Crop/digestive and more issues

[rbc-bow-chicka]

Hi again.

I posted several weeks ago about my unsteady silkie. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/unsteady-silkie.1532848/

Well, she is still kicking along. She is still shaking her head and sounding raspy. There are no other respiratory symptoms.

Which brings me to this post. 2 things...

1. There seems to be something wrong with her digestive tract and I am not sure what else I can do for maintenance. I've been administering monostat, coconut oil, b complex, vitamin e and 1/2 to 1 whole boiled egg a day, plus 20% quail crumble. By the end of the day, her crop is full and in the morning, it is empty. Sometimes there is an overnight poop, but most of the time she will poop during the day. Things are moving through...albeit slowly. If she has been hungry, the poop will be a *huge* solid, normal looking chicken poop with urates.... pretty much the size of her crop. If she hasn't eaten much, she has a huge explosion of mostly wet poop.

2. Separately, she either sits on her feet and rests all day which has contributed to the skin over her keel bone to appear red. Sometimes... usually at the end of the day, I will find her kicking around with her legs stretched out behind her trying to gain footing. I do not know if she is "weak" or if perhaps she has a tumor or something that is impairing her ability to get on her feet. Brain tumor? Spinal injury? She stands the best in the morning and then kind of tires out as the day goes along. She seems very bow legged when she stands.

She does not seem to be suffering. She is not hunched up and miserable. She is talkative and happy to engage. She gets excited to see me...especially when she sees I've brought the coconut oil....and then winds up falling all over the place and I hold her in place until she can steady herself and not go bottoms up. This is part of the struggle I'm having with either putting her down or letting her do her thing.

I am at a loss.

 

[Faithful flock]

@Eggcessive @azygous @Wyorp Rock @NatJ

 

[azygous]

I read your other thread. You appear to be doing everything possible.

The problem with her leg strength is troubling. This can be a sign of a progessing avian virus or a temporary sciatic nerve inflammation. I usually recommend treating as if this is temporary. Do not expect immediate improvement though. Recently, I had an older hen suffer something similar, and diarrhea accompanied it. I treated her with penicillin in case of bacterial infection, and I used one tablet of vitamin B-100 complex daily. This gets B 1, 2, 6, and 12 into her, and all can work together to heal nerve connections. My hen recovered fully in one month.

I don't know about the snicking. It could be something benign like inhaling dusty food or it could mean a more serious cardio/pulmonary issue. Or it could be a mild respiratory infection.

Have you tried her on an antibiotic? If not, it could be worth it to try. Probably Tylan 50 would be the one to start with in case there is a respiratory infection causing the snicking. Do it in conjunction with the B-complex and continue the vitamin E.

 

[NatJ]

@Eggcessive @azygous @Wyorp Rock @NatJ

Sorry, I don't have any advice here.

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

Sorry, I don't have any advice here.

Thanks for looking!

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

I read your other thread. You appear to be doing everything possible.

The problem with her leg strength is troubling. This can be a sign of a progessing avian virus or a temporary sciatic nerve inflammation. I usually recommend treating as if this is temporary. Do not expect immediate improvement though. Recently, I had an older hen suffer something similar, and diarrhea accompanied it. I treated her with penicillin in case of bacterial infection, and I used one tablet of vitamin B-100 complex daily. This gets B 1, 2, 6, and 12 into her, and all can work together to heal nerve connections. My hen recovered fully in one month.

I don't know about the snicking. It could be something benign like inhaling dusty food or it could mean a more serious cardio/pulmonary issue. Or it could be a mild respiratory infection.

Have you tried her on an antibiotic? If not, it could be worth it to try. Probably Tylan 50 would be the one to start with in case there is a respiratory infection causing the snicking. Do it in conjunction with the B-complex and continue the vitamin E.

Thank you for the feedback. After digging through my antibiotics, I am not seeing my tylan 50. I will keep looking but in the meantime, what are your thoughts on this?

Previously (like in the beginning, when I was just kind of throwing things at her to see what would stick) I gave her oxytetracycline in her water for a period (I cannot recall, but it was at least 6 days) and it did not seem like it was having any effect what so ever. I wonder if I should have just pushed on longer with it.

 

[azygous]

I would give that Amoxitex a try. Usually, an antibiotic will provide immediate (within 24 hours) improvement if it's going to have any effect on a bacterium. But you need to give it for the prescribed period to be fully effective, most often a week to ten days. There are antibiotics that dictate a shorter treatment such as Tylan.

All antibiotics are not equal. Some are able to target a bacterium cell wall better than others. To be effective, we should be pretty certain which bacterium we are most likely dealing with. Here in this site, all we can do is draw on personal experience with symptoms and make an educated guess.

Some bacteria cause the sort of lameness you're seeing in your hen. It's why I think an antibiotic is worth trying along with the B-complex and E.

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

I agree 100%. It just seems like an educated guessing game at times.

Do you have a resource that can help me better understand antibiotics and what and/or how they target? Something a bit dumbed down, if possible.

 

[azygous]

I think you have the brains to handle this. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2857177/

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

I think you have the brains to handle this. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2857177/

Thank you for sharing that. I appreciate your confidence in my brain power.

i have printed it out and grabbed my highlighter for some light reading!!!