Help!! Improving lethargy but diarrhea in hen

[Evern]

Hi all. I’m new here. I’ve had my three girls for about 2.5 years with very little issues. But four days ago one of my hens was showing signs of being sick. She was mostly laying down and didn’t want to walk. When she did she was limping. Stopped laying eggs. Anyways it was after hours so I just looked her over, no mites, no apparent egg binding, no bumble foot, no swelling or masses. I bathed her and gave her a little soak in case of internal egg issues and trimmed her nails which were a little long. The next day she looked better and seemed to be eating and drinking a bit. So I figured I’d wait and see how she did in a day or so. It really looked like a leg injury. Shes gotten better and better now walking around with out a limp, eating and drinking seems almost back to normal perky self except she has diarrhea. I tried to get an appt with my local avian vet and they are giving me the ring around. Asked to do a fecal float test and it’s been almost five hours and they were supposed to get back with me. Ugh. I’m trying to get this figured out because I’m leaving out of town in a little over a week and don’t want to leave a mess for the sitter.
Stool this morning liquid with some white in it. And now the same but has some green solids. Now it has been pretty warm the last few days but nothing extreme and the other girls have no summertime runs as I like to call it. I can’t see any worms and there’s no blood.
Has anyone had this happen where the chicken gets sick but gets better kits own? Should I deworm preventatively or treat for coccidia? I’m at a loss. Any help is appreciated.

 

[dennisma1]

I've used wormer on sick chickens when I was at a loss and seemed to do no harm. I agree it's an inexact science some days. Yes sometimes we get lucky and they get just better! I've found chickens to be pretty hardy.

 

[Evern]

Thank you. I did go ahead and give some dewormer yesterday afternoon. We will see what happens.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What dewormer and dose did you use?

It likely won't hurt her to deworm, sometimes that can help when a hen is not well. It can be hard to know what the underlying condition is, but at 2 1/2 years old, limping, not laying eggs, mostly laying down, etc., I would suspect the beginning of reproductive issues. Peritonitis, cancer, tumors, salpingitis, etc. can all be common in laying hens. They can feel better for a while, then decline - wax and wane. For mine, I do keep up with them - making sure they eat/drink, check for lice/mites, make sure their crop is emptying overnight, deworm, etc. Basically seeing that they are doing "o.k." for the most part. When they begin to decline - the above supportive care measures may be administered once again. If they perk up, then great, if they continue to go down hill, then I put them out of their misery. Doing a home necropsy or having a professional one sheds a lot of light on the conditions that affect laying hens.

 

[Evern]

I used a pea sized does of 10% pancur Horse dewormer. ive used it once before when one of my other chickens had some visible roundworms. This was over a year ago. was thinking of treating again today. Trying to figure it out. it hasn’t been 24 hours yet but no change in poop. Thinking maybe trying some broad spectrum antibiotics. either amoxicillin or tetracycline. i did find a vole burrow in the run that I’ve since cleared out and killed all the voles. This was a a month ago. I was hoping not salmonella or something from those buggers. You could be right about the reproductive issues Peritonitis was a thought. It just came on so suddenly. I hope not, this is my favorite hen. Of course.
May I ask how do you put your hens out of their misery? I’ve seen a video about the most humane way to break the neck but I’ve never had to kill a chicken so if it comes to that I’m nervous.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I used a pea sized does of 10% pancur Horse dewormer. ive used it once before when one of my other chickens had some visible roundworms. This was over a year ago. was thinking of treating again today. Trying to figure it out. it hasn’t been 24 hours yet but no change in poop. Thinking maybe trying some broad spectrum antibiotics. either amoxicillin or tetracycline. i did find a vole burrow in the run that I’ve since cleared out and killed all the voles. This was a a month ago. I was hoping not salmonella or something from those buggers. You could be right about the reproductive issues Peritonitis was a thought. It just came on so suddenly. I hope not, this is my favorite hen. Of course.
May I ask how do you put your hens out of their misery? I’ve seen a video about the most humane way to break the neck but I’ve never had to kill a chicken so if it comes to that I’m nervous.

Pea Sized dose may be o.k. depending on what size pea you base it off of
Panacur dose is the same as Safeguard - so it's .23ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days to treat roundworms only.

If you wish to treat other worms, including roundworms, but excluding Tapeworms, then give .23ml per pound of weight orally once a day for 5 days in a row. No repeat.

Of course, it's always the favorite that seems to have issues. It can be heartbreaking. I use the broomstick method (cervical dislocation) to put my hens down.

 

[Evern]

Pea Sized dose may be o.k. depending on what size pea you base it off of
Panacur dose is the same as Safeguard - so it's .23ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days to treat roundworms only.

If you wish to treat other worms, including roundworms, but excluding Tapeworms, then give .23ml per pound of weight orally once a day for 5 days in a row. No repeat.

Of course, it's always the favorite that seems to have issues. It can be heartbreaking. I use the broomstick method (cervical dislocation) to put my hens down.

Thank you very much for the info. I appreciate it.

 

[Ascholten]

Maybe they got salmonella, if chickens can get that, or a case of the cruds, and it can take a few days to clear out.
Make sure they have plenty of water, and the water dispenser is clean. I actually scrub mine out, even though you may have it sealed up, the water can grow and get icky in them, especially stewing in the summer. Dewormer never hurt. Although some say it's worthless, Ill sprinkle DE on my birds food once a month or so and feed it to them for a few days, it seems to help, at least I think so.

The turds can be a bit runny, depending on what they have been eating, and of course there is the cecal dump too. If they are thirsty and guzzle a lot of water, that can make a runny one too. Eating something, that while maybe not totally rotten, but not in it's prime either, can give them the stomach grumbles too. One of mine has this bad habit of wanting to drink the brown water (compost tea) that drips out of one of my planters, don't ask me why, she does, and that gives her the hershey squirts once in a while. I have since put a cage over the water collector for it to keep her out. This biggest problem with the squirts is dehydration. If they got plenty of water and are drinking, hopefully they will be fine, but keep a close eye on her, again, chickens, like any bird, hide problems very well and by the time you notice something is wrong, it's really really bad.

Aaron

 

[CEO]

In the summer months it is normal for many chickens to have runny poop. I am not sure if it is cocci because personally I have never dealt with it. But deworming would be a good idea since you have not done it in a long time.

 

[Ascholten]

Let me also add, mine lay around too in the hot days. They are out of the sun, or in an area of shade and just lay there, kind of stretched out sometimes, trying to keep cool. Shake some food in their direction, if they come a runnin' .... they are fine.

As for your hen limping, she probably hurt her foot somehow. Could have got it caught on something, stepped on something, caught under something, you may have accidentally stepped on it. One of mine got a hurt foot once, she did not want to do anything for a few days except lay there in the cage. I felt so bad for her, after a few days she started limping on it. It took several weeks actually before she could really use her leg / foot again without limping or hobbling on it. She's fine today, and although she has a slight limp to it,you'd barely notice if you were not looking for it. If your hen did hurt her foot, thankfully she got back to normal quickly, but injuries, can keep them quiet for a few days. Mine on the first two days really did no want to eat either, just kind of picked at the food. Im thinking the pain from the foot.

Egg Laying - when it gets hot out, many hens will take a break or slow way down on the egg production.

If they are back to eating, they should be fine. I understand no wanting to leave a mess for your chicken babysitter but even IF there was a problem with her, would you cancel your trip? Think on it that way. Good luck and I think you will be fine. When our birds get hurt / sick, we tend to look for all sorts of ghosts and goblins, which may otherwise be normal, but were in 'momma hen' mode.

Aaron