I'll chicken...weak...belly turning dark/black?!

[Wokawidget]

Hi,

My favourite and tamest chicken got very very ill 10 days ago. She's a little lemon millfleur sablepoot.

Stood still, wings pointing at the floor, weak and gulping air like a fish out of water.
She's had 4 shots of anti-biotics from the vets over the last 7 days. The vet doesn't 100% know what it is yet and thinks it may be a fungus in the lungs

She seems alert and no longer gasping, which is a bonus...but she's very weak.

I've been feeding her, pro-biotic yogurt, water melon, mealworms and tomatos...and today some honey.
is there anything else I can give her as a pick-me-up?

Today I turned her over the check if she wasn't all poo'd up and i noticed under her feathers her belly was "black"...it's the skin pigment, and looks similar to my silky's skin. the dark skin is an area around the size of the top of a can of coke then it goes back to usual pink chicken skin color. The worst thing is, I don't know if the skin was already naturally dark. Is this something I should be concerned with?

cheers

Woka

 

[terryg]

So many things could be wrong. Lung infections can be viral and the antibiotics won't help. How old is she? You don't say what her manure looks like. That can be a clue. Sadly, older hens are prone to tumors and cancer. But, there are other things that can cause similar symptoms. Sometimes their systems go out of whack. An epsom salt soak, and other TLC can help many things from digestion to circulation. Try my "spa treatment." It can't hurt, and it could help.http://hencam.com/faq/the-spa-treatment/

 

[Wokawidget]

Hi,

She's 14 months old...and was in perfect condition.

All other critters are fine...just 10 days ago she changed and instead of jumping all over you for a stroke she just sat hunched in a corner.

Her poo is white and darkgreen (looks almost like normal chicken poo although slightly sloppy and slightly dark green...very small poos)

I've done the hot bath to clean and soak her...but not with salts.

She was eating yogurt and a few meal worms...but not many...then this morning she's outright refusing to eat. She's lost loads of weight and is very skinny

This is what I've fed her today using a syringe:

1) Ground chicken complete corn mix with some duck food in a coffee grinder
2) Mashed up 10 meal worms
3) Added some water melon to the mashed worms and mashed some more
4) Filtered worm and melon juice (lovely browny color)
5) Added ground chicken food to juice to make a runny paste
6) Fed her

Epsom salt? Is that just normal bath salts you can buy from any phamacy?

Can I feed her olive oil when she's just had food? or should I wait for empty crop?

Thank you very much for your post.

cheers,

Woka

 

[Wokawidget]

I have just given her a ath soak.
Now she won't/ can't stand up.

I have taken a photo of the coloring, which is attached.
It's slightly worse of he other side. He back end feel squishy.

 

[Wokawidget]

I don't think she's going to make the night
Almost completely unresponsive.

The bruising on her back end looks serious. Don't have a clue what could have caused it.
Looks almost like internal belleding

Woka

 

[Chicken Frenzie]

I don't think she's going to make the night
Almost completely unresponsive.

The bruising on her back end looks serious. Don't have a clue what could have caused it.
Looks almost like internal belleding

Woka

Aww.. I'm so sorry! I wish I could be of some help. Hope she improves though!

 

[Denise1468]

I had a very ill hen whose belly turned dark this way. She had struggled for nearly a year, from the moment she came into lay. I always suspected EYP but never found a vet willing to treat her. Ultimately, during the last of her literal hundreds of Epsom soaks, I noticed maggots falling from her feathers. On further inspection, her belly had turned black from the inside. We culled her that night. I never knew what her illness was. This morning I learned about Avian Leukosis, and that, along with other types of cancers, cause internal tumors. The liver can actually rupture, and although I do think my bird had EYP, (Due to poor genetics, it recurred each time her body felt well enough to produce an egg), now I believe my girl may have actually had some kind of tumor inside as well. I didn't have the heart to necropsy. I loved her, I still cry and silently apologize to her over 6 months later.
If anyone else wanted to chime in with definitive diagnoses on their experience with a black belly, it would be super helpful.

 

[stweethart]

i have the same thing my vet dont do chicken so i am looking around to see if anyone had the same thing as i do . does mite have anything to do with it