Emergency — chicken listless, green watery diarrhea, roosting early

[Steenas]

I have been reading and learning from this awesome site for about 18 months, and have been a chicken owner for a little over a year. I’m now hoping to get some help with a sick chicken.

Location: West VA
Background: 9 hens in flock, purchased as day-old chicks from Meyer Hatchery. Coop is on a trailer; hens moved to fresh grass each week. They are not free-range — they roam in 350 square feet of covered runs to protect them from predators.
Situation: One of my EEs went to roost early Monday night and was lethargic Tuesday. She was breathing through an open beak off and on Tuesday, not really eating or drinking much. I saw what looked like a gapeworm near her in the run, so started administering de-worming meds to the flock Tuesday night. Wednesday morning under her on the roost, I found watery diarrhea tinted green. She has continued to be lethargic, not eating or drinking much. This morning I noticed her crop was not empty, so I have been massaging her crop. It it not compacted or doughy — just granular but easily manipulated. I have segregated her, and she has continued to have watery diarrhea with a little bit of green solids. (see photos — I scooped them out of the isolation crate so they are in a baggie with pine shavings.) She seems very weak. Her comb has been pale since Monday, and her tail feathers have been down (See photo).
Questions: After 3 doses of Safe-Guard (.25ml/lb), if the problem is worms, wouldn’t she be better? If not worms, what could the problem be? Please help!

 

[All Ball]

I've not had experience with worms - hope you get some help here. All I can suggest is making sure she is getting sufficient water and try to get her to eat something. Is it really hot? That can lead to diarrhea, breathing through an open beak and lower energy. Maybe you know something I don't know, but I tend to think of gapeworms as rare and can't imagine seeing one in a run...I do have to say the picture of her doesn't look horrible -yes her tail is down but her eyes are bright, her mouth is closed and she is standing straight. I also can't help with crop issues. You didn't mention her age - is she laying? She looks fully grown. Could it be an egg issue, such as being eggbound, or trying to pass a soft egg?

 

[Steenas]

Thanks for the response, All Ball. It has been hot intermittently, but on hot days we put the hens in the coop with a window AC unit during the hottest hours of the day.

She is one year old and laying. She hasn’t been spending time in the nesting box straining to lay, and she isn’t walking any differently. Her abdomen feels a little softer than the other hens’ abdomens. What other signs should I be looking for?

I kept the sick hen crated in the cool garage yesterday, gave her docusate sodium (stool softener), and massaged her crop gently for five minutes at a time throughout the day. Last night when I returned her to the run she had more energy — her tail was up for a few minutes, she gave herself a dust bath, and she was not the first one into the coop for the night.

 

[Steenas]

Found these strange red things in her poop today … gapeworm? We just finished the fifth day of Safe-guard for the whole flock. The rest of her poop was green little balls that looked like undigested feed.

She still has her tail down, isn’t interested in eating much. I kept her in a crate in the cool garage today because it was very hot. She stood the whole day, just like yesterday — I didn’t see her lay down at all, which seems odd.

I returned her to the run this evening and once again, she went into the coop to roost about half an hour before the others.

Any other ideas about what I should be doing?
@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @azygous

 

[chickfused]

How did this end up?