Bloody Stool, Tired Bantam - HELP

[ladyfishkathy]

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Buff Bramha Bantam Hen, 1 1/2 Year Old

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Stool has bright red blood, stool is dark brown but blood is bright and sort of mucus-y, unsettled last couple of days, today very tired, is drinking

3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
NO

4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Gave her a bath yesterday, is in molt, high protein diet

5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Drinking, I pulled food this morning

6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Bloody, Bright Red

7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Pulled food, called a vet who does not specialize in chickens at all, no one does around here, and he started her on Terramyicin in water

8 ) 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?
Would like to treat completely as vet help is iffy at best, none in area sees chickens, I called them all

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

10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Bedded on clean pine shavings - totally clean - cleaned constantly - No Range - In Barn with great ventilation, great light

Sounds like cocci to me, but we NO experience with this. So PLEASE help!

 

[Wynette]

She's too old for cocci.

Could be camplybacteriosis (common)? Symptoms: scaly shrunken comb, weight loss, unthriftiness, sometimes mucousy, bloody diarrhea.

Treatment: Chicken Health Handbook says "none effective"

Newcastle (very rare)? Symptoms: listlessness, rapid breathing, weakness, cessation of laying within 3 days, loss of coordination, loss of appetite, muscular tremors, twisted neck, wing adn leg paralysis, soemtimes watery, greenish blood-stained diarrhea, swollen, blakish eyes with straw-colored fluid draining from eyes and nose, bleeding through nose....

Treatment: says...none - this is a reportable disease.

That's all I'm finding for bloody/mucousy stools. What else can you tell us as far as other symptoms? Could she have gotten into something such as poison?

 

[silkiechicken]

I think it is cocci. Birds can get cocci at any age, they are just more prone to it as chicks and young adults. Perhaps a different strain was dropped off by a wild bird and overwhelmed her. Since it is already bloody in the stools, I would get a fecal sample to the vet asap and start treating with sulmet or another anticocial medicine as it can kill and kill fast. Cocci is a protozoa, not a bacteria.

 

[Wynette]

OH! Sheesh, my book's wrong - thanks for the correction, Silkichicken!

 

[mypicklebird]

She is not too old for coccidia if she has never been exposed to it before. Where did this bird come from/how long have you had her? If she has been on dirt at your place since a chick, I agree- highly unlikely that this is coccidia. If she is from elsewhere raised in a cage off the ground ect (someone's show bird 4H project ect), and recently purchased and released into your coop- she could actually get sick from coccidia.

The vent is the single opening for the GI tract and the repro tract, they both empty into the same area right before the exit from the body- it can be hard to tell where the blood is coming from.

If you can have her feces checked by a vet who does not see chickens, but would be willing to submit a fecal sample to their out lab (or run it in house)- the chicken version of coccidia looks basically the same as the cat/dog one. If you have a vet who you work with on a regular basis with your other pets- ask them if they will do this, most are actually nice people who will be willing to work with you on non standard pets- if they know there is not a more experienced vet for you to go to in the area. Ask to leave a message for your preferred vet, try to get past the initial receptionist screening- they are trained to say "we do not see XYZ species" to save the vet from having to answer lots of questions on the phone about a species they know little about, or having someone bring in a pet and leave annoyed because the vet knows less about the species than the client does. Prescriptions cannot be dispensed to patients they have not seen, but it IS legal to send in a sample- and give you a copy of the results- then you can go to the feed store and get your med if indicated.

If it is not cocci or another GI parasite, there are many bacterial and viruses that can cause bloody feces. Some of the bacteria can be killed by things you can buy at the local feed store. Reproductive related bleeding may be due to damage caused by the passage of a large egg, tumors, ect.
Hope this helps, jess

 

[spook]

I'd be putting the poor chicken on Sulmet and then worry about what else it could be. Atleast some treatment is better then none. Sulmet is for a "bloody stool" ailment .

 

[mypicklebird]

Forgot to say- give the food back!!! Withholding food in a bird will not help stop diarrhea or help any disease process I can think of- it just deprives them of calories they need to get better. They have a very fast metabolism, and need a constant infusion of calories to stay healthy.

Withholding food to help 'rest' the GI tract is more of a mammal thing.

I would feed extra tasty food, like regular pellets moistened, or mixed with something this particular hen likes to eat. (cooked egg, little bit of fruit, pasta, bugs ect)- get the GI going, encourage eating and drinking.
jess

 

[Jenski]

If you can't find Sulmet, you should be able to get Amprolium at your local farm store or co-op.

 

[ladyfishkathy]

She spent a week at the county fair (July 27-August 3). I will have them run a fecal test tomorrow. Our vet is most willing to help (He is a close personal friend) he just doesn't normally treat them and no one in our area does as far as he knows. It thought it was cocci. He is not at home now, so I will run and pick something up at TSC now. What are the doses and do I discontinue the tetra? THanks