Brahma Chicken with diarrhea, laying soft eggs

[aepowell]

Hello, I have a six-month-old Brahma Chicken who started laying eggs around the first of February. I have four hens total, so it's been fairly easy to figure out which eggs belong to which hen. My Brahma has been laying inconsistently, she's only laid 6 eggs in a month's time and every single one of them has been a soft-shelled egg. I thought maybe she was just getting going, and that was all, so I decided to keep an eye on her. Well, a few days ago I noticed someone was having very runny poo, so I started investigating and two days ago I noticed this Braham had a rather dirty bum, but otherwise she seemed okay, eating normal, drinking, activity etc. Their run is not totally enclosed, so in the past week wild birds have been in there looking for dropped food. I've started keeping their feed inside the coop for this reason until I can get the run totally enclosed. I thought maybe the diarrhea was due to stress from these birds, that still may be all it is. Yesterday morning was the same, she seemed fine. Then last night when I went out to put them up for the night, I noticed she seemed lethargic; her movements were slow, I'd brought them out some crushed shells as a treat and she was slow to come to me, she'd peck at the crushed shells slowly, and then seem dazed, she was holding her tail down, and there was a puddle of yellow yolk in the nest box and no shell (she is my only hen that lays in the late afternoon, the rest lay in the morning).

I was worried the shell broke inside her and was stuck, and her behind was much dirtier, so I brought her inside, cleaned her up and checked her out, but didn't feel any egg inside her. I kept her inside in a kennel overnight so I could keep a closer eye on her. I gave her water with some probiotics, oregano, and some amprolium.

This morning I noticed her overnight poops were normal looking but had created a soaked circle in the puppy pads I'd put down for her, so they looked normal, but were watery. I fed her and she ate a little but didn't go at it with her normal gusto. However she also didn't seem dazed anymore. I also saw an empty soft shell in the cage which I pulled out and tossed. It looked like all of her other shells, but I still think it probably broke inside her. The shell just came out sometime last night.

Her activity is back to normal this morning, she's not holding her tail down anymore, but she definitely has diarrhea. While the overnight poops looked fairly normal, since the sun has been up, they are very watery more like a puddle, but the poo part is the normal brown color but with little specks of food that haven't digested totally. I fed her a mix of mealworms, seeds, and oyster shells about an hour ago and she went for that with her normal gusto but still isn't really touching her normal food. She is drinking a lot of water though, which may contribute to her watery poo.

None of my other birds are having trouble with their eggs, they all seem healthy, and none of them have diarrhea. I doubled checked this morning when I went out to feed them. I switched them over to layer pellets, IFA brand, around January 20th when the first hen started laying.

Like I said, I thought the soft-shelled eggs were just her working out the egg laying system, but now I wonder if it's pointing to an underlying illness, but I also think I might be overthinking and over worrying about it, so I thought I'd come here and get some advice from those more knowledgeable than I. My husband would prefer not to have a vet bill for chickens, and I prefer the natural approach, but I since I don't know what could possibly be the problem I'm not sure how to treat her. So I'm trying to figure out what I need as far as vitamins, or other solutions that I can do to help her at home. Because of how she's acting, I don't think it's life threating, but then all the symptoms I've read online for all the different possible conditions all seem so similar that I really have no idea.

The chickens have a coop outside and I use cedar shavings as their bedding. Their run is not totally enclosed, a thing I intend to remedy as soon as the snow melts because wild birds are looking for a free handout and they're getting bold. I work at home, so I'm able to work where I can see the coop and let the dogs out to chase the birds off, or go out there myself. I know they can spread illness to the chickens, which is also a concern I have in regards to this hen.

So, I guess ultimately, my question is, does it sound like my hen is showing signs of illness and if so, what kind of illness, or could this be normal, new laying behavior in a brahama and she was acting strange because the soft-shell incident and possibly stress from strange birds?

Thanks!

 

[micstrachan]

Sorry about your girl. I agree you should definitely try the calcium therapy and possibly the enrofloxacin, as well.

 

[Eggcessive]

Cedar shavings are not good for chickens, and should not be used. Edited to say that this is a controversial subject with no research proving the use is harmful, and there may not be a problem unless it is used with baby chicks in a brooder. I would leave feed in the run for the chickens, just in case they won’t go back into their coop for it. Do they free range?

Your pullet sounds like she definitely is having a problem with her shell gland in the oviduct. Damage from an injury, stress, or infection of the oviduct might be responsible. Since you feed layer feed and your other pullets are laying normal hard shells, she seems to be having trouble with the shell gland or is not absorbing calcium and vitamin d. I would give her a half of a human calcium tablet or Tums for the next few days to see if it makes a difference. Antibiotics would not hurt, since she may have had an egg break inside. Fish mox amoxicillin is easy to get online, but enrofloxacin (Baytril) is the better choice for reproductive infections. It is banned for use in chickens, but if that is not a problem with you, you can get it here:
https://www.jedds.com/shop/enro/Dosage is 0.05 ml per pound—0.35 ml for a 7 pound chicken given orally twice a day for 5 days. They ship in a couple of days.
Just for info, I had a hen hurt by a dog in my driveway who had always laid a hard shell large egg daily. She stopped laying after her serious injury for 4 months. Once she started layin again, for the rest of her life, she lasi a shell-less or very thin shelled egg, and then died of reproductive infection.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since you live in a cold climate, sand might be a little cold for the inside of your coop. I use pine shavings in my big coop and sand in the run. In my small coop, I use Sweet PDZ which is a non-toxic substance similar to the feel of clumping kitty litter, where I can use a litter scoop to clean out the droppings. Over the years I have experimented with different types of bedding to find out what works best for me. I have always read that cedar shavings were bad for chickens because of the strong fumes, but after doing some reseaarch today, I doubt if they are really bad for older chickens. It is doubtful that it caused your hen’s problem. Reproductive problems and egg shell poblems are common in some chickens. Infectious bronchitis virus can lead to a number of reproductive and shell problems. Here is a handy article about egg shells:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[aepowell]

I will. Thank you!

 

[dawg53]

Consider getting her started on vitamin D to help with calcium absorption in order to harden egg shells.

 

[micstrachan]

Thanks. I took @Eggcessive's advice and gave her half a tums yesterday and again this morning. I also ordered enrofloxacin and I think it should arrive today.

Her activity level is back to normal. I noticed this morning that there were two soft-shelled eggs in the overnight poo pile, like they're just falling out of her while she sleeps. I've got my fingers crossed she'll get better.

I should mention yhat my Light Brahms has a history of laying two soft eggs at once when she comes into lay. This year she kaid one shelled egg and I don’t think she’s laid since. Keeping a close watch myself.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since she had 2 possible eggs that you feel had broken inside, giving her the enro might be a good idea, since most things I have read say that treating any reproductive infection early is key to it helping to prevent salpingitis. I will let you decide, but you will need to toss her eggs for several weeks until the medicine is no longer in the egg. I am very glad that he shells have become strong, and I would just make sure that she is taking enough crushed oyster shell. D3 is found in egg yolk, so you could feed her a bit of scrambled egg for some extra.

 

[aepowell]

Since she had 2 possible eggs that you feel had broken inside, giving her the enro might be a good idea, since most things I have read say that treating any reproductive infection early is key to it helping to prevent salpingitis. I will let you decide, but you will need to toss her eggs for several weeks until the medicine is no longer in the egg. I am very glad that he shells have become strong, and I would just make sure that she is taking enough crushed oyster shell. D3 is found in egg yolk, so you could feed her a bit of scrambled egg for some extra.

Okay, I will still give her the medicine just in case. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[aepowell]

Thanks for the info. I've kind of decided I don't really like the cedar shavings. That's what was recommended to me when we got the chicks. I want to switch to sand, but we have two feet of snow so I'm waiting until the pathways are at least all melted and dry before I make the switch. But I did use those shavings in their brooder when we first brought them home on the recommendation of the people at IFA. Could that be a cause of her issue?

The chickens have a large run that they can 'free range' in, but they don't go outside of their run, we have too many predators in our area. However, most of their run has been covered in snow since November, so there hasn't been a very large area for them to roam in. We've tried to clear as much as possible for them, but when you get four feet of snow in two storms, you start running out of places to put the snow!

The only stressors I know of are the wild birds, and there have been no injuries. I will start giving her a the half of tums and look into those meds you mentioned. Thank you for your response, I feel less stressed now that I have a direction to look into.