Lethargic chicken not eating

[azygous]

Baytril is the most potent. I'd go with that one. But I am not familiar with the dosing.

 

[bhawk-23]

Baytril is the most potent. I'd go with that one. But I am not familiar with the dosing.

I started baytril. I had left her crate open to get the meds and she walked out to see me. She is weak, drinking LOTS of water and not interested in food. Thoughts?

Edit to add: I am hearing a ton of “gut” sounds. I’m not sure what they are but that is the best way I can describe them.

And another pic of her poop right before medicating her. It’s a clearer pic.

 

[azygous]

Is she getting a probiotic each day? It can help digestion to move. How does she respond to foods like boiled rice, raw egg, applesauce? Those are all foods my sick chickens can't resist unless they're bordering on the point ofno return.

 

[bhawk-23]

I’ll make some rice and pick up some apple sauce. Mealworm and cracked corn are her favorites and she won’t touch them. I tried blueberries and grapes, also favorites with no luck. And yogurt which she took one bite of and not anymore. I’m nervous to keep trying things and inadvertently cause crop issues.

Does her poop look suspicious of broken egg?

She is still craving my affection and warmth so I’ll take that as a good sign?

 

[azygous]

Yes, the poop indicates it's possible an egg ruptured inside. Even a small possibility of that is reason enough to put her on an antibiotic.

 

[bhawk-23]

Yes, the poop indicates it's possible an egg ruptured inside. Even a small possibility of that is reason enough to put her on an antibiotic.

You’re awesome, thank you!

So I gave her Baytril dose around 1 pm.
Sat and held/cuddles her for 2 hrs
Offered applesauce which she took 2 bites of and she went back to the water concoction.
Held her again
Offered blueberry, grape, mash, yogurt, small bit of cooked hamburger (which she pecked at!) and broken Tostito chips.
She had a still light yellow but no egg white looking stuff formed poop.
Forced 1/2 blueberry, 1/4 pealed grape and a finger full of mash.
Gave her probiotic water.

Brought her back to the living room and sat a bit longer.

She then, on her own, ate some Tostitos bits and started grooming.

I stepped in the garage for just a minute and wouldn’t you know I came back inside and little miss fluff jumped off the warm ottoman to find me! When she saw me she did her tail wag

I called her back to the living room with me and she followed and wagged her tail again

Two questions:
What does a tail wag mean?
How fast could a dose of baytril even work?
Is forcing a bite of food ok to do if she tolerates it well?
Should I keep doing that if she won’t eat on her own?

I’ll attach a pic of her new poop because we all just love chicken poop pics the poop was a bit more yellowish and light in color.

 

[azygous]

It's been my experience that if a chicken has a bacterial infection, she respond almost immediately to the antibiotic. I've seen a sick chicken come back to life and want to eat after just a couple of hours after the dose, and act pretty much back to normal by the following day.

There is nothing to be gained by forcing the food. If she's interested in eating, she will. I make an exception if I believe the chicken isn't eating because she's gone too long without food and is too weak to be interested. I may tube feed some raw egg and yogurt and a little sugar to elevate the blood glucose into her to "jump start" her. If that doesn't get her appetite rolling, then she's likely too far down the road to failing. I do not continue to tube feed if I believe the chicken has little chance of recovering.

That poop is representative of a sick chicken. The Baytril will soon change it.

 

[bhawk-23]

It's been my experience that if a chicken has a bacterial infection, she respond almost immediately to the antibiotic. I've seen a sick chicken come back to life and want to eat after just a couple of hours after the dose, and act pretty much back to normal by the following day.

There is nothing to be gained by forcing the food. If she's interested in eating, she will. I make an exception if I believe the chicken isn't eating because she's gone too long without food and is too weak to be interested. I may tube feed some raw egg and yogurt and a little sugar to elevate the blood glucose into her to "jump start" her. If that doesn't get her appetite rolling, then she's likely too far down the road to failing. I do not continue to tube feed if I believe the chicken has little chance of recovering.

That poop is representative of a sick chicken. The Baytril will soon change it.

Huh, that’s crazy it can help so quickly. She is already a different chicken. I will continue the baytril once daily for 5 days, does this seem appropriate? The bottle says direct dosing is for 3-5 days.

And out of curiosity, what is it about that poop says she is sick? I am wanting to know as much as possible about health indicators because of my constant watching out for my MD and MG positive flock.

If she has been laying well up to us leaving could the stress from the kids have caused this? They were handling her rough and grabbing with two hands on her sides. Could they have squeezed too hard and actually broke an egg? Could there have done more damage than just a broken egg? And since this has happened could we be dealing with this her life?

And any thought the wagging tail when she sees me? The others do it some but I thought it was a sign to stay away to the other girls

 

[azygous]

I've seen my chickens wag their tails when they are feeling self confident and content. Never when they feel sick. So it's a positive sign.

The sausage shaped poop is something I only see in a sick chicken, never in a well one. The green is bile. Beyond that, I haven't learned to read any more into it.

When an egg breaks inside a hen, it's almost always a thin shelled egg or a shell-less egg, and there's usually a history of poor shell quality in the hen. I try to stay ahead of those problems by giving a calcium supplement when I see a hen laying thin shells. I have two right now that I'm treating for that. Usually two or three days of the calcium and the shells are back to being strong. It's better than waiting until a hen is egg bound.

But, yes, these issues usually follow the hen for life. These two are production breeds and they're only two, but already showing signs of trouble. And once a hen has an egg binding event, there will usually be more.

I agree five days on the Baytril sounds right. She should be right as rain in no time.

 

[bhawk-23]

@azygous
So is this more of a weird coincidence than her boys being too rough?
I feed layer feed, have calcium out, toss egg shells and actual oyster shells when dear son smashes them up. It’s just weird that all of her eggs and shells were good through Friday when we left.