Hen suddenly very sick. Chalky white/yellow discharge, bad smelling vent. Other details provided, please help

[TwoCrows]

One other note on Rusty's health ...it looks like she's finishing up a molt. As I checked her over last night, I saw she had new feathers "opening" on her back from tail to just below her neck. I saw new feathers coming in on her tail end a few weeks ago. She has been laying eggs throughout this entire feathering process -- and that makes me think she could have been weakened and more likely to get an infection...

Molting is definitely draining on birds which can leave them open to disease. Molting and laying is even more taxing. Your girl probably became weakened.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Molting is definitely draining on birds which can leave them open to disease. Molting and laying is even more taxing. Your girl probably became weakened.

I wish they wouldn't lay when they are molting. I'd gladly go without the eggs for the sake of their health.

I've been giving all the chickens portions of sardines and/or beef twice a week. Almost all of them are in some stage of feathering out. I'm going to scramble an egg right now for Rusty.

 

[TwoCrows]

I wish they wouldn't lay when they are molting. I'd gladly go without the eggs for the sake of their health.

Laying alone is hard on hens, too much of it can definitely shorten their lives. Some of my longest living hens, (12+ years old) were broodies that laid very few eggs over their lives.

 

[azygous]

I'm a person of excessive curiosity and you've just supplied some information about chickens and molt in equatorial regions where light does not vary much over the year that has been tweaking my curiosity. Do you notice your chickens all molting at about this time of year? Or do they molt individually throughout the year?

When an older hen that still lays is going into molt, I've noticed that's when many have reproductive crises. I am almost certain hormones play a role. Of course, why not? It's sometimes the case with human women.

Back to our patient, that is stellar news that she has responded to the antibiotic! It means we're on the right track and there's every reason to hope she will recover. Do keep up the calcium through today and perhaps tomorrow, though, on the chance that she needs to expel material blocking her oviduct.

Offer her whatever food she will eat, and of course water with the electrolytes for today, anyway.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Updates on Rusty, with pics.

She ate scrambled egg with appetite at 8:30am. Drank homemade electrolyte water on on her own.

Gave her a dose of ceph and 10ml of water with 600mg of calcium dissolved in it via syringe.

I think reproductive system infection is the issue. And it's been festering for at least a few days before symptoms presented. On a hunch, I cracked open the two eggs she laid in the previous 3 days. Shells were not wrinkled and eggs were perfectly shaped, but shells a bit thinner than her normal. But not weak-shelled. The eggs had a slight off smell raw, and when I applied a low heat to the pan, I immediately could smell a similar odor to what is emanating from Rusty. (I buried the contaminated eggs with ag lime).

I only hope I'm catching it in time.

This is her general condition. Not terrible, but definitely unwell.

Both eyes have mucous and the membrane is cloudy when she blinks. You can also see someone pecked her yesterday before I found out she was ill.

I flushed the eyes with saline and applied gentamicin drops. Here is post flush. Her face looks a bit swollen as well.

This is the gunk left on her vent when she poops. Still smells pretty awful

Mid cleaning, I noticed that the outer cloaca is purplish as if bruised? From straining perhaps?

Droppings after giving her calcium

Her crop felt like a very small and tightly filled bubble this morning. Not like a big boggy sour crop, but not empty. It did drain when I massaged it.

She is not gurgling anymore or making any odd sounds when breathing.

The acrid odor is worse around her vent but her whole body smells like it too.

She is in the patio with me where I can keep an eye on her. In a dark corner with privacy, but she is standing up and listening to the flock outside. She seems glad to be protected -- her "friends" are quite mercenary -- but where she can hear them.

I'll keep up what I'm doing and hope she improves. I started the ceph at 10pm last night so it's only been about 12 hours since she started treatment. It's incredible how rapidly she got sick -- I swear she seemed perfectly fine less just 2 days ok.

If only they could tell us when they started to feel sick...

 

[TropicalChickies]

I'm a person of excessive curiosity and you've just supplied some information about chickens and molt in equatorial regions where light does not vary much over the year that has been tweaking my curiosity. Do you notice your chickens all molting at about this time of year? Or do they molt individually throughout the year?

I need to prepare lunch for the humans and animals, but I will definitely reply later.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Laying alone is hard on hens, too much of it can definitely shorten their lives. Some of my longest living hens, (12+ years old) were broodies that laid very few eggs over their lives.

All of my hens go broody at least 3 times per year and I allow all of them to sit all the way through at least once a year for the younger ones and the older ones who have more common sense I give them eggs to hatch. One exception is a young frizzle named Dusty who has already hatched twice -- she is a born momma.

Rusty -- this patient -- is only 1.5 years old and has gone broody three times already. She usually gives up after 10 days or so, but then she takes a nice break from laying for about 3 weeks.

I try not to interfere in or "break" their broody cycles all the time specifically so they can get breaks from laying. None of my hens are production breeds -- they're all mutts from generations of mutts -- but when they aren't broody, they lay a LOT. Almost every day. Their general pattern is to lay 2-3 successive clutches of about 12 eggs each, then go broody. Then be off lay for a few weeks.

Our patient Rusty was at the end of her second clutch laying and was exhibiting broody behavior (sitting longer, pecking at me, antisocial) when this infection hit. So she's due for a break.

I just hope she gets better...Rusty is rooster Lucio's #1 sweetheart

 

[Perris]

I hope she recovers quickly, and completely.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I hope she recovers quickly, and completely.

Thanks @Perris. I know you've had hens recover from some bad illnesses, I'm hoping Rusty will do the same.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I'm a person of excessive curiosity and you've just supplied some information about chickens and molt in equatorial regions where light does not vary much over the year that has been tweaking my curiosity. Do you notice your chickens all molting at about this time of year? Or do they molt individually throughout the year?

When an older hen that still lays is going into molt, I've noticed that's when many have reproductive crises. I am almost certain hormones play a role. Of course, why not? It's sometimes the case with human women.

Back to our patient, that is stellar news that she has responded to the antibiotic! It means we're on the right track and there's every reason to hope she will recover. Do keep up the calcium through today and perhaps tomorrow, though, on the chance that she needs to expel material blocking her oviduct.

Offer her whatever food she will eat, and of course water with the electrolytes for today, anyway.

Here on the equator, we don't really have a "mating season" or "brooding season" or "molting season." My current flock does these things all year round. They are active longer when the days are longer (only by 15 minutes from January to June), but other than that, their behaviors are pretty even all year. The hens lay around the year as well, but are bit more productive in the months with slightly longer days.

What seems to affect molting here, among the hens, -- in my experience with two very different flocks -- is broodiness.

I don't have enough experience with roosters here yet to make any observations. I've only been keeping males in the flock for one year.

In my first little flock of six hens (all deceased, RIP Cleo and Butchie ) only one of them went broody. The others never went broody, not once. The non broodies molted seldom and hard. Once a year, they would look so ragged and and even almost bare in patches and then take 2-3 months growing in new feathers. They would be very tired and uncomfortable and often even laid during these hard molts which I think was really hard on them. The ones that lived more than 3 years ended up laying very thin shelled eggs with deposits on them and dying of internal problems.

In contrast, the hens I have now ALL go broody after laying two or three (or sometimes only one) clutches of eggs, as I mentioned already.

These hens who go broody more often always have a "mini molt" after their broody spell. If they break brooding, it's more mild. If they actually sit and hatch chicks, they molt when they start weaning the chicks. It's more pronounced than the ones who don't hatch chicks, but still not severe. It seems like they all have a much easier process of feather renewal than the hard molts my previous hens had. It's often hard to notice when they are molting --without picking them up and parting their feathers to see the new ones sprouting, because the process is more gradual.

At about 1.5 years though, the older ones did have a stronger molt. That's where Rusty is now.