Passing blood-*pic*

I posted this earlier on the egg bound thread:

I think my 9 month old Buff Orpington may be egg bound. She was in the nesting box *all* day today, only coming outside in the last hour or so. When she's standing, tail feathers are down, she's not eating treats/seed; not drinking, and she's not standing much at all. No nasal discharge; no mites; no worms, etc. When she's down, about 1/2 of the time, her eyes are closed.

Crop feels fine. I tried feeling around her vent/rear end area, and didn't feel anything. I will say she was not happy with that and tried to move away from me, only to hunker down again.

I am not sure if she laid an egg today or not because we had a chicken pile in that nesting box and by the time she cleared out, there were several eggs in there. This is our flock mistress and she's usually pretty much in charge of what's going on out there.

How long do we wait? Give her overnight and then do a warm bath in the am if she hasn't perked back up? I'd isolate her tonight except my big brooder is outside and hunny thinks we just need to leave her alone.

~~~~~~~~

Now I'm updating. Shortly after, she gave this poo:


There's nothing moving in there. Didn't get a good look at the dark specs because it was already pretty dark outside and we used a flashlight in addition to the flash on the camera.

Then because it was dark, she went back into the coop and proceeded to lay on the floor. Once everyone else started filtering in, she went into one of the nesting boxes.

Needless to say, she is in the house in the big brooder. For a while, she sat on the floor; she's finally up on the roost. We haven't seen her eat anything, but she did drink a wee bit.

No one else is showing any signs of being sick. Once she pooed, though, I started wondering if this is cocci? (and if it is, she needs to be away from everyone else) {and then how would she have gotten it ?!}.

Combs and wattles still seem ok; she seems pleased to be in where it's warmer. This way, I can also keep an eye on what's coming out and check to see for sure if she's acting egg bound.

Suggestions? What are your thoughts?

On edit: Another thing that occurred to me is that we are pretty sure she's the one laying pretty bloody eggs (shells) from time to time; like blood smeared all over the shell. Could it be that there's a blood vessel broken in there somewhere (particulary if she is egg bound) and that's why she's got bloody poo?

Came home and doesn't look like there is anything solid in her poo, but all blood on the shavings.

Thanks,
Tikki, the worrier, but trying not to panic!

She is still passing blood. Overnight, she drank some; I haven't seen her eat yet. Comb doesn't look completely pale, but not as dark as it was yesterday.

She's doing some head cocking (not really shaking) and we got her to talk a wee little bit this morning. She is still sitting down, but seems pretty alert this morning. When she walks, her balance seems to be fine. She is not hunched down, nor doing any kind of feather fluffing. Yesterday was the first day she acted anything but normal.

I'm going to give her a bath later this morning because her lower feathers are icky/bloody and see if I can feel an egg in there.

Since it's unusual for a bird of this age to get cocci, what else could this be?! And, if this was cocci, wouldn't she have been acting sick before yesterday compared to passing blood?

Could this be egg related?

Anybody?

Is this chick important enough to you and the family to bring that stool sample or a recent stool sample to a vet and really find out whats going on from an aviary specialist? Take her and you will know what to do when its internal stuff like that!! More than likely she had trouble passing an egg and its causing it but if she is sick the doctor will get you on the right path immediately. Good luck with your girl.

There's not a vet in 200 miles in any direction that will even *see* chickens and no one listed does birds of any kind, either. As far as my extension office goes, they don't know of anyone who will even test chickens for anything. And no one will even attempt an interstate health certificate. You'd think in a rural farming/dairy/cattle community there would be someone. Apparently, chickens don't rate. The vets I've called prior don't want to even talk about chickens and basically hang up on you. So, I'm on my own. I am planning on heading to TSC and see if they have some Corid; if not will head to the only feed store in town. If those don't work, we have a vet farm store and I'll see what they have to say. Frustrated.

And, she gets a bath this afternoon.

Update: She's still pretty much acting the same; still sitting, BUT she just did a normal looking small doodle. The only thing she is doing now is more head shaking? This is not like a tremor, but like she's got something she's trying to shake off her head? (she is peeper-less, fwiw.)

Confusing. Now I don't know whether or not to go ahead with the Corid or not (if I can find it) but the bath is still on tap in a little bit.

*sigh*

We did a soak/stand for about 35 minutes- she was not real happy about getting massaged and would try to move away.

Question: does the warm water need to come up over the vent? She absolutely did not like the water trickling over it, for sure. I went ahead and slightly lubed (olive oil) as her vent was going.

She's gone to the bathroom again; a bit more and no blood; back to normal. She's not eating a lot, but did eat some earlier and is eating a little now.

If this was cocci, would the blood have stopped and gone back to normal without treatment?

Anybody have any idea what this is???

I've heard they shed their intestinal lining sometimes, but honestly I've had chickens for 4 years and have never seen it. The thing in the upper left of the photo doesn't look like intestinal lining to me, though. She may be sloughing part of her reproductive tract... dunno how that would work out. Hope she recovers for you.

Well, here's the update:

I still have her inside. She is eating, drinking, and pooing normally, though not pooing in huge amounts. Comb and wattles look fine. She has been more talkative, and we thought she might lay yesterday. Nope, not happening. She acting better, but clearly not as active as she usually is.

The last time she had a bath, I lubed her vent, but didn't feel inside, only the outside, and it didn't feel like there was an egg there.

I think if this was cocci, I think she'd be gone by now since while I have Corid, I didn't treat. Blaze, I'm pretty sure it wasn't intestines in her poo on Monday; I know they'll get rid of some intestinal material every 4 or 5 poos, so that in of itself didn't have me concerned. And since it was poo, I'm also pretty sure she didn't expel an ovary. She's not prolapsed; she's not straining to try and lay.

She is still shaking her head from side to side, though, not as hard and not as much as she was. I'm tempted to put her back out with everyone since she is flock mistress, but I'd really like her to lay first, darn it!

The only other observation is that while everyone has feathered back in since the peepers (she managed to get hers off the first day and is not plucking others, so we left them off), she has not and still has a bare butt, which makes me think she may be plucking herself.

My plan at this point is to do several baths today and go fishing in her vent and see if I can feel something up there and lube her up some more. Her vent hasn't been going crazy, but will periodically look like she's getting ready to lay. While I know winter laying slows down, how long really can they go being egg bound before passing the point of no return?

I will try to post pictures later today................

Suggestions, anyone??!!

I suggest Necrotic enteritis. Symptoms inclue. Ruffled reathers, Reddy coloured feaces followed by dark brown. Closing eyes, not moving, not eating, not drinking. Some more feaces pictures would help!?

I don't have any advice other than to say chickens are incredibly resilient. We have a hen that prolapsed twice and just laid her first egg in 2 months. Several times we came close to culling her but she seemed to rally. She is such a trooper that we finally ended up building a second coop for her and a couple of other special needs chickens. Hope your buff orpington gets well!