chicken diarrhea

[aceraldi]

Hi! Just joined this group, although I've been reading it for some time. I would appreciate any advice about one of my hens. Sophia is an almost 6 year old Buff Orpington. About 6 months ago, I noticed she was very thin--keel quite bony, 2.4 pounds when I weighed her. I took her to an avian vet, and she said she could feel an abdominal mass of some sort when she did an exam, but that xrays etc were not worth doing if I would not have surgery done. Since I'm not going to put her through surgery, I elected not to do x rays.
The fecal exam showed some worms--?roundworm, I think, and she was given a wormer by the vet, and some antibiotics, and some probiotics. I gave her all that, and wormed entire flock with Wazine (twice). Also wormed entire flock with Rooster Booster (Hygromycin b, which is supposed to work on threadworm, i believe) I also gave Sophia a course of Corid. And I wormed her with on the skin Ivermectin.
I didn't do this all at once, it was spaced out over a course of several months. Her weight has remained between 2.2-- 2.6 pounds. She kind of walks with a slight hunch, but isn't really puffed up. She is very active--the first one out of the coop in the morning. Her comb is pale compared to the other chickens. I've given her spinach and cooked ground beef, trying to raise iron levels in case she's anemic.
Her diarrhea seems to be getting worse. Sometimes I keep her in the house overnight, if it's very cold (although there is a heater in the chicken house) and her poop is extremely watery. I don't see any blood in it. She drinks constantly. Her vent feathers messy from the diarrhea. Her appetite is good. What else can I try? I'm thinking about epsom salts? I read that some people use it for diarrhea, although it is a laxative. Should I be giving her some sort of electrolytes?
Any ideas welcomed. This is (of course) my favorite hen, out of my flock of 16. (none of the others have any symptoms). I'm wondering if she maybe has some kind of bleeding tumor, and that was the mass the vet felt.
Thanks!

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! Can you have another fecal done?

-Kathy

 

[aceraldi]

Yes, I was thinking of taking her in to have the vet look at her again, see if any new thoughts/ideas. Today I have been feeding her rice with bananas smashed up in it with a chopped clove or two of garlic and buttermilk. And a dose of slippery elm.

 

[casportpony]

How about feeding her something higher in protein, like turkey or game bird crumbles?

-Kathy

 

[aceraldi]

I give her cooked ground beef every few days, and the entire flock gets a few handfuls of dry cat food a couple times a week. She kind of went nuts for the ground beef initially, but now she seems to have lost her taste for it. She goes through phases. For a while she'd beg at the back door for grapes--doesn't show any interest in those now, but wants rice mixed with greens. (I don't take this much trouble making meals for my human family!)

 

[Radseg]

Hey, Kathy, Chris here (we met today over my worms and coccidiosis post). Do you think aceraldi could be dealing with coccidiosis or clostridium?

 

[dawg53]

I give her cooked ground beef every few days, and the entire flock gets a few handfuls of dry cat food a couple times a week. She kind of went nuts for the ground beef initially, but now she seems to have lost her taste for it. She goes through phases. For a while she'd beg at the back door for grapes--doesn't show any interest in those now, but wants rice mixed with greens. (I don't take this much trouble making meals for my human family!)

Stop all that stuff you're giving her. Dont give her epsom salts. The vet stated she had an abdominal mass. This could mean anything really, without a x-ray there's no telling what it is which could be the cause of the diarrhea. No matter what you give her, she'll probably still have diarrhea. The only thing that I know of that could possibly help is buttermilk mixed with scrambled egg. Give that to her to eat for several days and NOTHING else, then add layer feed to the mixture to make a mash for her to eat for several more days. Then just feed her layer feed ONLY. Hopefully the diarhhea will clear up.

 

[casportpony]

Hey, Kathy, Chris here (we met today over my worms and coccidiosis post). Do you think aceraldi could be dealing with coccidiosis or clostridium?

So many things it could be, but the real problem is the abdominal mass, which is probably cancer or something gone very wrong in her repro tract. Either way, prognosis is grim. At 2.4 pounds she is *dangerously* underweight. If the OP isn't ready for euthanasia, and the hen isn't eating properly, they could try tube feeding baby bird food, which I can teach anyone how to do.

-Kathy

Edited to add:
Normal weight for an Orpington is 5.5 or more pounds.

 

[dollydaylillies]

Diarrhea

I am new to chickens and to be honest I just don't know what their poop is supposed to look like. Sometimes it looked what I would call solid but sometimes loose. My poop is the same do I think it's based on what they eat. My get laying food plus snacks daily which depends on what we had that day or the previous day for dinner etc. on nice days they are allowed to free range for at least s couple of hours. They refused to go out in the snow as this is their first year to experience it so they are copped up in their coop. They are 10 months old and lay consistently daily. I have only wormed them once with wazine. My QUESTIONS::
How often should u give them yogurt for their digestive health and why cat food? I give them grit in a container to eat as they chose. What else is needed?

 

[casportpony]

No need to give them yogurt, but if you want to, you could give them an avian specific probiotic. Some like to give cat food to boost protein levels (peafowl people do this), but there is no need to. All they really need is fresh lay pellet or crumble and free choice oyster shell. I also give mine table scraps as long as there aren't any foods that are toxic to birds in it. The majority of their food should be a poultry feed, period.

-Kathy