Hen has blue/green poop with white chunks of tissue.

Tomtommom

Songster
7 Years
Jan 14, 2013
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Montevallo, AL
My hen is 1 1/2 years old, hatchery Australorp/Jersey Giant (either a small JG or an Australorp with yellow feet).

When I went to feed the birds their breakfast she was the only one not interested in food and would not come out of the coop. She just stood in the coop sort of hunched over, slightly fluffed up looking. I put her in a pet carrier indoors.

I made her egg with oregano oil, garlic, red pepper and a dab of ACV.. something that they're used to getting if they appear ill. She didn't eat any of it.

She did drink some Gatorade (it's what I had on hand).

I looked her over, touched her all over, opened her mouth, checked her eyes, her vent etc. She seems to be mid-molt, lots of new feathers still in their pin stage. Her comb is normal in color, a little dry looking, but not unusual. Eyes were clear. Nothing unusual in her mouth. Her crop felt to have some water and sand/gritty substance in it, but not much. Her abdomen feels fairly firm, but I couldn't say for sure if I felt an egg or not. She did feel a bit hot to me. Her vent was not obstructed.

After all the groping she passed some strange poop. Almost neon blue/green and mucuslike.. or seaweed-ey. Hard to describe. They're fed a mash made with water and layer crumble. They get table scraps too, recently they had a few black muscadines, but likely not enough to cause blue poop. They free-range occasionally, and she had been digging in the mulch that is a bit moldy (I've read moldy grain causes blue/green poop).

Anyway, later that night she passed more blue/green poop but this time with white gobs of ..something? Tissue? Egg? They look like white beans. They have no smell. They look sort of like fatty tissue, but are a bit firmer. They squish easily and are the same color on the inside, the texture looks very fleshy to me..

She seems to feel less uncomfortable today, but is still passing this stuff. What the heck is it? Anyone seen this before? I was thinking lash eggs, but that's way too many. Her vent looks like she may not be laying currently, but considering she's appearing to be mid-molt, that's to be expected.

I'm ready to cull her if need be, but I'd rather give her a chance to recover. I don't take my chickens to the vet, as that's not financially doable (they're livestock, not pets, to us. $100-200 vet visit... not gonna happen.)









 
Might be a combo of egg and tissue from her repro tract. Given the color of her poop I suspect she has a pretty serious infection, too.
 
Ah yuck.. had not considered that color could be an infection. I may have to break my "no antibiotics" rule, she's a good girl I'd hate to lose.

EDIT: Ofcourse.. repro tract means it may not do any good to keep her around.. that stuff tends to be reoccuring and often fatal.
 
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She's drinking some. And I was just eating cereal and she was eyeing me something awful, I gave her a piece and she gobbled it up. I gave her some crumble which she started eating right away. Hoping she can kick this! My birds have always had good immune systems, shaking any health issues in very short time without much intervention.

She's appearing perked up compared to yesterday, not 100%, but better.

Will have to think about the antibiotics, it would render her a pet, as I wont eat eggs/meat from them after using it.. (My mother died from MRSA.. antibiotics in my food freak me out)
 
Antibiotics and chickens.

There is a big difference in giving a single antibiotic course to an ill chicken versus using low dose Chlortetracycline as a growth enhancer for long term production.

I have seen multi antibiotic resistant bacteria consume people and an well aware of the problems but using an antibiotic reserved for vet use is not going to produce a super bug that will wipe out you and your family.

Of you go the antibiotic route, try dimethox. Its a very good antibiotic for animals. Make sure you give her 5-7 days of it.

In my opinion, Metranidazole should be reserved for humans and perhaps pets following advice from a very but not on livestock on speculation.
 
No beans for them. Someone elsewhere suggested it be a broken up lash egg. Perhaps if that started festering inside it could create some nasty results. She's still alert, eating and drinking little bits, seems her output is less (but not eating much will do that). I think tomorrow morning will be when I make the call as to what to do (antibiotics, more time or end of the line)
 
Antibiotics and chickens.

There is a big difference in giving a single antibiotic course to an ill chicken versus using low dose Chlortetracycline as a growth enhancer for long term production.

I have seen multi antibiotic resistant bacteria consume people and an well aware of the problems but using an antibiotic reserved for vet use is not going to produce a super bug that will wipe out you and your family.

Of you go the antibiotic route, try dimethox. Its a very good antibiotic for animals. Make sure you give her 5-7 days of it.

In my opinion, Metranidazole should be reserved for humans and perhaps pets following advice from a very but not on livestock on speculation.

Thank you Oz, I know Baytril and Metronidazole are both not recommended for food producing animals, which is why I am hesitant about those.

I try to be informed and safe and not just throw medication at a guess. I believe in natural immunity, to a degree (I know when to say "Ok, this is not going to get better on it's own"). My flock does not get sick often, we've had one scare and it went away with a little extra care. Guess sometime has to be the first time to intervene
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We don't need super bugs, the ones we got get bad enough
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