Diarrhea and straining, it is rhythmic and seems painful

[ChicoryBlue]

Peanut is seriously ill I think. She had mild diarrhea that I noticed a few days ago, but her behavior and stance has been normal looking. This evening before roosting she was periodically standing and rhythmically sort of heaving and straightening as if to poop or lay, and a bit of stuff drips out. She even really strains once in a while and makes a pitiful faint scratchy sound and her eyes close some. I'm thinking she is in great pain and has an infection in her EDIT - Maybe this is a stuck egg? My heart is breaking. A couple of times the spell would break and she would act normally and even preened vigorously a bit. She moved toward the coop and then stood and did this again until she went up to roost. Can I help her?
EDIT - I have never gicen a chicken a pill before and I really feel trying this at night will be extra hard. But I'm going to try to give them yogurt and calcium powder, I have done that before, but during daytime, given them something to eat while someone was in the nestbox. Maybe it won't work at night?
EDIT - It was recommended I tag @azygous for help with pill-giving or other ideas.
I have Baytril 10% oral solution and Amoxy-Tyl powder in my supplies, might that help? I have no experience with this.

I also took a video of what she is expelling, seems to be pale yellow ooze mixed in with gray stuff (like liquid poop) but unless you want to see it I'll hold off.
Peanut is a 2 yr, 4 mo old Buckeye
Don't know her weight at this time, does seem a bit light
No others in the flock (three other Buckeye hens) are sick
She has a history of laying long, thinly shelled eggs, helped with calcium and yogurt feedings every other day, which because their laying has really practically ended (molting, seasonal slow down?) I have not been doing religiously lately. Because of the molting and less laying I have them on All Flock for the higher protein, with oyster shell free choice always available.

 

[Chold05]

Seems like she’s eggbound. Bring her inside and try soaking her bum in a warm eposom salt bath for 15-20 minutes then leave her for a little to see if she’ll pass the egg. Just make sure to blow dry her completely before putting her back outside! You can also give her half a calcium pill.

If you have a helper, wrap her in a towel and have someone hold her. Use your thumb and index finger over her beak and gently pry her mouth open. She’ll fight you but keep trying. Gently tilt her head back and insert pop the pill her mouth. now, for liquid it’s more risky because they can aspirate if not done properly. But a pill is easy breezy once you get the hand of it!

If you don’t have a helper, I sit on the floor and use my legs to gently hold them.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Seems like she’s eggbound. Bring her inside and try soaking her bum in a warm eposom salt bath for 15-20 minutes then leave her for a little to see if she’ll pass the egg. Just make sure to blow dry her completely before putting her back outside! You can also give her half a calcium pill.

If you have a helper, wrap her in a towel and have someone hold her. Use your thumb and index finger over her beak and gently pry her mouth open. She’ll fight you but keep trying. Gently tilt her head back and insert pop the pill her mouth. now, for liquid it’s more risky because they can aspirate if not done properly. But a pill is easy breezy once you get the hand of it!

If you don’t have a helper, I sit on the floor and use my legs to gently hold them.

This is very helpful, thank you.

I just went out there now with plain homemade yogurt mixed with calcium powder +D3 (more powder than usual), and Peanut was immediately very interested in it. Popcorn took a taste and Butters, too, but Peanut ate it non-stop for a long while. This was notable because Popcorn is usually all over it (Peanut too). I hope this will help her a little at least.

When Peanut was done and wouldn't eat more I put the dish aside and felt all their crops. Peanut's was like a smooth fairly firm golf ball, I worried about it, but then discovered it was exactly like Butters'. Popcorn's was smaller and a bit lumpy and more moveable, and Hazel's more squishy but also like a golf ball.

I felt Peanut's abdomen between her legs, and everywhere between her ribs to her butt felt smooth and very pliable and soft, no lumps in there or firmness or stretched out skin, and it didn't feel bigger or different than I've felt before.

I looked at her vent and felt around it, it was all fairly soft, but she definitely did not like me touching or pressing around it, she made noises and tried to move away. The whole vent area looked bigger and outwardly rounder than I recall, but I did trim a bunch of feathers away earlier this evening. I could see when it pulsed the inner part there, her vagina? would bulge and come outward some. I didn't want to stick my gloved finger in there even a bit thinking it would introduce something infectious - I didn't bring lube out there (went out before someone suggested that) and I'm sorry I wasn't thinking very clearly. I could try in the morning.

I hope she can make it until morning and I'll set up a spa inside - I have epsom salts, and I'll try the pill. Yes she'll get a nice blow-dry! I don't feel I can do very well for her now, the thing is I'm exhausted and my head is swimming, partly from hip pain today (replacement surgery a month ago), and I need to go to bed.

 

[ManueB]

@ChicoryBlue did she survive the night, and how is she doing ?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

@ChicoryBlue did she survive the night, and how is she doing ?

@Chold05 too - I posted on Bob’s thread the below post with a bit more detail, but yes she’s still alive. She actually seemed better to me at first this morning, but I can see she is doing similar behavior but not the heavy straining, but mixed with foraging and looking normal. I am thinking now she has an infection, as I felt no egg. This is not good news I’m afraid
I don’t know what the next step should be.


If she's better, then: she passed an egg, but there's no trace of egg anywhere. They ate it, leaving no trace? Or the egg broke in her and she feels better for the time being? Or it's something else altogether?

I got half a calcium pill into her, eventually using a long towel to do a chicken burrito so I had both hands free. It was as easy as you said @RoyalChick and @Chold05 ! She trusts me enough that after feeling around her beak for awhile she was not clamping it shut and I got it open easily, held it there briefly with my finger in it so with the other hand I popped the pill in. Then she ate more yogurt so I don't think she was traumatized.

Got her inside for an Epsom soak, and first I dampened her bum slightly without splashing water up there and cleaned off the poo with a bit of baby shampoo, and trimmed more feathers. Then drained that, and began filling the sink with warm water and Epsom salts. She was fairly talkative but calm, and stood in one place, looking around. I had warmed the KY jelly and gently, slowly, put a gloved finger in her vent, no objections from her. It all felt soft and squishy with nothing in there. I went in to just the full first knuckle, an inch or inch and a quarter.

She stands tall and the sink was almost as full as it can be before it reached her belly. She seemed to enjoy it, and even ate more yogurt. 20 mins in the soak.
Drained the sink, toweled her off, applied coconut oil to her vent area & feather stubs. Also the sores, from picking at mites and poo there, and where mites had been gathering (feeding?) were scabbed over and healing and everything looked nice and pink. [Edit - saw no mites, first treatment was last Saturday.] Blow dried and fluffed, and then put her back out in the yard. It was only then she walked about 20 feet and stopped to poop, it sounded like diarrhea. She didn't poop at all while inside.

Dear Peanut in her soak: