Green diarrhea & head tilt on Buff Orpington hen, please help!

[Eggcessive]

It is fowl typhoid or salmonella, a disease of chickens, not typhus. Typhus is a completely separate disease in humans transmitted by lice or mites. Here is some info:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhus

Lice or mites are best treated with permethrin spray or powder every 7 days at least 3 times for both chickens and for the coop facilities. All bedding must be removed.

 

[RyRe2010]

The pullet I just took in for testing started to look not quite herself over a week ago. At 4 months, she was good sized being RIR and partridge rock mix. She would stand all fluffed up and hunched over like she was cold. She would still follow her buddies and eat and drink until this past Sunday. I hadn't noticed any other symptoms. But she was much slower, losing interest in food/water, and her comb was pale with very cold feet. I put her in isolation then. Thats when I saw her bright green, watery diarrhea. Her R eye closed and qould hardly open. Not swollen but wouldn't open. She would lay in the pen and her head would go all over the place...like an owl. Almost like she couldn't help it. She was also drooling, which is weird for a chicken I think. She had no respiratory symptoms whatsoever. I gave her fluids, nutri drench, yogurt, veterycin for her eyes, and even tried tylosin...nothing has helped. Today, I could tell she was actively dying and I took her in. I hope yours has a better ending!

 

[VictoriaTemple]

Thanks RyRe2010. Sounds a lot like Gertrude except the drool. Still hoping, and I am very sorry for your loss.

Eggcessive, I don't want to argue with you, especially since you have been so helpful. My hen and pullet died of salmonella typhus. That is the name of the bacterium, and it is communicable to humans. Happily, that danger has passed. As for the straw lice, my hen was cured after 1 Epsom salt bath. No adult lice 30 days later, even though I had not trimmed off all the nits none of them hatched. Wonderful easy cure, but to each his own.

 

[Eggcessive]

Fowl typhoid (salmonella) not typhus
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/130/salmonella-gallinarum-fowl-typhoid/

 

[micstrachan]

I can’t tell if she’s actually sick or just having an awful reaction to impending molt. However, I did want to share that you can stretch your grains by sprouting them for the birds. They have more nutritional value that way, and if you grow some into fodder, you get more food volume for your money. My girls love sprouted wheat berries, though they haven’t had any in quite awhile... like several months or even a year.

 

[VictoriaTemple]

I can’t tell if she’s actually sick or just having an awful reaction to impending molt. However, I did want to share that you can stretch your grains by sprouting them for the birds. They have more nutritional value that way, and if you grow some into fodder, you get more food volume for your money. My girls love sprouted wheat berries, though they haven’t had any in quite awhile... like several months or even a year.

Thanks micstrachan! I was sprouting their 2-3 day old grain when the rain got bad (as soon as it got wet I tossed it on dirt &collected the sprouts). They loved it that way, but the ground is too wet now. Have to find out how to sprout indoors or in my deck.

 

[micstrachan]

I sprout in trays on top of my fridge. Soak the grains overnight, rinse, drain, and then spread out in a tray. You can use cheap plastic trays that food (think muffins) come in. I use the huge clam shell (hinged) kind, cut off the lid, poke holes in the lid with a knife, and put the lid inside the bottom. Easy to drain and the bottom catches the drips afterward. Make sense?

 

[micstrachan]

I forgot to mention, you will need to rinse and drain them extremely well twice a day. Otherwise, they can mold, which would be dangerous for the birds.

 

[VictoriaTemple]

I forgot to mention, you will need to rinse and drain them extremely well twice a day. Otherwise, they can mold, which would be dangerous for the birds.

Awesome, thanks!

 

[VictoriaTemple]

Whatever this is, it's spreading. My Jersey Giant rooster Hero had a fever and nasal discharge this morning. He slept almost all day. Jane, the RIR hen, got up and foraged a little this afternoon, but then settled down on the porch and wouldn't budge. Gertrude is about the same except the diarrhea seems to have stopped. Not sure if she's getting better or if after 4 days without eating she's just plain empty. None of the 3 would eat anything, especially the yogurt I bought for them and loaded with electrolyte powder, but Hero did eagerly gulp down 1/2 of a baby aspirin, which seemed to help him sleep. Jane took hers grudgingly, Gertrude refused. All had Epsom salt & oregano bath and some VetRx. Put electrolyte powder in their water too, but thet wouldn't drink it.

Tomorrow will try hardboiled egg, black rice, steamed grain with molasses, and more yogurt. Praying they will eat! Also going to call New Bolton Center veterinary school for help. Can't afford my old vet anymore.

Also, discovered Gertrude has lice! No idea where they came from, as my chickens do not get straw or hay for bedding (I cover the coop floor with a tarp.). Will check the others more closely in the morning. The Epsom salt isn't working this time, will have to get chemical treatment. Keep us in your prayers please!