Help with Bantam Cochin not eating.

[BayFillyZ]

I need help diagnosing a 3 year old sick bantam cochin hen.

Symtoms:
Not eating but drinking.
Not active with flock just stands around but does not appear droopy or lethargic.
She will scratch around a little, and look at the ground but doesnt eat anything.
Her stool is drippy green and white.
She is underweight.
Comb is bright red.
Eyes are clear.
No feather loss.

This has been going on about a week. I only noticed her odd behavior 3 days ago.

I don't know if it is something she ate, stress, disease or parasites.
Possible stresses: Last saturday it was particularly cold outside and I brought her and her sister inside for 24 hours. Maybe that effected her more than i realized it would.

If disease, I have penicillin on hand but I hesitate to give that if she is not actually sick.

If parasite, I have wazine and eprinex pour-on onhand but I am scared to administer if she is sick.

Current treatment:
Several times a day for the last 3 days I have been sitting with her and trying to encourage her to eat various things. Boiled egg yolk crumbles--no. plain greek yogurt---no. sweet feed mix (seeds+ crack corn+ pellet)--no. Now I am syringing droplets of a slurry mixture of egg yolk, yogurt and a tiny droplet of Poultry Drench. She's not getting very much and I fear force feeding her (gentle as I am) is stressing her further because she struggles.

I appreciate your help and input
THANKS

 

[Judy]

When was the last time you wormed her? With what?

Does she have access to a compost bin or other source of spoiled food?

Have you checked for lice / mites?

Have you seen the (graphic) poo chart? http://chat.allotment.org/index.php?topic=17568.0

I don't think Wazine is particularly hard on them, if you think it may be worms. Worms will certainly cause these symptoms, but so will other things. On the other hand, worms will kill a bird if the infestation is heavy enough. Valbazen gets all types of worms (Wazine only gets roundworms) and is also not supposed to be hard on them. You could try the Wazine; if she has worms, some of them are almost certainly roundworms.

 

[BayFillyZ]

The flock was wormed with wazine in early january. i had intentions of following up a few weeks later with eprinex as a broad spectrum but i did not.
She does not have any access to spoiled food. The only new/different thing she ate this week was fresh collard greens a neighbor brought over. I considered something could have been wrong with them but all the chickens ate those and she is the only one that appears sick.
I have not checked for lice or mites. I will do that now.

would you try the wazine first or the penicillin? Or would it be ok to give both?

update: I spent the last hour with her. She seems to have gone downhill since yesterday. She is a very feathered frizzle and the feathers look flatter and droopy today. She is still only eating when i syringe it.

 

[Judy]

I don't know what to tell you. She could have something like cancer that you can't fix, of course. Obviously, it is not a good sign when they won't eat.

If I were going to try something of what you have on hand, it would be the Epinrex, on the chance that it is a different worm -- or maybe the Penicillin, though I don't know what it would treat. If you have any Corid, you could also try that. Adults do sometimes get overcome with cocci. They are supposed to hunch up as if cold, and stop eating.

Does her belly seem at all swollen or fluid filled? Do you have another hen of the same breed you can compare her to? It does sound a bit like internal laying. Do you know whether she has been laying, at least til a week ago?

 

[Reurra]

Put a little vitamin booster in her water? Perhaps an antibiotic that she only has access too. Maybe its just a belly ache. Check for mites too, there might be a growth of those bothering her. I had that happen to one of my hens. All the others were fine, but this one hen was in terrible shape, she was infested. If she does have mites, quick rub down with some permethrin should do the trick, treat her again in a week to get any eggs that hatch. (Dont breath the stuff, make sure to use gloves and wear a mask)

I hope she will be OK!!

Trust in Flockwatcher, your in good hands!

 

[BayFillyZ]

Sadly she died died last night.
She seemed perfectly fine a week ago.

I have been reading all morning about what this could be and I am still puzzled.
On examination yesterday afternoon I did not see any lice or mites. Her crop was mushy and fluid filled. her belly was not tight or bloated. She was still not eating on her own but would drink.
I caged her and gave her some wazine about 2:30 pm yesterday.
This morning she was dead.

I am leaning toward a bad worm infestation however I saw no outward signs until this week.
Could the stress of moving her around last weekend "stir" the worms up. And make her sick?
Can the wazine paralyze so many worms that it "shocks" her already weak body and she dies?

I have a flock of now 28 large and small breeds. Outwardly they looking very healthy. Except one who has a yucky butt. Caked matted poo. The rest are clean bright/vigourous birds.
I am thinking I need to worm them all before another one gets sick. wazine today in the water and in 2 weeks ivermectin pour-on.

I clean out their chicken house daily. I see all their poos close up and have not seen anything bloody or abnormal to indicate bacterial infections.

I appreciate your continued input here

 

[Judy]

I would recommend Valbazen. It gets all worms. I would not use Ivermectin or Wazine. Also, if this was worms, the others probably have a pretty good load, too, and Valbazen is much safer in these cases because of the way it acts. Here's a thread where dawg53 talks about worming, and he is very knowledgeable.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ll-seeing-live-worms-in-poo/0_20#post_9315842

http://healthybirds.umd.edu/Disease/Deworming Birds.pdf