Eyes closed, lethargic, tail down, falling asleep standing? Crop empty, just dewormed. Need advice please!

[Cinnaminute]

Thank you! I'll be sure to continue the antibiotic for at least 7 days.

Update: last night Stitch started feeling unwell again after I had to wrestle her to give her the aqua mox. Perhaps it wore her out. She got all fluffed up, head pulled to her, and closed her eyes. She was like that for a few hours, even stood on one foot for a bit, before finally perking back up again and eating+drinking around 3am when I checked on her.

Thankfully all day yesterday she willingly ate and drank on her own. Got some buttermilk so she ate some dry feed, moist feed, buttermilk + rice, nearly 2 scrambled eggs, and drank plenty of water.

I weighed her and she has not lost any weight. My scale reads a bit higher than what's correct but is reading her at 78oz. So about 4.5lbs which all the Easter Eggers are and what she weighed back when I started deworming her earlier this month.

This morning I took her outside to see her flockmates. They already act like she's a stranger.
She walked around a bit, pecked at a few things... and then my RIR Marcy picked a fight. Stitch put that girl in her place, had her hackles raised and everything. That wore her out because within 5 minutes she went up into the coop and laid down, closed her eyes... so I grabbed her up. She perked up right away when I did and I sat on the back porch with her. She finally had what I think is a cecal poop but it was just pure diarrhea... and on my porch curtain at that.



Still, she was bright eyed as she looked around and let the sun soak in. Finally brought her in to feed her and update on here. She's acting normal and actually yelling at me because I think she wants back outside. She's currently munching on a 1/4 cup of warm rice and buttermilk. Already ate some moist feed this morning too. And about to cook her another scrambled egg.

I'll take her outside in the yard periodically so she can stretch her wings and legs and enjoy herself.

Poop is returning to normal consistency. My biggest concern is the intense amount of green that's persisted and of course, her not feeling 100%. I figured the initial green bits were excess bile. Can amoxicillin cause green poop and diarrhea? I know you can have the same symptoms from multiple things so it's hard to tell if this is just a continuation of what was initially wrong with her or if this is being caused by antibiotics and buttermilk.

First poop of the morning:


Last night's poops:

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Green poop is often bile and due to not eating very well. Hopefully that will get better once she's eating more.

 

[Cinnaminute]

Stitch is better! I just wanted to say thank you so much for the support! Stitch is mostly back to normal. Her poop is brown and healthy. She's eating and drinking well and active again! I put her back in with the flock Friday. Just finishing out the rest of her antibiotics and I think she should be good to go.

---

Two More Hens Unwell

Of course now I have another problem. On the morning of the 11th one of my Crevecoeurs, Helga, seemed a bit blah. She just finished her deworming on the 10th. She mostly stands around and hasn't been eating much. She gets obnoxious when I bring her inside so she's not that bad off.

Her poops are normal but small. Her crop wasn't fully empty in the morning. She had a bad crop issue back in September and might be more sensitive to the bread I gave with the dewormer so I'm treating her for sour crop. The most concerning is that her weight is about 58oz. She always weighs around 64oz. I doubt it's due to her crop being mostly empty. Or is it? Internet says their crops hold 1.5oz but I don't know how accurate that is. My scale always weighs things a bit heavier than they are and the higher the weight, the more its off. So maybe it is just her being empty. I'll continue to monitor her and her weight. Could be a weird combination of a molt coming on and her crop acting up. We'll see how it goes~

My biggest worry now, however, is my 11mo Crevecoeur Mim. She finished deworming on the 10th as well (5 days of Safeguard as everyone has been getting) and finished Corid on the 12th (7 days of severe dosing followed by 7 days of preventative). She's acting blah suddenly today. She was slow to leave their enclosure in the morning. Pooped a big watery stool with deep yellow urates on her way out. Stood around most the day, tail down but will perk up to normal if bothered. She's got loose stools and very deep yellow urates. Decreased appetite but she has been eating and going on little foragings at times. I'll get more pictures asap.

To note, she's had ongoing issues with diarrhea. Corid has never cleared it up.

First evidence of chronic diarrhea issues over a month ago prior to treating with Corid. She always behaved normal, act great, and drank great regardless. Corid made no difference.


I was hoping the deworming might help her issue. But now her urates are deep yellow.
Mim's poop today (lighting is bad - it's not quite that dark yellow but pretty close - I'll get better pictures when I get a chance)


I brought her in and am trying to get electrolytes down her. I'll keep her in tonight and see how things go. She's not 100% bad. Still walks around, pecking at things that pique her curiosity but definitely not throwing a temper tantrum when I put her in the dog carrier. I mean, she could just be starting a molt. Every single one of my girls that have gone into a molt always end up having a decreased appetite. Maybe Mim, already having issues with runny stools, could just be very dehydrated? Though I worry something more severe has been going on and the deworming has brought it to surface? I guess we'll see how she is in the morning. Here's hoping for the best.

I feel like I've been doing such a poor job of caring for my sweet girls. I've had so many issues over the past year. I know I'm learning, and thankfully have successfully treated issues thanks to everyone here. Thank you all again. I really appreicate you all!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad stitch is doing much better!

For the others, I'd make sure they are eating their normal feed wet or dry. Encourage hydration and limit treats. See if the poop improves. If not, give them a little white cooked rice mixed with buttermilk for a few days (in addition to their normal feed).

Hopefully they are just getting over deworming, did they have a heavily load of worms?

Molting birds can often feel pretty bad too.

 

[Cinnaminute]

I don't have definite proof, but I think it's extremely likely they did have a heavy worm load. It's their first time being dewormed. My youngest are 7 months and my oldest are 1 year 7 months old.

They're either in their dirt run or foraging in the yard (half of that is dirt, the other half grass). The run has flooding issues causing lots of mud so I need to redo the run and put a floor of river gravel in to keep them as clean as possible.

And of course the climate here is especially supportive of parasites. Wet & warm, wet & cold, rarely below freezing. I figured a yearly deworm would be required and planned to do so January, but after Cleo got sick end of December (and deworming her helped her) I began reading around. Found out it's often needed to deworm anywhere from 2 to 4 times a year here. Yikes!

It can't be a coincidence. Finished deworming my youngest 5 and my two Leghorns on the 12th.

Then boom, yesterday my Leghorn Gretchen (11mo) started showing similar signs of lethargy and seems worse today; standing around fluffed up a bit in a low traffic area, tail lowered. Caught her napping here until I took the picture and disturbed her.


My 7mo Hazel who also finished deworming and was behaving just fine this morning is suddenly acting off this afternoon. Fluffed a bit, tail down. Perks up when bothered but looks for a place where she won't be disturbed and settles down the same again.


Mim's poop is suddenly solid, something I haven't seen in a month so it's likely the diarrhea was from parasites. But the urates are still very yellow and she isn't interested in water or food, although she perked up at one point this morning and suddenly ate a good amount of moist feed. Now she's just been laying around all day or standing in a corner.


Mim's poop yesterday evening:


Mim's poop overnight:


I guess there's not much to do but monitor them. Been feeding them moistened feed in hopes of encouraging more fluid intake and offered some buttermilk with rice too. Sadly the girls unwell are just not interested, but they still are eating from time to time. Their crops aren't empty. I'll let this run its course and update when A) everyone is better or B) there's a sudden turn for the worse.

They might just be sick for a couple days. Considering Cleo is 100% better, Stitch is about 90% better, and Helga seems to have gotten over her crop upset... I'll try not to worry too much unless I find someone acting like Stitch did (which is the worst I've seen so far and she's better). Plus, most of the others have come out of this without issue.

Lost of perky, happy chickens who want out, want treats, or both, haha!:

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If they are all having issues after deworming, then it may be worm toxicity.
I'd definitely get the rice and buttermilk into them, see if they perk up. Work on them drinking well too.

@dawg53 may want to chime in, take a look at atleast your last post and photos.

Hopefully since Stitch did come through and is feeling better the others will too. Not sure if you'll need to give them antibiotics like you did with Stitch, do you have enough Amoxicillin on hand just in case?

 

[Cinnaminute]

Will do. Thank you so much!

I should have enough, at least for those currently sick if the need arises. Had a full container of 30 tablets 500mg prior to treating Stitch. I was already planning on buying another container of 100 tablets 250mg so I'll get that ordered today. The coconut oil trick to make the 500mg into two pills is useful, but not ideal I've come to find out. Thankfully Stitch likes the coconut oil taste.

 

[dawg53]

I dont believe it's toxic dead worm overload. You've got something else going on with your birds. I recommend that you contact the Georgia Poultry Lab in Tifton, Ga and inquire about sending a bird(s) for necropsy. Here's a link, call them if you wish.
https://www.gapoultrylab.org/Locations/Tifton/

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t have anything to add except that you could also grind the pills or capsules and mix into cream cheese, yogurt, or watery peanut butter, and squirt into the beak. Amoxicillin tastes pretty bad. Splitting the pill into 2 pieces given orally would be easiest, except most amoxicillin is in capsule form.
Yellow urates can be a sign of liver issues from egg yolk peritonitis, cancer fatty liver disease,, or e.coli infection.

 

[Cinnaminute]

Thank you dawg53 and Eggcessive for your inputs! I appreciate all the advice! And the link, thank you.

I'm suspicious I have more than one thing going on. Mim is the only one with yellow urates. Plus her lethargy is different than the others. She seems actually lethargic whereas Hazel & Gretchen just seem tired but have a ton of spunk the moment you bother them. Plus her appetite isn't normal like theirs is.

I'll go ahead and do what I can for them, without overdoing it. Make sure they're eating plenty, drinking plenty, offer the buttermilk+rice, and some electroylytes. Let things run their course for now, see how things go, and hope I don't regret it. Everyone else is still fine so far.