Concerned about one of my chickens?

[New Hampshire]

Hi, this is my first post. I have been reading this forum for a while and decided to join.

I am concerned about my chicken Fuznupikins. She is a 5 1/2 year old araucana. She seems to be very sick. Here are a list of her symptoms:

1. Sluggish and droopy.
2. Eats and drinks very little.
3. Has a really poopy butt.
4. Has lost a lot of weight.
5. Really fluffed up feathers.

I would take her to a vet, but every vet in our area refuses to look at our chickens. I thought that she might have worms, but I can't imagine early February being a prime time for worms. Please help, we love her very much and I don't want her to die.

 

[seminolewind]

Poor thing!
I would first do a hands on- does her crop fill and empty?
Does she have an egg that's stuck? (you know the best way to find out)
Can you take poop to the vet to check for worms?
Did you look for lice and mites?

 

[dawg53]

I suspect she may have cocci. Purchase corid 9.6% liquid solution, Dosage is 9.5cc's per gallon of water for 5 days. Make a fresh mixture daily. Corid can be found in the cattle section at your feed store. You can also purchase corid 20% soluable powder. Dosage is 1 teaspoon per gallon of water for 5 days. Make it fresh daily. If she's not drinking, you'll have to administer the corid treated water orally using an eyedropper at least 6-7 times a day until she is able to drink on her own. Give her an eyedropperful at a time, administering it orally a little at a time so she wont aspirate. Clean her rear end as best as you can and look for lice or mites while your at it. Lice are whitish in color and move quickly through skin and feathers. Mites look like pepper, move slowly or not at all.

 

[New Hampshire]

I checked her crop this morning, and it was almost empty. We did check for a stuck egg, and there wasn't one. It seemed to hurt her. After it was over, she looked at us with fire in her eyes. She doesn't lay eggs anyway because she is old. We didn't check her for lice or mites. I didn't know that I should until now. This is the first chicken disease problem that I have ever had that might not be a death sentence. I don't know if the vet would test her poop, but they were not very helpful with the previous chicken that we called about.



About the Corid, would it hurt her if she is treated for cocci and she ended up not having it? Also our feed store is closed on Sunday. Would she be able to make it until Monday? I hate to wait, so is there anything else that I could give her in the meantime?



Thanks for all of the help. I really appreciate it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. No the Corid won't hurt her. It's not an antibiotic, but blocks thiamine of the coccidia . Give her a little buttermilk or milk mixed with chick feed to coat her intestines until you get Corid. Have you recently added a new chicken or have moved to new ground where she could have been exposed to a new cocci strain? Since it hurt her to check for an egg, she might be suffering from a reproductive problem such as egg yolk peritonitis, internal laying, or oviduct cancer. Does she ever waddle like a penguin, or pass any weird looking poops.

 

[New Hampshire]

She hasn't been moved off of the yard all winter. The last chicken that was an addition to the flock died in 2011. I have been taking care of a couple of cows, so maybe I could have tracked it into their coup on my boots? I don't know if she is waddling, she mostly just stands. Yesterday, I took her outside for a little while because it was warmer out, and she passed a few small poops. Both were just clear liquid, with a little bit of white mixed in.

 

[Eggcessive]

Cattle and poultry each have their own specific strains of coccidia, so if it was brought in, it could have come in on shoes from the feed store--hard to tell. Egg yolk peritonitis can cause watery stools. So many diseases have similar symptoms, but cocci is easy to treat. I would also worm her (if you haven't recently) with SafeGuard horse paste or liquid goat wormer--1/2 ml of either, and repeat in 10 days.

 

[New Hampshire]

Fuznupikins made it through the night, and she seems to be doing slightly better today. Her crop was full when I checked on her this morning. She has eaten some of the milk-grain that I made her, and she even went outside for a little while. She also drank some water. I checked her for lice and mites this morning, and I didn't see anything suspicious. She is still sick, but at least today she doesn't look like she is at death's door. Thanks everyone for the help so far. Tomorrow I will get the medications at the feed store.

 

[pwand]

If her crop is full in the morning before eating and drinking, she is having a crop issue, like sour or impacted crop. You may not always see mites.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.littlehenrescue.co.uk/Pages/Medicaladvice.aspx
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues.html

 

[casportpony]

She is old, so I would be highly suspicious of oviduct cancer. If she were mine I would:

• Bring her inside and keep in 80-85 degree room.
• Do a thorough exam which includes checking the inside of her vent for eggs, fluid, tumor, etc.
• Weigh daily on digital kitchen scale.
• Dust for mites and lice with a proper poultry dust, NOT DE!
• Tube fluids, then fluid and baby bird food, but only if crop is clearing.
• Inspect all poop
• Worm with Safeguard at 50mg/kg
• Possibly treat for coccidiosis, bacterial or fungal infection depending on what poop looked like.

Caring for a sick bird is very time consuming and often they don't make it, but the above is what I do and sometimes I get lucky. The key to keeping them alive is proper hydration.

-Kathy