Sick RIR? Weight Loss, Green Runny Poop...now FLY STRIKE GRAPHIC PICS

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whiteybird

whiteybird

Songster
Feb 16, 2013
136
10
124
Sarasota, FL
Hi All,

One of my older RIRs, Red (I know, so creative), isn't acting right. I noticed recently within the past few weeks that she felt lighter than I remembered, but wrote it off to comparing her to our younger reds. She is about 2-1/2. She's always had a relatively pale and floppy crown but now it is floppier than usual. I've seen her eat scratch, run after grapes and eat a tomato today, as well as drink some water, but I caught her standing in one place for a good 10-15 minutes an hour ago and saw her eyes partially close as if she wasn't feeling well.

She's had a poopy butt for a while too...slightly green, mostly dark brown. Possibly grainy but may just be sand from dirt baths. Can't say how long she's been like this, but she seemed perfectly normal otherwise so I wrote that off as well until today...wish I hadn't of disregarded it now.

I tried to wash off her butt but she was not a fan at first. Took her to the spigot to give her some fresh water and she drank a good amount but the wet poop started smelling REALLY bad.

When I finally got the rest of the poop off, her skin running from the bottom of her vent down ~3" was yolk yellow and hard. Vent itself looked healthy. ........Why is her skin yellow and gross? The pores where feathers once were are more prominent there. IS it just irritation from having poop there for a while? OR a sign of something else?

I checked her crop; it has food in it but it's not impacted. Feet look fine, and can't see any injuries but I didn't comb through every single feather.

Any ideas as to what could be the issue please let me know. Figures that I notice this only four days before I go away for a week.
 
Thanks for your reply. Her poop doesn't look like the pictures floating around the internet of chickens with worms though? Its green tinted brown, kind of thick, but I don't see worms.

I'm trying to find a way to justify treating her alone for worms instead of the rest of the flock...we have 8 chickens total, 3 different ages (adults), and all seem completely fine except for Red. The only reason I'm reluctant is because of losing dozens of eggs.
 
Also, excluding this last week I've been getting maybe one corrugated egg per week. Huge compared to the others which are most likely from the young chickens who have only been laying for a couple months. One of the corrugated eggs had blood smeared on the small end.

I"m not sure at all if they came from the sick bird but about 7 months ago before the young birds were laying Red was likely the only one of three laying.
 
Thanks! Unfortunately I find those causes very vague, though it's very possible if those are her eggs that the deformity is caused by an infestation.

I still find it strange that she is so affected and none of the others show any sign of distress or issue. I'd think there would be less of a difference.

I gave her a quart of water with a 2 gal dose of wazine in it to drink (if I did my math correctly, that's about 4x the recommended concentration bc I knew she wouldn't drink it all)...she had maybe 5mls of it and since her appetite is rapidly decreasing I tube fed her high fat baby bird food and used ~6oz wazine water to dilute it. I think she got the recommended dose and maybe a little more and I realize undiluted meds are probably very rough on her but I didn't have much choice.

I meant to tube feed her again last eve but she has always been the first inside the coop so once I saw her ready for bed I decided to leave her be.

How long does it take to see results from the wazine? When should I expect to see improvement if she has roundworms?

She's not worse I think today from yesterday, but her crop did not empty from yesterdays tube feed. When I first started this thread shed had a tough ball of scratch or feed in there and it's gradually disappeared but now she has an almost golf ball sized amount of liquidy stuff in there.
 
whiteybird said:
Thanks! Unfortunately I find those causes very vague, though it's very possible if those are her eggs that the deformity is caused by an infestation.

I still find it strange that she is so affected and none of the others show any sign of distress or issue. I'd think there would be less of a difference.

I gave her a quart of water with a 2 gal dose of wazine in it to drink (if I did my math correctly, that's about 4x the recommended concentration bc I knew she wouldn't drink it all)...she had maybe 5mls of it and since her appetite is rapidly decreasing I tube fed her high fat baby bird food and used ~6oz wazine water to dilute it. I think she got the recommended dose and maybe a little more and I realize undiluted meds are probably very rough on her but I didn't have much choice.

I meant to tube feed her again last eve but she has always been the first inside the coop so once I saw her ready for bed I decided to leave her be.

How long does it take to see results from the wazine? When should I expect to see improvement if she has roundworms?

She's not worse I think today from yesterday, but her crop did not empty from yesterdays tube feed. When I first started this thread shed had a tough ball of scratch or feed in there and it's gradually disappeared but now she has an almost golf ball sized amount of liquidy stuff in there.
Click to expand...
It is very common from my experience and from reading lots of BYC posts to have just one or two in the flock who seem ill when they are all battling something. Chickens are experts at hiding they are ill.

For example, I have one Easter Egger who seemed a little depressed. Well over the next few days I found roundworms in the poo in the coop. I treated and she perked up in a couple of days. That is typical for wormers I have found with my own flock- a couple of days later they are eagerly walking around again, looking for bugs and their demeanor is cheerful again.

Look up sour crop to see what you think about it...gotta go right now...will try to write more later!
 
I've dealt with sour crop once before, last summer with an EE. Unless sour crop can be pretty progressed in a day and a half, I think it's her body shutting down, not processing food, instead of sour crop.

When I went to tube feed her this morning she had very small maggots crawling around in her poop on her butt...I immed washed her down and didn't see any obvious strike spots so I assumed (hoped) they were hatched in the poop on her butt, not somewhere under her skin or within her. I brought her inside to keep her away from the flies/gnats until half an hour ago when I tube fed again. She only weighs 3lb 11oz, half an ounce less than yesterday, which is more than an ounce in the wrong direction in my opinion.

Sometimes shes interested in food, other times she stops and loses interest. Very similar to a bird I had who got attacked by a raccoon last fall...after a while before I started tube feeding her shed bring her face down close to the food, hang there, then look away.

Red was definitely interested in dried mealworms and tomato and did eat some feed, scratch and grass, and I have seen her preening a little at times today, which gives me hope. I'm preparing for the worst though.

Should I give her some antibiotics to see if that would help her at all? I know blindly treating with meds is a no-no but I want to be sure I've done everything I can for her...I have tetracycline and sulmet, neither is ideal but it's on hand. I did give her some poultry vitamins and electrolytes in her food today.

Thanks for all your help
 
whiteybird said:
I've dealt with sour crop once before, last summer with an EE. Unless sour crop can be pretty progressed in a day and a half, I think it's her body shutting down, not processing food, instead of sour crop.

When I went to tube feed her this morning she had very small maggots crawling around in her poop on her butt...I immed washed her down and didn't see any obvious strike spots so I assumed (hoped) they were hatched in the poop on her butt, not somewhere under her skin or within her.

Should I give her some antibiotics to see if that would help her at all? I know blindly treating with meds is a no-no but I want to be sure I've done everything I can for her...I have tetracycline and sulmet, neither is ideal but it's on hand. I did give her some poultry vitamins and electrolytes in her food today.

Thanks for all your help
Click to expand...
You know I think I would if it were me (antibiotics). I am still quite worried about the hard yellow area under her vent. I am no expert though. The maggots are also worrisome. I have read quite a few posts on BYC where there was a wound and the maggots were living in the wound. Could there be a small opening in the skin where that hard yellow area is?

You are welcome!

I hope she gets better soon and hopefully others will respond with more experience or some other ideas!
 
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