Is Bernice ill? Stopped laying, white substance

[SouthDakotaLiving]

I'm a new chicken owner. Bernice is an 18 week old Cinnamon Queen who started laying on 8/10. She's the first of my five girls to start. After laying 4 perfect little eggs, she then laid two soft-shell eggs on 8/15. Afterward she squawked in an urgent fashion while standing in her wading pool. Since then she's laid no eggs and has progressively isolated herself, both while in the run and while foraging.

Today she refused to go back in the run (even tho she's usually the first in for treats) and is currently hiding under the shed next to the run. She has a white substance running from her backside that I tried to blot with papertowel. I think it is poo. She did not like that and then went under the shed. Any help much appreciated.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

First - the things I don't know about poultry illnesses and injuries would fill books - and does. BYC has some real experts in this forum, I'm not one.

Having said that, have you considered the possibility of vent gleet?

 

[SouthDakotaLiving]

Thank you. I will look that up. If I can get her out from under the shed, maybe I should try to get her to a vet.

 

[SouthDakotaLiving]

Took Bernice to the vet, where she vomited a couple times and had diarrhea. They did an X-ray and no sign of a bound egg. Vet said she might have some type of virus and advised me to take out all bedding from the coop and wash down the walls to protect the other birds. She basically had no idea what was wrong and said it could even be parasites or Vent Gleet. Vet was able to inject penicillin as we were leaving and is attempting to find a source for more antibiotics. For some reason it is tricky/in some cases illegal (?) to source these chicken antibiotics.

She also said that determining what is wrong would require test samples being sent to a university, which is expensive. She also said if it is an avian flu of some type, this would need to be reported to the state (of SD). She warned to look out for respiratory symptoms and said I should use gloves and wash my hands after touching her.

So I'm waiting to hear back to see if we can get more antibiotics for her (even tho it is unclear that she is even suffering from a bacterial infection).

I've got her isolated in the laundry room, where she is drinking water but not eating. Vet said she is looking very ill/depressed and could pass quickly (or recover...).

Does this sound like a typical chicken vet experience?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

It sounds like the vet is almost entirely unqualified to treat chickens, honestly.


But what do I know? As admitted above, I'm no expert.

 

[SouthDakotaLiving]

Thank you. I kind of had the same impression. She did consult with others at the practice, but she seemed at sea and, being brand new to this, so am I! Thanks for your put. I'll keep a close eye on Bernice. Maybe TLC will work.

This vet made it seem like there was almost something illegal about even having chickens. Her talk about how hard it is to legally get antibiotics for chickens plus the comment about possibly having to report something to the state made me really uncomfortable and confused.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've only had chickens a couple years, but I can address some of that.

One, there are a few poultry diseases which are both easily communicable and highly deadly - so much so that they constitute a significant risk to commercial poultry operations. That's both a big economic risk to certain states, and an obvious risk to the nation's food supply (poultry being the premier source of cheap animal-based protein, together with pork). The laws of most (if not all) States mandate reporting of several poultry illnesses. Avian Influenza is one of them. Pullorum Typhoid, and MS/MG (Mycoplasma synoviae/gallisepticum) are the other biggies. I happen to have my personal flock tested, voluntarily, twice yearly, as part of the NPIP program. Newcastle Disease would be number four (CA struggled with it for years, recently - millions of birds culled before they got it under control).

Two, the FDA in its "infinite wisdom" (personal opinion redacted) has decided that over use or improper use of certain critical medicines is creating strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria, and that the cause of that is... farmers buying OTC medications for their livestock. (personal opinion redacted) SO the FDA has moved to shut that down, and exerted regulatory authority to request that drug manufacturers "voluntarily" cease OTC sales (since the FDA doesn't actually have regulatory authority over livestock. Example

So, not completely clueless, but the fact that the vet doesn't know what some anonymous guy on the internet with less than 100 birds, and less than 3 years keeping them does... May be great with cats and dogs, but NOT a livestock vet.

 

[SouthDakotaLiving]

Ah, thank you for this valuable info! Your info and experience helps to put things in context. I did not hear from the vet a clear differential diagnosis with decision tree. Instead she speculated it could be some disease going around which is respiratory in nature (even tho Bernice doesn't have those symptoms) or it could be vent issues or it could even be parasites. Although we were there over an hour and Bernice was in the back with them most of the time being x-rayed, her vent/bottom were never cleaned. I'm not at all sure what to expect from a vet for chicken issues.

I'm hoping to clean her myself should she regain some strength.

Vet just phoned and will be prescribing antibiotic plus anti parasitic for coxydia (sp?) which was found in stool sample. Vet did not think the latter could fully describe how sick Bernice is. She speculated that something like sour croup could also be going on. She advised keeping Bernice separate until symptoms abate.
Update: Although Bernice shows no interest in her favorite thing--peanuts--I have seen her drinking and even eating a bit of feed tonight. Thanks for your help everybody. Hopefully she's on the mend.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Coccidia are present essentially everywhere humans have been - there are always some present in a chicken, though when they get out of control a chicken can suffer severe problems. If you offer your chickens a feed with a coccidiastat (Aprolium, here inthe US is the most common), it will help keep them under control. Young birds tend to be the most susceptible. Your vcet will likely Rx Corid, which is a name brand for the stuff, available at US farm stores OTC.

Do some searches here on BYC for coccidiosis and vent gleet, you should get a good idea of BYC's expecrts - they will pop up again and again helping to diagnose and providing dosage info.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Pardon me for butting in, Storm, but I know there is a good article somewhere regarding crop issues but don't know where to find it or who the author is. Something like "how to know what crop issue you're dealing with and how to treat it"? Not sure if it's by @azygous, @EggCentric or @Wyorp Rock, but pretty sure it's one of them. Do you know where it can be found? (I'm no good at linking articles, sorry.)

OP, sorry your hen is ill and wishing her a speedy recovery.