Chicken with watery bloody stools

[electronica15]

Hi there,

I have a very poorly hen. She has been sick for a long time but has rapidly escalated downhill in the past two days, possibly due to a heatwave we have had in the UK.

When I first got her, she began laying soft eggs that sometimes broke inside her. We upped her calcium but it continued.

Then the soft eggs stopped altogether and she started doing very small lash eggs.

This week she has been been doing watery yellow droppings, and began to get lethargic. We took her to the vets who did an xray and found small reminants of shell stuck inside her. They are not reachable.

He has put her on a week's worth of Tylan (injectable) and loxicam. She has unfortunatly gone rapidly downhill and has began pooping liquid with large amounts of blood in it, red clots, and some dark green matter.

She has been drinking lots, but sitting very still with her eyes closed. We are now suspecting coccidiosis. Yesterday I gave her a Harkers coxitab but she is still pooping lots of blood. We also have some Harkers coxoid (Corid) which she has not taken yet. The Coxitab was a pigeon dose.

Any help would be much appreciated as we feel she does not have long left. Her crop is emptying far too slowly and appears to be giving her discomfort. Her vent is clean.

Thank you

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she is seriously I’ll with egg yolk peritonitis and salpingitis. Infection can occur from eggs breaking inside. The blood could be related to the reproductive problems, but hard to know. The coxoid would be okay to use, just in case, but even antibiotics may be too late at this stage. Liver disease can accompany reproductive disorders, and those may cause bleeding issues and ascites (water belly.) Does she have any enlargement of her lower abdomen down between her legs? Are the urates or white material in her droppings yellow? Any pictures are welcome. I would probably make her as comfortable as possible, feed her what she will eat. Wet chicken feed and scrambled egg is good. Is her crop empty or full, firm or puffy, and does it empty by the next morning?

 

[rpape1]

Hi there.

We are a few days along and we have had some progress. We have been giving coxoid constantly, and the bloody stools have stopped, so we do suspect it was coccidiosis.

The Tylan for the peritonitis which didn't really help as far as I'm aware, as she developed an impacted crop afterwards. We purchased some chicken probiotics and she managed to pass the issue- some hard seeds she had consumed before she got sick.

Her poos are returning to normal, but still very liquid. The whites are still yellow. This may be due to the supplements in the water, I am unsure. There is no blood anymore.

She is barely eating anything, but really wants to eat fish cat food and sweetcorn only. I am cautious about giving her cat food. She isn't drinking voluntarily like she was before. She is extremely thin and stands still with her eyes closed a lot.

We are giving her loxicam as a painkiller, but she cannot be force fed. She struggles and it goes into her lungs, so we have stopped trying. Her lower abdomen feels normal at the moment, but her keel is very protruding.

Thank you