Watery greenish poops, decline in appetite, not as active

[Sparkleyhead]

My 2 year old Buff Orpington has not been herself as of Sunday. She has been standoff-ish and not as excited about food. Of the 8 birds I have, she is top hen. Always very nosey about what I'm doing, practically beating the other chickens out of the way when I bring out snacks and just a very active bird in general.

On Sunday/Monday I noticed that she was standing off to the side of the other birds, had the fluffed up feathers and just seemed off. I thought she might be egg bound, but I couldn't feel anything. Her color has been good and she seems alert. Yesterday and today I found watery greenish poop in the coop (I spot clean the coop everyday since it's small). She isn't standing around the yard all puffed up anymore, but she still is off her game. Bananas are one of her favorite snacks and she showed no interest in eating any of it when I brought some out today. She is drinking though.

I'm wondering if she ate something she shouldn't have. Spring has exploded here in MD this past week. I don't know if chickens are like horses and if they eat too much rich spring grass if they could get an upset stomach. Or maybe there is something funky growing out in their yard. In case she was having some digestive issues, I brought out some blueberry Trader Joe's yogurt, which she seemed happy to eat. I also cleaned out the water and put some raw apple cider vinegar in it.

All in all, she better than she was 3 days ago, but still not 100%. She lost some weight, still doesn't have her appetite 100% back, and still not as active. Also all of the other birds are fine so it is just this one hen. I read somewhere that usually when a bird gets poisoned, it is usually the top bird, which she is. Thoughts please on what might be wrong with Cadbury?

Thanks!

 

[Sparkleyhead]

Anyone have ANY advice? She is back and forth between being her normal self and acting lethargic. I don't know if it is something that she ate, age, if she needs to be wormed (I'm deworming tomorrow), or if she just has some other illness that slowly taking effect. She still has no interest in one of her favorite snacks, bananas, which I find most alarming. It's like a yellow lab turning down table scraps; it doesn't happen unless something is wrong.

 

[Akrnaf2]

you almost certenly need to treat it for worms.

 

[casportpony]

Anyone have ANY advice? She is back and forth between being her normal self and acting lethargic. I don't know if it is something that she ate, age, if she needs to be wormed (I'm deworming tomorrow), or if she just has some other illness that slowly taking effect. She still has no interest in one of her favorite snacks, bananas, which I find most alarming. It's like a yellow lab turning down table scraps; it doesn't happen unless something is wrong.

Would be best to have a vet look at her poop and check it for worm eggs, coccidia, bacteria and yeast, but if you can't do that, you could deworm her with Safeguard liquid or paste at 0.23ml per pound for five consecutive days. That dose will treat roundworms, cecal worms, capillary worms, gape worms and possible some species of tapeworms. You could also treat for coccidiosis with Corid.

Remember that Wazine only treats roundworms and a one day dose of Safeguard only treat roundworms and maybe cecal worms. Best to rule out all worms by treating for five days.

Can you post a picture of her poop?

-Kathy

 

[Sparkleyhead]

I am so sorry for taking FOREVER to reply. She is still light as a feather, and coloring is off, but still eating/drinking and active. And her curiosity is still strong, which is one of her best traits. I have been treating all the birds for worms for the past year or so. I worm them in the spring and in the fall with paste. I change it up too. I used Strongid paste this past fall and this spring I used ivermectin. The hen in question has also been having egg laying issues for the past year. I think she has maybe laid one egg this year and she is only 2 years old. Also in her poop there have been fleshy lumps about the size of lima beans. Today I finally went to the vet and gave them some of her poop to check for parasites.

My poor Cadbury

I don't what I'm going to do with her come winter time. I'm afraid she is going freeze because she has no body fat right now. Here she is sunning herself at the end of July.

 

[Sparkleyhead]

Well the vet called me back today and said that she was negative for parasites, which I was glad to hear. He asked me a few more questions about her so he could look up more information as to why she has lost so much weight this past year. Hopefully when he calls back tomorrow I will have a better idea on what's going on with my poor girl.