Green diarhea, lethargic, getting picked on - Should I seperate?

tenderkat

Songster
10 Years
Mar 5, 2009
195
5
119
Foothills west of Denver
About two weeks ago, I lost one of my hens Lily. She had had green diarhea for quite some time, and then she developed some form of ascites.

For about the last week, one of my other hens Aunt Francie has developed the same watery green diarhea with alot of white urates in it that Lily had. Her abdomen is fine, but she seems to be losing weight, and has become more lethargic. At first I had thought that she was just depressed by the loss of Lily? But for the last couple of days the other hens have been picking on her quite a bit, so I'm assuming they sense her weakness?

All of my chickens have been in sub-par condition for a long time, so I have been trying to make some changes to their feed and management. I also wormed them in May, but I have yet to see any results. The egg quality and number is still way down, and now I'm afraid that I have another hen on the way out. I wormed them first with Wazine, and followed up 10 days later with Albendazole. I'm not really sure if they got enough of the Albendazole though as it was a bit difficult to administer.

So anyways, I have no idea what is going on with my chickens. But I hope to see some positive results soon from the worming.

I'm wondering if I should seperate Aunt Francie away from the flock? The seem to be bullying her, and I think she would like some peace from that. Her comb is all pecked up. I had brought Lily in the house, but that didn't go over so well with the hubby, cats, and dogs. I was thinking that I could put Aunt Francie in the dog crate and keep it in the run during the day. At night I could take her out and put her on the roost with the other girls. This would keep the others from picking on her all day, but she would still be 'with' them. The dog crate is a large metal cage, and I could put shavings and individual food/water cups inside. I'm worried that by doing this, she will become further ostrasized by the others if she does recover.

Any ideas on this?
 
I would seperate for sure, if she is not feeling well and getting pecked on that isn't good. I am not sure on the rest of it as I am pretty new to chickens. I hope someone with more experiance can chime in.

If she has diahrreah, what about giving some electrolyte solution?
 
They had lice awhile back, and I treated them along with the henhouse. I will be spraying them again this weekend as a follow up, although I have seen no more signs. I have no idea if they have mites. If they do I haven't seen any. Would lice/mites cause green diarhhea and poor egg production?

Where might I find an electrolyte solution? Unfortunately, none of the local feed stores carry anything for chickens except the basics.
 
When this happened the first time, did you give them any plain yogourt or cooked white rice? Its something I would try if you have not. Also see about getting her some extra vitamins in the water...The feed store usually has a powder. Pro-bios ( good bacteria) That is also available in a powder or a gel, but I have to purchase mine online. I imagine I would use something like .5 g for a chicken. I don't use the powder, which would probably be better for the chicken, but look at the label and use the smallest dose. If the whole flock is looking down I would probably just give everyone the same treatment. Good that you are worming in this case too. I would also advise takeing the chickens out of the coop for a day sweep it out and giving it a really good scrub down. use a spray bottle for cracks and crevaces you cant reach. And spray those areas with the hardest stream you can when you are ready to rinse. twice a year or when we have a chicken die or fall ill, (only happened tiwce knock on wood) ours we use bleach water, rinse well, use dawn, rinse well again, and let it dry. In the summer its dry by noon, in the winter, by nightfall. It could be different for you depending on your setup and weather. Even if you have done this recently, I would do it again since you had a chicken die, and another is now ill. I would indeed seperate! Any time something unusual happens they go straight to the bathtub at our house because it is the safest place to isolate a bird from other birds, dogs and cats, and I can clean the tub easily, not to mention he/she gets checked on regularly! At dawn we turn on the light and at sundown we turn it off. If I want to take a shower, I put the bird in the sink, take a shower, put the bird back in the tub and clean the sink. I fear the poor turkey poult we have in there now will be horse by night fall. lol

Hope this helps! Good luck!!
 
Along with the worming and the delousing, I have been giving them ACV, yogurt, buttermilk, oats, and I have switched to Flock Raiser for the higher protein. I have eliminated most table scraps, and they only get scratch about once a week now.

I think I'll go ahead and put her in the crate to eliminate the pecking. I'll give her some water with Polyvisol, and feed her a soft mash with buttermilk, eggs, and applesauce. I also just noticed that her crop feels really hard, like a golf ball. I'm wondering if she might have gorged on some oyster shell or grit? Maybe that's the only thing the other girls aren't chasing her away from? So, I thought about giving her a tiny piece of bread with some olive oil and a vitamin E capsule. Does all this sound good?
 
Yes, lice/mites can cause green diarhrea and poor egg production. You have to repeat their treatment every 2 wks because their eggs will hatch.... you might want to do this 2 or 3 times. You have to check for mites at night time. I will attach a good info. of lice/mites here. Good luck!. lice/mites are evil...... Noriko.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

Quote:
 
So I just went out to let Aunt Francie out of the crate so she could go to bed. RIGHT when she walked out of the crate, Margaret went right after the top of Aunt Francie's head! Bad girl!!!! So I pushed her away, and held Aunt Francie on my lap for a minute to soothe her. As I put her down, Margaret did it AGAIN!!

I wanted to see if the other chickens would pick on Aunt Francie too, and the only one was Margaret. Again and again and again. I began to pick Margaret up swiftly every single time she went after Aunt Francie, and scolded her promptly. Then I held her snuggly, but not so affectionately under my arm for a few minutes to try and show her who was boss. After a few times, she seemed to back off of Aunt Francie a bit.

I'm thinking that tomorrow MARGARET will be the one in the dog crate! What a meanie!!!
 

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