lol!)

I did mix a raw egg with some buttermilk, and Ruby 2 sucked down the whole dish. Yay! I will try to mix some of her feed in with it for the next batch I make her. Hopefully she continues to eat.

** I did look up clostridium perfringens, and it's a possibility. Whether it's Mareks, or clostridium perfringens, or something else...should I try her on an antibiotic? I have terra-vet 10 (tetracycline hcl) on hand, and some leftover Clindamycin HCL liquid from my cat. If those aren't suggested I can try to get something else. I hate just throwing meds at her, not knowing what's wrong, but since the local vet couldn't help I don't have much choice. There is an exotic avian vet in Indy, but it's a bit of a drive and I really can't afford it. **

 

[casportpony]

Did you worm with Safeguard at 0.23ml per pound five days in a row? If not, they may have worms... the one day dose is unlikely to be effective for anything other than roundworms. Can you post a picture of the poop?

-Kathy

 

[snowflake]

I am sorry you are going through this, It sounds like Mareks, I had some with the same symptoms the wasting away is so sad. It is likely in the soil or was brought in by a wild bird, your hens may be immune and the RIR were not, I had a necropsy done so I know that is what was going on here, make sure you get any new chicks vaccinated, Some chickens survive and may become carriers.

 

[Eggcessive]

From what I have read about enteritis from C. perfringens is that very foul smelling brown diarrhea, which can also contain blood, is common. The stools the OP is seeing seem more from wasting. Avian leukosis is a disease that is similar in symptoms to Mareks, except for the paralysis seen in Mareks, and might be considered. Here is a link about it: http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/avian-leukosis/index.aspx