butt feather pulling, diarrhea

[miche]

My 1 year old buff orpington, Buffy, has something wrong. This morning after her time in the nest box, she made lots of noise, but no egg. Later in the day she had dirt, mud caked all over her butt. When I picked her to examine her more closely, she squirted out runny poo (all down my side and leg). She had pulled out a lot of her feathers under the vent. She was perfect this morning.

In the event she's eggbound, I gave her a bath, cleaned her up well, and blew her dry. Then she dumped out a very big splat of very watery, dark green/black poo. With closer examination, her skin on her butt is pink. I massaged her a lot, but can't say I actually felt an egg. Her vent looked good and I oiled her up a little, just in case. Last week I had a broody hen (Lady) and she got everybody off laying schedule. Buffy last laid an egg 2 days ago

Any ideas out there? She is my first hen. She seems ok, aside from pulling her feathers out and the yucky poo. She was happily running around with her chicken friends 'til I popped her in the bathtub. I have her on her own with food and water.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

yes she has a severe case of E.coli

the need for using the
wet mash probiotic with
1-1000 mg of Vit E cut end off the capsule and squeeze it into wet mash probiotic
1 Vit B complex crushed and put in the wet mash

make 3 tbsp for every hen you feed this to
and add a vit E and Vit B complex of each hen fed this
twice a day for a week
then three times the next week
and then once a week for life of chicken

also put her on
2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to a gallon of water

email me any other questions

 

[miche]

Thanks! I'm watching her. She's isolated from the other girls and I mixed yogurt in with layer food.

What makes you think E.coli? How would she get this? Will the others get sick too?

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[threehorses]

She's saying E. coli based on the extreme diarrhea as well as the coloration of it. It's a coliform bacteria. Actually it's in all healthy birds, but without proper competition from good bacteria it can get out of control. it's also found in well water, puddles near animals, and any other place where feces might be.

It is as contagious as any other bacterial enteritis, so she should be kept up away from the others until she's better. It shouldn't take long. Also, as always wash your hands thoroughly after handling her.

Keep the area near her vent cleaned and dry. Prevent maggots from being attracted to her by doing so. It only takes one fly to cause 300 maggots in a few hours in the summer and some (the blowfly) eat living flesh. So keep her clean. This will also help you monitor her progress with her diarrhea.

Treat as Glenda recommended for seven days.

Also please give her one of the following probiotics daily for a week or two, then every other day for a week.

Yogurt, plain - no flavoring - 1 teaspoon a day
Acidophilis capsules/tablets - the contents of a capsule or one crushed tablet daily. (mix with water til just a paste then give in the side of the mouth)
Prepared livestock probiotic (like Probios powder) 1/4 teaspoon per day.

Any of the above probiotics provide living beneficial bacteria. These bacteria are absolutely vital not only for nutrition (they produce B vitamins and food dissolving enzymes for better absorbtion) but also by their numbers will ward away blooms of bad bacteria and yeast/fungi. When the good bacteria decrease in numbers (during stress or medication), the bad bacteria/fungi take over. Keeping the good bacteria strong keeps the bird strong. So you'll be replacing this little army.

That and the use of ground oatmeal will help the droppings to become more solid. The oatmeal (grind to a powder in a food processor- mix with yogurt or water and crumbles) actually also feeds the good bacteria. When it feeds the good bacteria in the gut, they multiply and fight the battle for you.

By "wet mash probiotic" in Glendas' post, she's talking about wetted feedstuff with a probiotic (see above) mixed in.

Adding mashed boiled egg yolk to that (mix with water so it blends in well) or baby food applesauce (both in small amounts) will help make the mash more palatable, though my birds just LOVE yogurt on its own!

They attack me for it.

Hope this helps.

p.s. If this continues after the above, or the hen worsens in a couple of days, you can use Sulmet in case it's a type of coccidiosis that doesn't produce blood (and yes there are plenty that don't cause blood) and also treats E. coli. Again use probiotics daily during treatment in the food and for 2 weeks thereafter.

 

[miche]

Thank you for the great information. Buffy has been inside, calm and quiet. As the most gentle and huggable of our hens, she is loving being in the sick ward with all of the attention.

Her poop is already better since yesterday afternoon. She is drinking water and likes the yogurt wet mash. Must be feeling better as she gobbled up a lot more than a teaspoon this morning!

Thanks again for the wonderful explanations, and helpful suggestions. This forum is a lifeline for the newbies like me!

Miche
Madison, WI

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Oh it's ALWAYS the most huggable that this happens to. /sigh

I'm very glad to hear the good news this morning! I'm particularly glad that she enjoyed her treatment.

That always makes life nicer.

Please let us know how she continues to do as we'll be watching for updates. And it's always a pleasure to help fellow chicken lovers. There have been plenty of times I've needed help and support, but never have I found a board quite as lovely as this one. I'm glad you've found it, too.

Cheers!