chicken with diarrhoea/watery poops, red flushing face and yawning

[amsdy4]

hi, my first post . i have a 17 week old silkie girl (but sex not 100% confirmed) who started having watery poops since last sunday, about 10 days ago. she is still eating and drinking normally, or lots. her face flushes red intermittently, lasting only about a minute each time. and i noticed she sometimes yawns but wasn't sure if it is just being thirsty.
i have tried worming them (i have 2 silkies) but wasn't sure if they drank enough of the wormer. i have also tried feeding them yoghurt, chopped up garlic in water and vinegar in water, which i read in other posts.
they usually eat grower pellets/layer feed mixture and grass. i have pretty much stopped feeding scraps since the diarrhoea.
now i'm not quite sure what to do. thanks in advance!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Feel of her crop--look for round and hard, or big and poofy, or flat. Sometimes occasional yawning is them adjusting their crop, but it can be a sign of respiratory disease if done frequently. When worming I prefer to give Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer and dose them orally, so that you know they got the correct dose. Dosage for a silkie would be 1/4 ml. I would wait 10 days from the last worming attempt to use this.

I would stop all of the additives in the food and water for now. If you want to give some probiotics to help with diarrhea, a small amount of buttermilk can be drizzled over a few bread crumbs, and given. There are oral probiotics such as Probios that are added to the water and used every other day. In hot weather it can be common to have watery poops if they drink a lot of water.

If you think she looks sick or has symptoms of coccidiosis (puffing up, lethargy, poor appetite, diarrhea (sometimes with blood,) then you could treat with Corid, but it doesn't sound like that from your description. You can always post a picture or two of her typical poops for more opinions. BYC people love poop pictures, LOL.

 

[amsdy4]

Welcome to BYC.  Feel of her crop--look for round and hard, or big and poofy, or flat.  Sometimes occasional yawning is them adjusting their crop, but it can be a sign of respiratory disease if done frequently.  When worming I prefer to give Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer and dose them orally, so that you know they got the correct dose.  Dosage for a silkie would be 1/4 ml.  I would wait 10 days from the last worming attempt to use this.

I would stop all of the additives in the food and water for now.  If you want to give some probiotics to help with diarrhea, a small amount of buttermilk can be drizzled over a few bread crumbs, and given.  There are oral probiotics such as Probios that are added to the water and used every other day.  In hot weather it can be common to have watery poops if they drink a lot of water.

If you think she looks sick or has symptoms of coccidiosis (puffing up, lethargy, poor appetite, diarrhea (sometimes with blood,) then you could treat with Corid, but it doesn't sound like that from your description.  You can always post a picture or two of her typical poops for more opinions.  BYC people love poop pictures, LOL.

thanks for your reply. i think her crop feels bigger than my other silkie's but that may just be because the sick one eats more.
can i use milk and vinegar instead of actual buttermilk (i know in baking you can)?
i may try worming her again if there's no improvement after 10 days. and i'll try and get the goat stuff. i had used aristopet poultry wormer
it is winter here so i'd be worried if it was a heat thing. i did think that though, as it would explain the red facial flushing, drinking lots and therefore pooping liquid.
i will try to upload some pics.

 

[Eggcessive]

The goat wormer is fenbendazole which is sold in the US as SafeGuard or Panacur equine paste, as well as the goat wormer. Your Aristopet Worm Enda is levamisole, which is very good if you get them to drink it. Instead of the milk/vinegar combo, just give a small amount of the yogurt--you are looking for the cultures in the buttermilk, but not too much yogurt to upset the intestines. Flushing of the skin, which is something I have only seen once in a chicken of mine who died shortly thereafter, may be due to fever and infection, but I really don't know enough about that to say for sure.

 

[amsdy4]

i'm trying to upload these pictures while eating breakfast

 

[amsdy4]

this one is from this morning.

 

[amsdy4]

The goat wormer is fenbendazole which is sold in the US as SafeGuard or Panacur equine paste, as well as the goat wormer. Your Aristopet Worm Enda is levamisole, which is very good if you get them to drink it. Instead of the milk/vinegar combo, just give a small amount of the yogurt--you are looking for the cultures in the buttermilk, but not too much yogurt to upset the intestines. Flushing of the skin, which is something I have only seen once in a chicken of mine who died shortly thereafter, may be due to fever and infection, but I really don't know enough about that to say for sure.

i have been giving some yoghurt, just like 1-2 teaspoon each day dropped onto the grass and both chickens usually eat a bit. they seem to love it.
is the goat wormer supposed to be put in a syringe/dropper and put straight into the chicken's mouth? the aristopet one was mixed with their drinking water. could that be put straight into their mouth too so i can make sure they are getting enough? i don't want to overdose them though because the dosages started at 3kg so i did 1/3 of that.
i am surprised, but thankful, that my chicken isn't acting more sick. it is just the diarrhoea and red face, and eating and drinking lots. but otherwise she is still quite active.

 

[Eggcessive]

Gosh those poops are really runny. How is she acting? Is she lethargic or acting weak? I would be tempted to start treatment for coccidiosis with amprollium or Coxoid, or toltrazuril, whatever is used in your country to treat coccidiosis. Feed stores or vets would be where to locate it. Sulfa drugs are also used to treat it. A vet could also test for it or certain worms.

 

[amsdy4]

Gosh those poops are really runny. How is she acting? Is she lethargic or acting weak? I would be tempted to start treatment for coccidiosis with amprollium or Coxoid, or toltrazuril, whatever is used in your country to treat coccidiosis. Feed stores or vets would be where to locate it. Sulfa drugs are also used to treat it. A vet could also test for it or certain worms.

she is acting quite normal but maybe just eating and drinking more than usual. still running around. if she doesn't have coccidiosis and i treat her for it could it cause her any damage? i had done some reading on the net about coccidiosis and was looking out for the red bits in the poop but haven't seen any, except for what occasionally looks like intestinal lining.

 

[Eggcessive]

Only 2 of 9 strains of cocci affecting chickens will cause the blood in poops. Treatment with the amprollium will not harm her at all, since it is pretty mild, and is the same ingredient (only smaller doses) as in medicated chick feed. I don't know much about toltrazuril, other than it works well. Sulfdimethoxine and sulfamethazine are antibiotics, and must be given exactly at the right dosage or they can be toxic. Do you have access to a vet?