5 year old hen, thin, eating active, but slowing down.. diarhrea with yellow white slime

[Bocktobery 10]

When mine have a slow crop I give 10% Baytril by injection at 0.09ml per pound. If you can get some lactated ringers you could give fluids subcutaneously.

-Kathy

I don't have the inject-able kind of baytril. I don't have any of the lactated ringers you speak of either- where do you get them?

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Kathy,

In the middle of this photo is the material that I am talking about that looks like lash.. EXCEPT that it has been picked apart by me, so what you see here is not how it came out looking. Its in the middle of the photo- not the seed (which by the way was not digested, just thrown by her I'm sure when she was picking through her food). There is also a bit more to the upper left of the stuff in the middle of the photo too. When dissecting it, it was stringier than it looks.

Luckily we were able to find the camera attachment (thought it was packed up and way in the back of all the piles of boxes) so I was able to get these on here now. If I see her poop one out again, I will post it.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

This is her newest most recent poop. Note, that is not a worm but a blade of grass. I have no idea why it did not get digested- and it must be old because she has not been outside for about two days now. (I put her outside when the temp got over 50 degrees F) The whiteish/yellow beading stuff is similar to the lash stuff I was talking about. Also, their is a green "gel" bit at the end of the blade of grass.

This is really sick, but after I took this picture she ate the blade of grass in this photo.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

This is from yesterday, so it has dried a bit. There is a stone at the bottom middle right of the photo. Its reddish in color. There is the brown part at the top, I think it may be cecal, though it is a bit more congealed than cecal usually is (maybe because its old and drying out now?) You can see the undigested bits of oat kernels in there.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

This picture is poop from yesterday as well (photo taken today- I did not wash the towel like I thought I had) In this photo there is the object I picked out that I think may be a worm. ? Its in the middle of the photo, somewhat blackish, string like. There are a few more stones in this photo as well, one is on the middle right.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

This is Maple, the patient, as she was about an hour ago now. Note how her feathers on her head above the eye are ruffled up. She's been that way since the beginning of noticing she was ill. In fact it was the first thing that alerted me to the fact she might be ill. The feathers at the back of her neck are also ruffled up. She was MUCH more pale than this (in fact I don't think she looks so pale now at all) before I brought her in. The back of her comb is kind of dry and withered... one reason why I think she is dehydrated other than the fact her crop is slow to empty.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Here she is again. This is her stance- I find the position of the neck and crop to be particular. She stands like this most of the time with her eyes half open like this.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

One other note that I maybe should mention is that this chicken's nails on her feet always grew very fast. They are longish now again (photo taken today). I have had to clip them a couple times in the past they were so long. I don't know if that would help diagnose anything, but I thougth I'd add that. Also, she once when she was a young pullet got a black ugly spot on her beak by her nostril that when it fell off it took a piece of her beak nostril part with it. She also has always breathed faster and heavier than all the other hens but despite all this, she has been very healthy. Maybe I could get a photo of that too.

Anyway, just two health notes I felt I should make. She is nearly 5 years old now, and has been generally my most healthy hen. Smart and robust.

 

[enola]

Since she is drinking on her own, do you have any way to measure how much she is actually consuming?

 

[casportpony]

Quote: You have to get them from a vet.

-Kathy