HELP! Watery poo and lethargy!

[aussie_chooken]

Hi everyone,

Well we have all been doing well until late this afternoon – Our 11 week old silkie has taken a bad turn and we’re not sure what to do. She is doing watery, almost pale yellow poo (it's pure liquid) and is very lethargic. The last few days I noticed that her tail was not as fluffy and the fluff a bit stuck together, so much that I thought she had dunked her bottom in the water bowl, it looked wet. It’s just only now we are piecing together the fact that she might be ill. There were no other symptoms noted, she seems fine otherwise.

We have fed her some cooked egg yolk and she perked up a little bit, but she is still very lethargic and falling asleep. We have now separated her from the others, with a light for warmth, more egg yolk, water and crumbles.

All the chicks have had the feed with the cocci protection from day one and they are all still on it. The others all seem fine too. Could it be worms? an obstruction?

Any advice? Do you know what this might be? Hopefully she survives the night and we can act on it tomorrow. Why do these things only seem to happen through the night?!

Thanks in advance

 

[dlhunicorn]

are they allowed outside?
Even with medicated starter they can sometimes become overloaded ... I would urge you to have a faecal exam... the lethargy does sound more like cocci than worms however there may be something else going on...
What you can do now is to give a good vitamin/nutritional supplement... if you do not have this on hand then a childrens liquid A-B-D vitamin >three drops in beak once a day for a week.

 

[aussie_chooken]

thanks so much unicorn, i have been investigating your AMAZING collation of useful info, and it appears to be polyuria.

We have had several days of ongoing very hot weather, although they are in our bathroom and the temp has been very comfortable in there.

they are not ranging yet, and there has been no dietary change.

the enclosure is cleaned daily and water changed twice daily...

she has eaten some cooked egg yolk and some live culture yoghurt in the last few hours, and drank some water.

but her poop is still foul smelling liquid that squirts out with great force. it almost seems like there is an obstruction to her bowel, preventing any faeces passing through, only the watery urea.

i am so puzzled. i hope she picks up in the morning. thanks so much for the tip about the vitamin supplement, i will get onto that in the morning.

 

[aussie_chooken]

Well she made it through the night, just barely though, and is now on her last breath and practically rigor mortis already.

RIP Gus

 

[dlhunicorn]

Did you try the cocci med? (I believe in australia it is called sulphaquin?) It is always a good idea to have on hand ...

 

[aussie_chooken]

um, bit late now!

i went to the bird place and asked if it was needed aswell as the feed, i was advised no. plus, she was 14 weeks old. cocci isn't the only thing that we can lose a chicken to suddenly, we had a heatwave that lasted 3 days, i have been advised that it probably just didn't cope with it. the genetically weaker ones tend not to. apparently. she was a silkie but not quite right, no feathers on legs, a funny looking one... we think she was a bit of a runt. we thought so a while ago, and even more so now.

really sad though.