Help! Trying To Determine If I Have An Internal Layer or Infected Chic

[hillbrothers eggs]

Hi,

I have a BR that I noticed yesterday laying outside in the run when all the other chickens were in the coop. I then put her in the coop by herself and she went up on the perch and sat down. She stayed in the same place until I took her out and isolated her last night. I noticed some yellow diarrhea streaks in the run and she had light yellow diarrhea caked on her bottom feathers. She pretty much stays in one position when she is on the ground.

At one point yesterday I was holding her and she threw up some water. She has had some yellowish watery stools but today that they are more firm with them being half yellow and half green. She will drink some water when I put it in front of her and she will eat a little food. She is fed organic pellets. She has not been getting scratch. She and the others are also fed veggy scraps and ground up almonds.

Here are her vitals:

1. Her comb is red, feels normal but seems a little dry.
2. Her crop feels like it has sand in it. Very soft.
3. Her vent looks good. No mites or any other visible pests
4. She has bare spot on back where she has been pecked, no skin broken though.
5. Eyes look good, good color, no drooping
6. No foul smell from breath, or poop
7. Cannot feel if she is bound up or not. Does not feel like it
8. She still coo's
9. No wheezing, breathing normal

One thing I though may be the cause of the problem is I threw a centipede or Millipede into the run yesterday. I am not sure what it was, it was big and round. One of the chickens got it, I am not sure which one, but it was after that that I noticed the BR laying around. Could that have caused her to get sick and if so could it happen that quick?

She has also only had about three or four poops since last night.

I gave her some yogurt this morning and she ate a little of it. I was going to also cook some egg and see if she will eat that. She has not been wormed. I have the ivermectin so I can give her some if it turns out to be worms. So far my other chickens are not showing any symptoms.

Please let me know what you all think.

Steve

 

[BirdBrain]

First of all,

Sorry your first post is about sick bird. What color of yellow is it? Is is the color of yolk? Could she be egg bound? Feel her belly and see what you think. Often you can feel a mass. Maybe someone else will come along who has had first hand experience with this.

 

[hillbrothers eggs]

The poop is mainly solid dark green with the liquidy part being dark yellowish, much like a brownish/yellow egg yoke. I cannot feel any mass in her belly and she has not had any diarrhea sticking to her feathers. She is still drinking a little bit, but not really eating much.

Steve

 

[hillbrothers eggs]

This morning, my BR had yellow (yolk color) runny diarrhea on her bottom and she also had a poop on the floor that was runny with a small bean sized green solid poop. She is also standing with her tail pointed down which after doing some reading might indicate and bound egg. This afternoon my wife stated that she was standing up and drank some water and ate a little bit. Her crop is still full though. It was no smaller this morning than it was last night. We have given her some olive oil and probably will try ACV. I think my wife was going to put her a warm bath today to see if that helps.

Any other suggestions would be great. Does it look like worms or just a bound egg?

Thanks

 

[BirdBrain]

Steve keep in mind that what I know about internal laying could fit in a thimble and still leave room for a finger, but....that looks like pictures Cynthia (aka speckledhen) has posted when she did a post mortum on one of her girls. Do some searching for internal laying and see what you turn up. You also might change the title on your original post to more accurately reflect your concerns over internal laying and see if that turns up more responses.

 

[hillbrothers eggs]

Today, Flo has had more a lot of yellow diarrhea. Her crop seems smaller and she is still lethargic. I am trying to figure out if she is an internal layer or if she has gotten worms. Thinking about starting her on worm med today. Please help if you can.

 

[speckledhen]

Could be several things, worms, advanced cocci or that yellow may actually be yolk that is in her oviduct. If it was me, and some may disagree, but I would get some of the Safeguard wormer paste (also called panacur or fenbendazole) and swipe a BB sized portion into the mouth. Safeguard also has anti-protozoan properties that will help if there is any cocci involved here. You'd do that again in 2 weeks or so. If she does have an egg related infection, or fluid in her abdomen, you can do 3 days of pen-G injections, 1/2 - 3/4 cc in the breast meat and then keep giving her supportive care, like plain yogurt and scrambled eggs, etc.

The problem is that I cant tell you for sure what the issue is with her. And worming her in addition to giving antibiotics at the same time will be very hard on her. You could pick one or the other to do and wait and see if that works, then try the other. Standing with her tail down would indicate to me that she is very uncomfortable and I'd say it's more likely a reproductive infection of some sort. You could be dealing with both, really. Does she seem like she's lost weight?

 

[hillbrothers eggs]

Update

I have been out of town this week. Before leaving town I culled my chicken. She had developed a very hard crop. She would not drink or eat and she was moaning more. I did a gross autopsy on her and found that her crop was very hard and sour. It was also the same in the gizzard. Her intestines did not look inflamed. I did not see any worms but I also did not get into the intestines. There was no sign of bound egg or internal layer (I don't think I would know what to look For). I am thinking that she probably had a bug of some sort.

Thanks for the responses I got. So far my other chickens are not showing signs of sickness

 

[speckledhen]

What I'm thinking is that she had some type of ailment that affected her by making her crop not function well. I am treating a bird now whose crop was not working and it came on during a hard molt. So, the crop may not have been the primary issue, but it's hard to say. My hen had just watery poop with neon green in it due to no food getting through, but I've never seen yellow unless it was egg yolk being expelled. I'm sorry about your hen.