2-year-old Hen pooping an alarming amount of blood

[missbeasty]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)

Black Sex Link, 2 years, “slim side of normal” according to vet.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.

Sprinkle is pooping blood — some normal solids, some urates, mostly pink fluid and dark red clots. Her comb and face are pale. She was sleepy in the coop (it is quite hot/humid), but once inside she perked up and has been walking, looking around, vocalizing, and interested in food.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?

It seems to have started overnight judging from the gummy red clots under the sleeping roost. I guessed it was Sprinkle based on her pale comb/face and sleepy behavior. Brought her inside and sure enough, she is expelling what looks like fresh and clotted blood. (Pics attached)

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?

Not as far as I can tell - 5 other hens, same age.

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.

I can’t detect anything.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.

No idea. Internal bleeding? I saw that a broken egg can cause bleeding. I lubed her and checked a couple inches into her vent and couldn’t feel anything — bleeding might be further up, like intestinal.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.

18% layer feed, grit, oyster shell, some grass. She is not free range so what she is able to eat is limited. Not sure how much she is drinking, but she does have appetite — I just gave her a scrambled egg and she gobbled it down.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.

Bloody - pics attached.

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?

Brought inside for monitoring, offered cool water and a scrambled egg to preemptively boost iron.

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?

I don’t know if vet care is in the cards. I have a vet who is willing to see chickens, but her availability is very limited and she will not do abdominal cavity surgery. I have on hand sulfatrim, Corid, fenbendazole, and calcium. I am mainly trying to figure out if her condition is in any way survivable, or if she’s actively bleeding out and it would be kinder to put her down immediately.

EDIT: I should add — I treated the flock preventatively with Corid at the beginning of May, about 6 weeks ago. I do not believe this is coccidiosis.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

Sand bedding, coop is an open-air setup with 3 walls and the bottom / 4th wall hardware cloth. They have rotating access to a bit of grass via movable tunnels and enclosures. All food/water is kept under a roof.

If anyone has experience with this, I would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks so much in advance.

 

[SmiYa0126]

It looks like she got into berries, do you see the little seeds in the poop. I don't think it's blood. Since she perked up and is eating I think she's ok.

@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive thoughts?

 

[azygous]

If you can rule out eating red fruit, she may have an infection call necrotic enteritis. Start her on the sulfatrim immediately.

 

[missbeasty]

Hi @SmiYa0126 and @azygous , thank you for your responses.

I am fairly certain it is blood. She does not have full free-range access. The reddest thing they've had is a slice of watermelon a couple days ago, and the other 5 have normal droppings. What's coming out of Sprinkle smells bad -- forgive the gross imagery -- like a used tampon.

I gave her a dose of Sulfatrim, probably can't hurt - 2.4 ml based on a heavier chicken's weight.

I know I'll get some heat for this, but I do not have it in me to kill one of my pets with my bare hands. I am working on putting together a CO2 chamber to AMVA specifications, but I can't get the gas tank filled until tomorrow. I reached out to our chicken vet's office and she's unfortunately not in today. I asked the receptionist if anyone on staff today would at least be able to euthanize her if needed. She checked, and a Dr. said she "could try" and then asked if I wanted to be present when it happened... no idea what that means, but it doesn't sound great. I put Sprinkle back out with her sisters for now, and will keep an eye on her while I figure out what to do next.

Thanks again.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hi @SmiYa0126 and @azygous , thank you for your responses.

I am fairly certain it is blood. She does not have full free-range access. The reddest thing they've had is a slice of watermelon a couple days ago, and the other 5 have normal droppings. What's coming out of Sprinkle smells bad -- forgive the gross imagery -- like a used tampon.

I gave her a dose of Sulfatrim, probably can't hurt - 2.4 ml based on a heavier chicken's weight.

I know I'll get some heat for this, but I do not have it in me to kill one of my pets with my bare hands. I am working on putting together a CO2 chamber to AMVA specifications, but I can't get the gas tank filled until tomorrow. I reached out to our chicken vet's office and she's unfortunately not in today. I asked the receptionist if anyone on staff today would at least be able to euthanize her if needed. She checked, and a Dr. said she "could try" and then asked if I wanted to be present when it happened... no idea what that means, but it doesn't sound great. I put Sprinkle back out with her sisters for now, and will keep an eye on her while I figure out what to do next.

Thanks again.

Ugh, that sounds terrible. Hopefully the treatment from. @azygous will work

 

[missbeasty]

Thank you @SmiYa0126

I actually got in touch with my chicken vet -- the receptionist kindly reached out to her. The Dr. looked at the pics I sent and her advice was to monitor and wait it out at least until the evening to see if the bleeding stops. She did not speculate on the cause, but did suggest that this symptom may not be as dire as it looks and may resolve on its own.

Fingers crossed for our girl... I'll update as I can.

 

[Eggcessive]

The Sulfatrim is a good idea. Since you recently treated with Corid, she could have a more serious case, and sulfa antibiotics are what you would go to next.

 

[missbeasty]

@Eggcessive Thank you -- it could be, she's been okay but seemingly not 100% perky lately. I'll go into her history in another comment I think.

Strange update… I just watched another hen have a bloody, mucus-y looking dropping. I do not know if it’s related.

This one has been unwell. Maeve, our Easter Egger, went to the vet last month with suspected internal laying. (She “pretended” to lay and her abdomen felt full and firm. Vet drew fluid off her abdomen and cytology confirmed the presence of yolk — a.k.a. EYP.) I put her on a round of amoxicillin and drained the fluid off her abdomen a month ago to try to get her more comfortable. She had a sour crop after, which seemed to resolve with treatment, and spent the next few weeks being her normal active, sassy self. As of a couple days ago I noticed her crop going sour again, so I’m treating again with massage and miconazole. I’m trying to avoid isolating, as I understand her time is limited and I want her to spend her last days with her sisters, doing normal happy chicken things. She’s definitely feeling icky, which I attributed to the sour crop until I saw this dropping. She's had some loose and abnormal droppings throughout her illness, but not bloody-looking like this.

If there is a connection (I feel there must be??), it’s something environmental or contagious, right?

I do not know what contagious illnesses can cause this in adult chickens… searching only brings up coccidiosis. I can try treating the flock again with Corid, but how likely is that they’re this sick after being treated preventatively a month ago? Any idea what can cause a necrotic enteritis outbreak?

Their environment is pretty tightly controlled, so I’m at a loss. We don’t put out any poisons, so I don’t think they could have eaten a poisoned rodent or insect.

I’ll try to monitor the rest of the flock as I can (between stormy weather and working.. ugh) but I felt I should mention this development.

 

[missbeasty]

So, Miss Sprinkle...

Yesterday, serendipitously, I decided to put together a formal Chicken Health Journal for myself, mostly reverse-engineered from my calendar entries, photos and text messages. I thought it could come in handy for future reference, keeping track of symptoms and timelines. I did not expect to be referencing it a day later.

Dec. 4, 2022 - Sprinkle had watery droppings and mild lethargy. Fearing cryptosporidium (which ravaged another of our hens), I gave her 250 mg amoxicillin for a week until her symptoms cleared up.

Apr. 4 - Sprinkle had watery droppings and mild lethargy again. Gave her another 10 days of amoxicillin -- probably too soon to repeat, but it was all I had on hand.

Apr. 14 - Sprinkle's symptoms continued through the mox, and I started her on fenbendazole next. Her symptoms cleared up quickly.

Apr. 24 - Sprinkle seemed to have some recurring ickiness -- drooping tail, isolating herself. I preventatively dewormed the other hens with fenbendazole for 6 days. A fecal test came back negative for the entire flock, Sprinkle included.

May 3 - Though still feisty and bossy with her flockmates, Sprinkle still seems lower energy than I would expect, sometimes dozing off standing up while the others are active. I gave the whole flock a preventative dose of Corid water for 5 or 6 days.

May-June, Sprinkle has been okay -- eating, drinking, active, I think laying periodically -- but has seemed just slightly "off" since earlier this year. Her immune system was probably given a good rattle between the antibiotics and dewormer. I think it's possible some normal gut flora got out of balance, or maybe she's got something more serious, e.g. cancer, developing and she's just slowly shutting down.

It's hard to guess what could be happening... and I hate not knowing the prognosis. I am willing to do fairly aggressive treatment for a chicken that has a few good years ahead of her, but if the prognosis is poor, I don't want her last days to be isolated and tortured.

Anyway, this is super long and I don't expect anyone to read it all, I just wanted to log my experience for anyone searching the forum at a later date. I've spent a lot of time digging through this forum with every little question and worry that's popped into my head, and I am so grateful to have it (and the wonderful people here who share their expertise) as a resource.

 

[Eggcessive]

One thing good about the sulfa antibiotic is that it can treat different possible illnesses. Just check the dosage of your product and give the dose for her weight. Without lab work or fecal float with a gram stain, it is mostly guess work to diagnose. Most times we get a good idea after death when a necropsy can be done by the state vet pathologist.