Hen- watery poop x 1 week and not feeling 100%

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Poop update. Not super enthusiastic about eating but will pick at her food. She’s more stressed about being separated from the others even though she’s in the walk-in coop and they hang outside the crate with her.

ETA: I ended up letting her out of the crate to ease her stress. I don’t have many birds so can monitor her and just catch her every morning to pill her now that I have the calcium citrate. Hopefully we can resolve this.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’ve got her in a crate in the walk in coop, tums, with wet mash and some scrambled egg and then poultry cell/probiotics in her water. She didn’t eat when I fed everyone this morning or since she’s been in the crate. She felt a little bit swollen (soft swelling but not squishy nor significantly large ) between her legs

Poop update. Not super enthusiastic about eating but will pick at her food. She’s more stressed about being separated from the others even though she’s in the walk-in coop and they hang outside the crate with her.

ETA: I ended up letting her out of the crate to ease her stress. I don’t have many birds so can monitor her and just catch her every morning to pill her now that I have the calcium citrate. Hopefully we can resolve this.

Good idea leaving her with her flock, this is usually best. I only pull one out if they are getting picked on or bullied.

You'll have to give her the Calcium directly. Most of the time they won't eat it on their own.
Pull down on the wattles, pop the pill into the beak, let go of the wattles and let her swallow.

If she's stressed by being moved, then a bath may stress her a well. So I'd hold off on that, bathing/soaking can often send them over the edge.

 

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Good idea leaving her with her flock, this is usually best. I only pull one out if they are getting picked on or bullied.

You'll have to give her the Calcium directly. Most of the time they won't eat it on their own.
Pull down on the wattles, pop the pill into the beak, let go of the wattles and let her swallow.

If she's stressed by being moved, then a bath may stress her a well. So I'd hold off on that, bathing/soaking can often send them over the edge.

Thank you! I did give her the calcium directly yesterday and today. She did eat some this morning and will check back in on them in a couple hours. She’s happy with the other birds so she will stay with them unless necessary. And my rooster was not happy when I locked him outside so I could medicate her. The way he rushed back to make sure she was ok.

Hoping getting the full 600mg this morning helps make a difference. Thanks so much for walking me through all of this.

 

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Well crap. I just realized the calcium I bought yesterday at cvs was carbonate and not citrate. All of the bottles said citrate and this one looked exactly like those but it had 600mg so I bought that. I’m running back right now to get the right stuff.

I’ll switch her to citrate tomorrow. Hopefully I didn’t set her back with my mistake. She did eat some layer pellets I made into a mash this afternoon (they normally get all flock and the layer I throw as treats) and i gave some cooked quinoa earlier and all of them ate that together. I only gave that since she clearly wasn’t eating so it was an incentive to see if I could get something down her. I have baicalin that I picked up when my other hen went ataxic so mixed some of that with the quinoa. Kind of kitchen sinking this for her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well crap. I just realized the calcium I bought yesterday at cvs was carbonate and not citrate. All of the bottles said citrate and this one looked exactly like those but it had 600mg so I bought that. I’m running back right now to get the right stuff.

I’ll switch her to citrate tomorrow. Hopefully I didn’t set her back with my mistake. She did eat some layer pellets I made into a mash this afternoon (they normally get all flock and the layer I throw as treats) and i gave some cooked quinoa earlier and all of them ate that together. I only gave that since she clearly wasn’t eating so it was an incentive to see if I could get something down her. I have baicalin that I picked up when my other hen went ataxic so mixed some of that with the quinoa. Kind of kitchen sinking this for her.

It's o.k. as long as you got some Calcium into her. TUMS is calcium carbonate too, so it's fine.

I hope she improves.

 

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It's o.k. as long as you got some Calcium into her. TUMS is calcium carbonate too, so it's fine.

I hope she improves

Thanks again for all of your help. I very much appreciate it.

Still no egg, though she is out and about with the others and not sitting puffed up in a corner by herself. Her droppings are still mostly water with a bit of solid material. She did have one very small almost normal dropping this morning but all water and bits since then (sorry…).

She picks a bit at the mashed pellets in the AM but will eat all of the cooked quinoa when offered in the afternoon. I’m mixing some olive oil and baicalin with it (I don’t think she has a crop issue. I can’t feel anything off but she is drinking a lot of water so thought maybe the OO may help if I’m missing something. I have been massaging her crop a bit when pilling her but other than feeling a tad empty because she’s not eating in the AM, it doesn’t feel hard or squishy. The baicalin is just a Hail Mary honestly).

I’m wondering if maybe we’re looking at worms here? The watery poop did start a week before she stopped laying. I had a “community” fecal done in February, where the vet gathered random droppings and tested them all together. Maybe he didn’t get any of hers (he’s the one who gathered from the poop board in the coop) or maybe she’s developed something since then? The results were negative at that time. They do not free range but we did find a dusky-footed wood rat was getting in the coop and gathering spilled feed, droppings and feathers for his den (we found near the coop, complete with a pantry full of chicken pellets, which is crazy because I remove all food at night and dump the spilled pellets that fall into the rubber pan below). We found the hole he had chewed through the wood and have since reinforced. Maybe she picked up something from eating his droppings? I have Moxivet in my feed room but also have safeguard aquasol ordered and it will be here Saturday. I am thinking of waiting for the safeguard since she’s not 100% and it sounds like the moxi may be best on healthy birds.

Would welcome any ideas. Maybe we’ll get lucky today and get an egg. But I’m wondering if she stopped producing because something else started first. I do realize she also may have a reproductive issue beyond what I can help her with. But she’s young and her eggs have been healthy and solid up until this point, so hoping the odds are it’s something transitory.

Thank you everyone!

ETA: I separated her for a short time this afternoon and gave her some safeguard goat dewormer at appropriate individual dose and mixed it with some quinoa. I got more of it in her that way than if I would have tried to direct syringe. So will add 5 days of this and see if it helps.

 

[Closing Time]

Oh I also did treat her with permethrin powder even though I did not see signs of lice or mites on her. Just wanted to cover all bases.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks again for all of your help. I very much appreciate it.

Still no egg, though she is out and about with the others and not sitting puffed up in a corner by herself. Her droppings are still mostly water with a bit of solid material. She did have one very small almost normal dropping this morning but all water and bits since then (sorry…).

She picks a bit at the mashed pellets in the AM but will eat all of the cooked quinoa when offered in the afternoon. I’m mixing some olive oil and baicalin with it (I don’t think she has a crop issue. I can’t feel anything off but she is drinking a lot of water so thought maybe the OO may help if I’m missing something. I have been massaging her crop a bit when pilling her but other than feeling a tad empty because she’s not eating in the AM, it doesn’t feel hard or squishy. The baicalin is just a Hail Mary honestly).

I’m wondering if maybe we’re looking at worms here? The watery poop did start a week before she stopped laying. I had a “community” fecal done in February, where the vet gathered random droppings and tested them all together. Maybe he didn’t get any of hers (he’s the one who gathered from the poop board in the coop) or maybe she’s developed something since then? The results were negative at that time. They do not free range but we did find a dusky-footed wood rat was getting in the coop and gathering spilled feed, droppings and feathers for his den (we found near the coop, complete with a pantry full of chicken pellets, which is crazy because I remove all food at night and dump the spilled pellets that fall into the rubber pan below). We found the hole he had chewed through the wood and have since reinforced. Maybe she picked up something from eating his droppings? I have Moxivet in my feed room but also have safeguard aquasol ordered and it will be here Saturday. I am thinking of waiting for the safeguard since she’s not 100% and it sounds like the moxi may be best on healthy birds.

Would welcome any ideas. Maybe we’ll get lucky today and get an egg. But I’m wondering if she stopped producing because something else started first. I do realize she also may have a reproductive issue beyond what I can help her with. But she’s young and her eggs have been healthy and solid up until this point, so hoping the odds are it’s something transitory.

Thank you everyone!

ETA: I separated her for a short time this afternoon and gave her some safeguard goat dewormer at appropriate individual dose and mixed it with some quinoa. I got more of it in her that way than if I would have tried to direct syringe. So will add 5 days of this and see if it helps.

I think deworming is a good next step.
I agree with you, I'd go with the Safeguard Liquid Goat dewormer at 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once daily for 5 days. This will treat most worms that poultry can have.

The Aquasol is of course still Fenbendazole, but it's a low dose that treats Roundworms only. I know a lot of folks are using it right now, we'll see how well things play out within the next year or so.

Moxivet would be good to use to treat Tapeworms since it has Praziquantel. Usually you will see Proglottids in the poop (little crawling worms/aliens) if Tapeworms are a problem.

It's good that she is getting out and about though. Even when not completely well, if they can be moving a little and interacting with their flock, that's a hopeful sign.

 

[Closing Time]

Thank you!

Day 2 of deworming. If this is a high parasite load, when would I potentially see an improvement? She’s definitely lost weight. I don’t have a starting weight on her but she feels lighter and her breastbone is more prominent than I remember. She weighed 3.5 pounds when I got her on a scale and that just seems so light for her age and breed.

Is there a point when I should try to treat with ABs? I have both powdered amoxicillin and baytril.

She doesn’t appear to be egg bound (we’re on day 4 of calcium supplementation even though it was carbonate at first), her appetite for regular food isn’t there but she will eat quinoa and is scratching and pecking around during the day. She’s not interested in the things she normally would run me over for (like blueberries or cucumber). She’s drinking a lot. I’m assuming the watery droppings with green bits is because she’s not eating enough and it’s bile.

I do have medicated grower crumble that I'm feeding the chicks I’m growing out (they are in a completely different area of the property and I have different shoes for each space and was doing clothing changes between the two for the first month, so I don’t believe there’s been any cross contamination there).

Can I make her a mash of the grower feed and see if she will eat it because it’s different? It’s 20% protein too, like the all flock she’s currently not eating. I was concerned about the amprolium in it since I did treat for with corid last week. But maybe it’s just not enough to matter?

As always, I appreciate this site and it’s member so much.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you!

Day 2 of deworming. If this is a high parasite load, when would I potentially see an improvement? She’s definitely lost weight. I don’t have a starting weight on her but she feels lighter and her breastbone is more prominent than I remember. She weighed 3.5 pounds when I got her on a scale and that just seems so light for her age and breed.

Is there a point when I should try to treat with ABs? I have both powdered amoxicillin and baytril.

She doesn’t appear to be egg bound (we’re on day 4 of calcium supplementation even though it was carbonate at first), her appetite for regular food isn’t there but she will eat quinoa and is scratching and pecking around during the day. She’s not interested in the things she normally would run me over for (like blueberries or cucumber). She’s drinking a lot. I’m assuming the watery droppings with green bits is because she’s not eating enough and it’s bile.

I do have medicated grower crumble that I'm feeding the chicks I’m growing out (they are in a completely different area of the property and I have different shoes for each space and was doing clothing changes between the two for the first month, so I don’t believe there’s been any cross contamination there).

Can I make her a mash of the grower feed and see if she will eat it because it’s different? It’s 20% protein too, like the all flock she’s currently not eating. I was concerned about the amprolium in it since I did treat for with corid last week. But maybe it’s just not enough to matter?

As always, I appreciate this site and it’s member so much.

You can give her the Chick starter, amount of Amprolium in it is very small. See if she likes that better.

If worms are the only issue, then usually you should see improvement by the end of treatment.
I suspect she has more going on, but so hard to know what. Most common in laying hens is unfortunately reproductive disorders.

She may indeed have infection. The drinking a lot to me still points to digestive/crop problems, but this is often a symptom of underlying condition(s) = reproductive, infection, worms, Coccidiosis, etc.

Her crop is emptying? You could try an antibiotic an see if the medication makes a marked difference. Or maybe wait to see if she improves with deworming...it's your call on that.

Baytril is the stronger of the 2, toss the eggs for a couple of weeks. Amoxicillin is very good too, so either one should help if she has a bacterial infection. Do get some probiotics into her if you give antibiotics.