Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[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. 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?
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.

 

[RoyalChick]

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. 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?
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.

Oh poor baby!
Have you felt to see if you can feel (or even see) an egg? I have no idea really but it does look like she is trying to pass a stuck egg.
Everything I have read here on that says that the first thing to do is give her calcium citrate pills to help strengthen the contractions to help her pass the egg.
The other thing everyone says is to give her either a warm epsom salt bath or put her on a moist heating pad - I think that is to relax her again to help pass the egg.
Maybe you should post it on the illnesses thread - there are several folk who know what they are talking about and I am simply repeating what I have read.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Oh poor baby!
Have you felt to see if you can feel (or even see) an egg? I have no idea really but it does look like she is trying to pass a stuck egg.
Everything I have read here on that says that the first thing to do is give her calcium citrate pills to help strengthen the contractions to help her pass the egg.
The other thing everyone says is to give her either a warm epsom salt bath or put her on a moist heating pad - I think that is to relax her again to help pass the egg.
Maybe you should post it on the illnesses thread - there are several folk who know what they are talking about and I am simply repeating what I have read.

I just posted this on the Emergency/Illnesses forum. No, I did have her on my lap to cut off the poopy feathers and didn't think to do that. I did notice she was subdued some but didn't see this behavior until a few minutes after she was down. They've gone to roost now, and I'm not inclined to disturb her, but on the other hand I also fear the worst. She has been the one that has laid long, barely shelled eggs, and since they are all hardly laying now I have backed off on giving them calcium, and they are on All Flock. Maybe that's been a mistake. Would you take her off roost to do these things if you were me?

 

[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. 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?
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.

Edit to add:
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.

 

[featherhead007]

Edit to add:
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.

Check her crop too. Hard, squishy, chunky?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Check her crop too. Hard, squishy, chunky?

OK. I didn't notice anything odd when I held her but I didn't check that specifically. She was drinking a lot, and before I got her on my lap to trim her butt feathers she was eager to eat some bits of walnut I had brought with me, and ate more walnut bits from my lap when we were done.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

All 3 girls chicks are now 3 weeks old today and tomorrow. I waited until dusk when the mom's were putting everyone to bed and went out geared with a head lamp. It is so much easier to reach under the girls and pull out a chick then stressing them out chasing them. At this age I'm using the presence of wattles and bigger colored combs to pinpoint a male. This is all subject to change if I have a rare for me late developing boy as most of mine tend to be early bloomers if they are not silkie mixed. If I had to call their sexes now I am confident in saying Blueberry has 3 pullets and 1 cockerel. Bunny has 2 pullets and 2 cockerels. Raven, god love this hen, if I am right has 5, yes you heard me 5 out of 5 pullets. If I am wrong on any of them it is the 4 total brown chicks and Raven has 3 of them. Their combs are tiny and orange but it is the same color they hatched out with. No wattle development at all on them either which is why I'm saying pullets.

 

[RoyalChick]

I just posted this on the Emergency/Illnesses forum. No, I did have her on my lap to cut off the poopy feathers and didn't think to do that. I did notice she was subdued some but didn't see this behavior until a few minutes after she was down. They've gone to roost now, and I'm not inclined to disturb her, but on the other hand I also fear the worst. She has been the one that has laid long, barely shelled eggs, and since they are all hardly laying now I have backed off on giving them calcium, and they are on All Flock. Maybe that's been a mistake. Would you take her off roost to do these things if you were me?

Oh dear - I don't know!
I would definitely feel her crop while she is on the roost - that is easy to do and not very obtrusive.
I think I probably would take her off the roost in the night and try and feel her rear end in case there is a very obviously stuck egg. And even if I didn't do that I would definitely pop a couple of calcium pills in her in the hope that they help her pass any egg in the night.
Sorry not to be more help - I find it very hard to know what is best to do for our babies when they aren't well.

 

[Ponypoor]

Listen, Kentucky may get made fun of for having hillbillies or rednecks, but in truth we take things seriously. Those regulations are just for my zoning area. In other area's of the state you can kill does during rifle season. It depends on the populations. If you buy your deer tags you get 2 doe tags and 1 buck tag. In truth several years ago before blue-tounge hit my area not a lot of people killed does and we were horribly over populated. 4 years ago the disease hit and devastated the population. We did not hunt that year, and the following 2 years only saw small spikes and 4 points so we let them walk. 6 years ago though my dad tagged out. We ended up giving one of the tagged does to a family member who was not able to hunt that year due to a accident. One thing about it, if we shoot it, we or someone we know eats it. That even includes the tree rats or squirrels.

You must be Newfoundlanders - if it has fur feathers or fins we eat it!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Oh dear - I don't know!
I would definitely feel her crop while she is on the roost - that is easy to do and not very obtrusive.
I think I probably would take her off the roost in the night and try and feel her rear end in case there is a very obviously stuck egg. And even if I didn't do that I would definitely pop a couple of calcium pills in her in the hope that they help her pass any egg in the night.
Sorry not to be more help - I find it very hard to know what is best to do for our babies when they aren't well.

Yes, me too, I try to learn and prepare and then feel at such a loss when it's actually happening!
Well I could try to feed them some yogurt and calcium. Because the coop quarters are small it will disturb everyone for me to open the back and figure out who is Peanut, feel her and get her to eat. The pills I have are huge, not those mini-pills I see one can get. I'm checking the camera now.