d'uccle hen with white diarrhea and not eating. Dying.

[fuzzybutt love]

She is 2 years old and has been crated inside the house since winter started. Up until 2-3 days ago she was eating like a horse (purina all flock) Then she laid a soft-shelled egg and her appetite has slowly diminished. She has carried mg/crd for these 2 years, but hasn't been ill. Been wormed/
de loused beginning of winter with ivomec. I've felt her for obstructions and have not felt anything; diarrhea is white with no green. , but i don't think she's eaten today. Too weak to roost this evening. I have put duramycin in her water this afternoon as a last ditch effort and put a heat lamp on her which is making her comfortable since she was stone cold despite the room being 65 degrees. She picked up and started drinking, but not eating.

Any thoughts would be appreciated greatly, we are close.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

My first thought was ulcerative enteritis, but since she has been crated for so long, I don't know how likely that would be. Also I have no idea how common that is...just one of those things I have read about.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
could it be ulcerative enteritis...look at diagnosis charts at bottom, white feces?

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/diseases.html
more info on it

I really have no idea what could be wrong but wanted you to see these links just in case they are helpful. They are general links.

The other time I have read about white diarrhea is with eggbound hens, as the egg stops all the feces from passing but the urates pass on through. Is there any possibility of being eggbound? It sounds like you already checked for an egg.

I hope this helps, if only to hear of someone who cares about your little fluffy one.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your little hen. I don't have much to offer as far as treatment. She may be an internal layer or have some other internal issue. The white in her stool is urine, but I don't know if that indicates a kidney issue. Ivomec may still help mites, but I'm not sure if it is still good as a wormer. Most recommend to use fenbendazole (SafeGuard) or Valbazen for worms because worms have developed resistance to ivermectin from it's overuse as a miteicide. I hope that she starts to perk up soon.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Thank you both. I will look into getting a stronger wormer; would a white diarrhea be a possible indicator? I don't feel any blockage along her bone down there.

I am bookmarking this and looking into the one about the white poop on this one, too; I don't honestly know how her feed could have been "off" but it is something to look into anyway.

I did have one 6 month old ee roo die similarly but he was with his flock outside. He was the lowest on the pecking order as i had another roo, i don't think he even ever had a hen so i thought he'd eaten something that he shouldn't (too much oyster shell, insulation; heat since it was overly hot at that point.) He didn't respond to treatment, either.

http://chat.allotment.org/index.php?topic=17568.0%3Cbr%3EHope

Clostridium perfringens.
see: http://chat.allotment.org/index.php?topic=17568.msg1258576#msg1258576

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/poultryprofi...natomy_and_Physiology/Chapter3_digestive.html

OK I forgot about this link:
down at the bottom it mentions white droppings!

 

[ten chicks]

Look up information for vent gleet just in case this is what you are seeing. Here is a link explaining condition.

www.backyardchickens.com/a/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt

Vent gleet can be either fungal or bacterial.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

She is 2 years old ....Then she laid a soft-shelled egg and her appetite has slowly diminished. She has carried mg/crd for these 2 years, but hasn't been ill.....diarrhea is white with no green.

Any thoughts would be appreciated greatly, we are close.

Here are my thoughts. I hope that I am wrong.

Bacillary white diarrhea, and pasty butt are other names for Pullorum Salmonella.

http://www.apa-abayouthpoultryclub.org/Edu_Material/Poultry%20Diseases/What_Is_Pullorum_Disease.pdf

At one time if just one hen in a commercial layer house (think 20,000 or 40,000 hens) tested positive for Pullorum Salmonella the FDA & USDA condemned the whole house. Pullorum disease has not been detected in commercial poultry now for almost 25 years, so I am unsure if that is still in effect. But Pullorum disease is still a chicken disease that must be reported to the authorities.

The reproductive track of hens and roosters is the most impacted area of a chicken so it can be expected that a Pullorum positive hen would lay soft shelled eggs, but there are other things that may cause soft shelled eggs. The transmission route can be through either food, water, air, or as is most common the case the chick is infected by its mother while it is still in the egg. Hens that survive or are infected after they hatch are more likely to have the chronic form of the disease.

Some think that this is only a disease of baby chicks because it kills as many as 90% of all chicks in a clutch or hatching. Pullorum disease is acute in chicks but it is chronic in adult fowl, just sitting there biding its time to explode or become acute and finish off its victim when its immune system is compromised. This is in no way a diagnosis but from long experience it seems highly likely or more likely than anything else mentioned. Not all pasty butt is Pullorum but all Pullorum is pasty butt. Historically Pullorum Salmonella is or was the most serious and deadly poultry disease bar none.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Thank you all for your help, she died in the wee hours of the morning.

Her mate (who was caged with her) is pooping normal, and other than being depressed and not wanting to eat now he's doing ok health wise. He didn't understand what had happened right away though and started eating when i flipped on the light to get her, so he's ok for the moment. Only time will tell if he'll "suicide" since they've been inseperable since chick-hood. Kissed beards and the whole bit . The pair caged under them are also pooping normal and showing no sign of illness.

I was in a bit of shock but i did get her into the fridge, i'm going to check into the cost of lab testing. This was very quick, a matter of days and no real symptoms; the white diarrhea wasn't the chalky kind i've seen in pics but a milky kind like it was strictly from not eating? The urine was literally urine. But i saw her eating every day except yesterday. Very upset and worried, i've never had an illness strike and kill so quick. The other bird that i had this summer that had diarhea and died was a roo and it was a prolonged thing, lasting months before it finally killed him. He would get a bit better, than worse.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry for your loss. If you chose to have her necropsied, refrigerate, but don't freeze. You might want to check post # 2 in this thread for necropsy: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/846740/michigan-necropsy

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Thank you very much.