Hens have dried diarrhea in vent feathers, one hen suddenly acting off

[robinwhiskers]

All of my hens have suddenly had dried diarrhea/dirt(?) hardened in their vent feathers. I dewormed them with fenbendazole 6 days ago after the sudden death of a hen, although I do not know if they had worms or not. I will say when I see them defecate it usually is solid though. They've all been acting fine besides that since, checked for mites and haven't seen any. However tonight my 2 y/o Sicilian buttercup who is my lively, quick hen seems very out of it, kind of staring off instead of looking around and standing almost uncomfortably. I have not seen eggs from her lately but I assumed it was the heat/days being shorter. I inserted a lubricated gloves finger up her vent and didn't feel anything. Going to check on her again soon but it is hard to see how she truly is at night I suppose. I have not seen her defecate today as well and her crop felt sort of soft. Not sure what to do when I dont know exactly was the issue is. Should I give them all probiotics in their Water? And anything I should do specifically for the buttercup?

 

[azygous]

Two possibilities come to mind. First, since all but the Buttercup are behaving okay, it's possible this one had a heavy worm load that is now clogging her works. You could treat her first with some electrolytes and sugar water to combat shock from this, and give her a molasses flush to wash out any clogs of dead or dying worms.

Molasses flush is one-fourth cup warm water with one teaspoon of molasses dissolved in it. She may drink the whole thing on her own, but if not, you may need to syringe it into her crop.

The other possibility is coccidiosis. If you live where the weather has been very warm and wet, this is more likely. Treating with a coccidiostat (Corid in the US) is a good idea if you suspect this. The entire flock should get it. A followup treatment a week later is important.

 

[robinwhiskers]

I just checked on her, she seemed the same but like I said it's hard to tell when they just want to go to bed. She did poop though while I was out there so that's good. Tomorrow it is supposed to get much hotter so I will definitely give them electrolytes.

 

[robinwhiskers]

I hopefully should be able to take a fecal test to the vet tomorrow to know if I should treat them with corid. Not sure what to do about the buttercup, because there's not anything I can do about it tonight.