8 m/o pullet stopped laying, not eating, lost weight (Update - hen died)

[hobomom]

Well, after all that optimism about her doing better, today she reverted to not eating at all but her crop still has some food in it. I don't know if she got chilled last night since the outdoor temps were in the low 20's and she is in an unheated room off the kitchen. Today she has been in the house in the living room by a sunny door and the fireplace nearby.

With your information regarding her stool, it got me to thinking about her gut flora. So if there is a disruption in the digestion I don't know if I should treat with an antibiotic since the wormer would slow her gut down anyway (which probably would explain why she still had some food in it from yesterday) and the antibiotic would kill any good bacteria that is in her gut, too. Seems like a catch-22. I have Probios but it is to do 5000 birds. I don't know what the hydrated dosage would be per gallon of water and have been searching the forum. I even emailed the people who make it to see if they would be willing to give me some guidance but don't think they will even respond.

We filled her crop with water, yogurt and a pulverized antacid (for the calcium) to see if that will stimulate her gut a bit. I haven't given her any antibiotic as of yet. At this point, I don't know if we caught her affliction in time but I've seen hens that I thought were going to die (or I was going to relieve them of their misery) of peritonitis rebound, relapse, rebound and yet live another 3 years.

And I did run across this article done by Mississippi State Univ which has reference to the enteritis. It is about 1/2 way down the page and they recommend using Bacitracin or penicillin in treating enteritis. http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/diseases.html

 

[JensChickies]

Well, after all that optimism about her doing better, today she reverted to not eating at all but her crop still has some food in it.  I don't know if she got chilled last night since the outdoor temps were in the low 20's and she is in an unheated room off the kitchen.  Today she has been in the house in the living room by a sunny door and the fireplace nearby.

With your information regarding her stool, it got me to thinking about her gut flora.  So if there is a disruption in the digestion I don't know if I should treat with an antibiotic since the wormer would slow her gut down anyway (which probably would explain why she still had some food in it from yesterday) and the antibiotic would kill any good bacteria that is in her gut, too.  Seems like a catch-22.  I have Probios but it is to do 5000 birds.  I don't know what the hydrated dosage would be per gallon of water and have been searching the forum.  I even emailed the people who make it to see if they would be willing to give me some guidance but don't think they will even respond.

We filled her crop with water, yogurt and a pulverized antacid (for the calcium) to see if that will stimulate her gut a bit.  I haven't given her any antibiotic as of yet.   At this point, I don't know if we caught her affliction in time but I've seen hens that I thought were going to die (or I was going to relieve them of their misery) of peritonitis rebound, relapse, rebound and yet live another 3 years.

And I did run across this article done by Mississippi State Univ which has reference to the enteritis.  It is about 1/2 way down the page and they recommend using Bacitracin or penicillin in treating enteritis.  http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/diseases.html

I still think she would benefit from antibiotics, I have wormed and treated with antibiotics before. I really didn't have a choice. But it didn't seem to have bothered her, but that chicken was in a really bad place. I was talking to my go to person (casportpony) about the antibiotics and she said that it can be weeks before they improve with enteritis. I am treating mine with metronidazole, which is actually banned in poultry. So that is something to consider if you want to use metronidazole. You can order it as fishzole, that is the link below if you interested. It seems like all the good antibiotics are banned in poultry, like baytril.

http://www.allivet.com/p-2945-fish-zole-250-mg-60-ct.aspx

As for the food in her crop, your sweet girl is probably dehydrated so her food isn't moving. I would start tube feeding her to correct her hydration. Super important to get her hydrated first and then feed food. If you are interested I can send you the link, casportpony has taught me all that I know about tubing. With sick chickens I keep them warm and always warm their water and food when I give it. Your girl is about the same weight as mine, so I give Mytrle 120 mLs of water so 60 in the am and 60 in the pm. I will also give her food durning the day. Her crop isn't having any problems, so I always let it empty or really close to it before I do the feeding since they are closer together.

Keep Maple warm, and start antibiotics. Tube feeding will keep her alive long enough for the antibiotics to work. With my experience yogurt can cause diarrhea if given too much, which can cause more dehydration. Keep me posted on her and let me know if you want the link for tube feeding. Hang in there.

 

[hobomom]

Sadly, Maple died last night about 10 minutes after your post. We had given her some antibiotic late in the afternoon but was too late to be of any good. We also had another pullet who died about an hour beforehand. That one had an impacted crop that we had been treating for a few days and looking back now on it, I suspect she had the same condition as Maple only that she was far more active than Maple before we noticed she was sick. We started treating her for the impacted crop about 4 days ago and she seemed a little on the light side but she was out and about eating and drinking. She was a fluffy ROUND white hen that hatched out early this year from a pair of Red Sex Link chickens, not entirely friendly, so we didn't realize that she was ailing, too, until she started to look a little oddly shaped and that was when the crop issue was discovered. Water/olive oil and gentle massage of the crop alleviated the issue each time but in the end, like Maple, her condition just never responded to treatment nor to the antibiotic (duramycin).

I really thought that Maple was going to pull through but when her crop never went down yesterday morning, her not wanting to eat anything - not even hard boiled egg - and her starting to lay on her side, it was apparent that she was not responding to any of the water/antibiotic we gave her, not that I expected any response from the antibiotic so soon. There was no issue with her eating, just drinking on her own. We would fill her crop with water after she ate but I am guessing here that infection must have set in her crop, too, or just her digestive system in general? This is definitely a learning experience.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, and if I may ask, Jenschickies, do you have a thread going on your current treatment of your hen. I want to keep track of your progress to educate ourselves on strategy for the next time we face a similar situation. And also got to get that chicken first aid kit in order!!

Thanks again,
Karen

 

[enola]

Both worms and coccidia can bog down a chicken's digestive system. An impacted crop is usually an indication that the chicken has an underlying serious problem; unless of course the chicken has swallowed something that literally blocks the crop's exit. Are you planning to do an autopsy? Since you had two hens die i would open them both up. If you have not wormed your flock i think you should, using Safeguard or Valbazen. If you have anymore hens that are not acting 'right' they may also benefit from treating them for coccidiosis. Very sorry for your losses, two at the same time is hard.

 

[JensChickies]

Sadly, Maple died last night about 10 minutes after your post.  We had given her some antibiotic late in the afternoon but was too late to be of any good.  We also had another pullet who died about an hour beforehand.  That one had an impacted crop that we had been treating for a few days and looking back now on it, I suspect she had the same condition as Maple only that she was far more active than Maple before we noticed she was sick.  We started treating her for the impacted crop about 4 days ago and she seemed a little on the light side but she was out and about eating and drinking.  She was a fluffy ROUND white hen that hatched out early this year from a pair of Red Sex Link chickens, not entirely friendly, so we didn't realize that she was ailing, too, until she started to look a little oddly shaped and that was when the crop issue was discovered.  Water/olive oil and gentle massage of the crop alleviated the issue each time but in the end,  like Maple, her condition just never responded to treatment nor to the antibiotic (duramycin).

I really thought that Maple was going to pull through but when her crop never went down yesterday morning, her not wanting to eat anything - not even hard boiled egg - and her starting to lay on her side, it was apparent that she was not responding to any of the water/antibiotic we gave her, not that I expected any response from the antibiotic so soon.  There was no issue with her eating, just drinking on her own. We would fill her crop with water after she ate but I am guessing here that infection must have set in her crop, too, or just her digestive system in general?  This is definitely a learning experience.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, and if I may ask, Jenschickies, do you have a thread going on your current treatment of your hen.  I want to keep track of your progress to educate ourselves on strategy for the next time we face a similar situation.  And also got to get that chicken first aid kit in order!!


Thanks again,

Karen

Oh I am so sorry to hear about Maple and your other bird. I wish chickens would let us know they are sick before they get too far gone. You tried, that's the best you can do.

This thread is for my Langshan and it goes over everything that I went through with her.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/924563/someone-please-help/230#post_14253438

This thread is for my Welsummer. It starts off with another person starting it, but we end up taking back and forth a lot. The threads starter's chicken and my Langshan has the same problems going on so we bonded, now we just talk, lol. My Welsummer posts are towards the last pages of the thread.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/929109/hen-losing-weight/360#post_14335853

FYI...the poop pictures arnt my Welsummer, they are my langshans. Unfortunately I have two chickens in the sick ward right now.

In both threads there is a lot of good beneficial info because we both learned as we were going and put the pieces together. I will keep you updated on Mytrle's conditions. Hang in there!! Loosing chickens isn't easy.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I am with enola, this is probably a good time to worm the entire flock. So sorry about your losses

This seems to be a rough year for everyone

 

[Feathyr]

JensChickies, thank you for the link - we're still continuing to educate ourselves on the topic and appreciate it greatly.

Both birds had already been disposed of, so an autopsy isn't possible, unfortunately. I've lost over five birds this year to unknown causes, and in hindsight I'm willing to bet enteritis is one - if not the - main cause.

We wormed the entire flock with Safeguard twelve days ago, and I have a couple questions regarding it:

Should I consider worming them again to kill any stragglers, even though my flock is still in various stages of molt? Will it greatly stunt their feather growth? It's snowing in our part of the state and the evening temperatures fall below 10 F, and as heating the coop will cause moisture issues I really don't want to have to provide a heater.

Secondly, if we should worm, should we continue with Safeguard or switch to a different wormer?

 

[JensChickies]

JensChickies, thank you for the link - we're still continuing to educate ourselves on the topic and appreciate it greatly.

Both birds had already been disposed of, so an autopsy isn't possible, unfortunately. I've lost over five birds this year to unknown causes, and in hindsight I'm willing to bet enteritis is one - if not the - main cause.

We wormed the entire flock with Safeguard twelve days ago, and I have a couple questions regarding it:

Should I consider worming them again to kill any stragglers, even though my flock is still in various stages of molt? Will it greatly stunt their feather growth? It's snowing in our part of the state and the evening temperatures fall below 10 F, and as heating the coop will cause moisture issues I really don't want to have to provide a heater.

Secondly, if we should worm, should we continue with Safeguard or switch to a different wormer?

Your welcome. Ask any questions that you have about those threads. I am not too familiar with safeguard, but there are plenty of people on here that do. And just so you know, I am now treating my chicken with neomycin and bacitracin since I too suspect enteritis. My 2 sick hens just got their second dose. hope this works.

 

[enola]

You need to worm the flock again in 10 days to 2 weeks.

 

[JensChickies]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/926738/safeguard-and-feather-damage-while-molting

Maybe some of tori questions can be answered on this thread.