Hen ate "peat mold" and has since had watery diarrhea and tail down

[beachbunny76]

About 2 wks ago I witnessed one of my hens eating a white fuzzy looking substance on the ground and quickly tried to stop her but I was too late. I did a Google lens on the stuff and it came up as "peat mold". She ate quite a bit After that, she started acting off - having watery droppings and a dirty vent, and keeping her tail down. She eats and drinks (sometimes drinks a bit more than usual). She acts fine otherwise but she is not laying. I'm now noticing there is a little odor from her vent/poops so maybe there is a possibility of vent gleet? Either way, any thoughts on treatment? I have Nystatin cream avail. All her flock mates are fine. She's about 1 yr old.
Thank you in advance!

 

[nuthatched]

It's unlikely it's the mold still after 2 weeks.
How's her crop feel? Ever been wormed?
What do you feed, including treats?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

About 2 wks ago I witnessed one of my hens eating a white fuzzy looking substance on the ground and quickly tried to stop her but I was too late. I did a Google lens on the stuff and it came up as "peat mold". She ate quite a bit After that, she started acting off - having watery droppings and a dirty vent, and keeping her tail down. She eats and drinks (sometimes drinks a bit more than usual). She acts fine otherwise but she is not laying. I'm now noticing there is a little odor from her vent/poops so maybe there is a possibility of vent gleet? Either way, any thoughts on treatment? I have Nystatin cream avail. All her flock mates are fine. She's about 1 yr old.
Thank you in advance!

Can you get photos of her poop?

How old is she? Is she molting? Often when in molt, hens stop laying eggs?

I'd check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight, you mention she's drinking more than usual.

If the crop is not emptying, then address that symptom.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[beachbunny76]

It's unlikely it's the mold still after 2 weeks.
How's her crop feel? Ever been wormed?
What do you feed, including treats

This morning I felt a hard ball in her crop About the diameter of a nickel. She ate a little but drank a lot. Now I'm thinking impacted crop. ?

In response to your questions:
Worming - I did one dose of Safeguard liquid (goat version), .25cc directly (on a pc of bread), one day only. I did not see her expel any worms. I did this because she is bony and I did see a poop w/roundworms about 2 months ago in the run (dunno if hers) and haven't wormed sooner due to molting. I have Safeguard Aquasol and I plan to give it to the flock as soon as molting is done.

Feed - They eat Nutrena Naturewise crumbles. I add rooster booster to their water every few days. They have access to grit and oyster shell as well. I also provide a little veggie/fruit snacks (lettuce, broccoli, apple (no core)) sparingly. I also recently started giving them Nutrena Harvest blend but as a treat in the afternoon. I initially made the mistake of giving it with the crumbles but they would just peck the crumbles onto the ground and just eat the seeds from that! I prefer to just keep them on the crumbles and once I'm done with this back of Harvest blend I won't be buying it anymore. They also get supervised free range time and they do eat the grass. Their coop and run is all sand. Located in FL.

Hope this info helps. Thank you for your input and time!

 

[beachbunny76]

Can you get photos of her poop?

How old is she? Is she molting? Often when in molt, hens stop laying eggs?

I'd check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight, you mention she's drinking more than usual.

If the crop is not emptying, then address that symptom.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

You nailed it...her crop felt like a hard ball about the diameter of a nickel. Thank you. Oddly I checked the other day and it didn't empty by 7am but 1 hr later it was empty so I thought it was not the issue and didn't check again til today. I hope it's not a tumor of some sort.
She is not molting and she is only around 1yr old. I'll get some more pics of her poop later and update the post. Thank you for your help!

 

[GuineaMania]

For future purposes, it's helpful to have some activated charcoal to give chickens that eat toxic stuff. Hope your hen gets better!

 

[beachbunny76]

For future purposes, it's helpful to have some activated charcoal to give chickens that eat toxic stuff. Hope your hen gets better!

Agree! I got some the other day. Thank you!

 

[beachbunny76]

Can you get photos of her poop?

How old is she? Is she molting? Often when in molt, hens stop laying eggs?

I'd check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight, you mention she's drinking more than usual.

If the crop is not emptying, then address that symptom.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Update: This afternoon I went to start treatment but her crop was empty/soft. The lump I felt this morning is gone. This is exactly what happened the other day. I'm attaching more pics of her droppings. This is from this evening.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

This afternoon I went to start treatment but her crop was empty/soft. The lump I felt this morning is gone. This is exactly what happened the other day.

When are you checking the crop?

To get a fairly accurate check on the crop, you would feel the crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink.

 

[beachbunny76]

When are you checking the crop?

To get a fairly accurate check on the crop, you would feel the crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink.

Yes that’s what I’m doing. She’s emptying out consistently the last few days. But sometimes it doesn’t empty out until around 9 AM. I do have her in the house in a crate and she is eating up until 9 PM at night. She doesn’t seem to have a big appetite in the morning. So by the time she starts eating it’ll be around nine or 10. I’m noticing her droppings have some odor to them. Not sure if that’s normal for diarrhea or if it could potentially be Vent gleet? She drinks excessively.