Lethargic chicken-not egg bound

[mollyjane]

I have a sick chicken. She is one of my favorites and I'm beside myself. She was fine yesterday. Today when I came home from work, I couldn't find her and she always greets me when I get home. (They free range in a fenced yard during the day and are locked up at night). After looking and looking I finally found her under a tree laying down. After much ado, I was able to get her out and she was not right. Just lethargic, not wanting to move about, walking her slowly. She went to go get some water and I picked her up when she was done and she just sat on my lap.
I ended up just going and taking her to the emergency vet and they were able to do a digital exam and didn't feel anything. Her heart sounded fine. Her abdomen isn't swollen. She said to take her home, keep her inside, and keep her warm.
So now she's in a crate next to my bed, still very off. Almost immediately upon being in there she pooped this yellow pudding type poop. I got a Kleenex and cleaned it up to look at it and it doesn't smell like anything. Now, she seems to be pushing, or opening and closing her vent. She wasn't doing that before, which the Dr said she didn't even do it when she was examing her which is common for egg bound chickens, or chickens that were egg bound just recently.
Now she's just standing with her eyes closed, drooped, with her lowered tail going slightly down about every 3 seconds.

Is it egg yolk peritonitis? Am I too late? Any other ideas? She's my favorite girl and I don't know what else to do. Should I soak her in warm water? Give her antibiotics? Is it too late for that?

Aaahhh! Please HELP! Thank you!

 

[mollyjane]

Pic of the poo on the pillowcase. No smell at all.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @mollyjane

I'm just now seeing this. How is your hen?

Did the vet perform a fecal float to check for worms and cocci?

It's so hard to know what's going on, but from the photos of the poop and your description of symptoms, I would suspect Egg Yolk Peritonitis (like you mention).

It won't hurt to give her a soak in a warm epsom salts bath to see if it helps soothe her and move things along. Do the best you can to make her comfortable, offer her some vitamins and extra protein like egg or tuna.

Unfortunately, even if caught early, antibiotics can help for a short period of time. If your vet can perform an xray, he/she may be able to determine if there are any egg masses in the abdomen.

Let us know how she's doing.

 

[mollyjane]

Thank you so much for the reply! Rhoda is still hanging in there. She's seeming to be working up a bit. Her poop is much darker now, still very watery but she hasn't eaten much and it's mostly water. I started by hand feeding her electrolyte water and yesterday she started to get some water on her own. This morning she was even grooming herself.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but she's doing ok.

We did not do a fecal float because she did not present us with any until we got home. She did recommend worming her, which I did. The weird thing is that her poop doesn't smell bad at all. I've smelled a lot of different poop in my life, ha ha, and it was very strange to have none.

Anyway, thank you again for the follow up and I'll keep you updated on how she does and whether she can get through this. Rhoda owns a piece of my heart and I am beside myself with the thought of losing her.
Fingers crossed for Rhoda.

 

[mollyjane]

Adding another update:

Rhoda (2 year old RIR) is still alive and doing ok. She's still slow moving, but she's eating and drinking just fine. I wormed everyone with wazine on Monday, just as a precaution. It doesn't look like she's had any more diarrhea and none of the other chickens seem to be affected.
I don't think she's laid but I have 25 chickens and I no longer have her crated so I can't be 100%. She's not poofed up, shes preening and grooming just fine, her tail's up, and she's not seemingly opening and closing her vent like chickens do when they need to lay or have an egg stuck.

Any ideas? Should I worm with panacur? Should I keep her crated inside again? She's not being picked on or anything. The only real symptoms she has still is walking slower than normal, laying down more often, and looking almost like her insides are uncomfortable. Not waddling, just tip toeing around. It's not obvious problems but my chickens are my babies and I know there's just something not right. Thanks.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It sounds like you are seeing a bit of improvement

Wazine will only treat roundworms - it's recommended that treatment be repeated 2x in 7 day intervals for a total of 3 treatments over the course of 21 days. Egg withdrawal (throw away) period is 14 days after last treatment.

It may not hurt to treat with Panacur(Fenbendazole) IF you suspect that she has any other type of worms besides roundworms. If the vet recommended that you de-worm her you may want to shoot her email asking which product would be best to use.

Valbazen 1/2 ml orally and then repeated in 10 days for each chicken or Fenbendazole (Safeguard, Panacur) at 1/4 ml per pound for 5 days in a row. (Recommended egg withdrawal (throw away) period is 14 days after last treatment.

To be honest, even though she is moving slowly, if she is peaceable and the flock is not bothering her, she will most likely be better off with the flock. If you feel you need to cage her, setting up a kennel in the run so she can be near the flock is usually best.

Do the best you can. It's good that she's eating/drinking. Some hens do recover for a while if they have reproductive disorders. Monitoring her is the best way to gauge where she's at and you will be able to tell if she starts to decline, then comes a very difficult decision.

 

[mollyjane]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I figured she was doing better with the flock. I keep my eye on her and check on her regularly; she always comes out with the other girls to see me. I might do a panacur treatment just in case. Everywhere I saw said it's a good idea to do wazine first just in case the wormload is high. I talked to the vet again and she thinks a broad spectrum is a good idea.

I love her a whole bunch. I lost my first love, Dina, to eye yolk peritonitis and she failed so quickly. I don't know exactly what's going on with Rhoda but I'm going to keep her comfortable as long as I can. Hopefully she can keep getting better but I know that its likely she won't. But I will keep my hopes up and keep trying.
Thank you again.

 

[mollyjane]

Here's a picture of her from a few weeks ago.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I figured she was doing better with the flock. I keep my eye on her and check on her regularly; she always comes out with the other girls to see me. I might do a panacur treatment just in case. Everywhere I saw said it's a good idea to do wazine first just in case the wormload is high. I talked to the vet again and she thinks a broad spectrum is a good idea.

I love her a whole bunch. I lost my first love, Dina, to eye yolk peritonitis and she failed so quickly. I don't know exactly what's going on with Rhoda but I'm going to keep her comfortable as long as I can. Hopefully she can keep getting better but I know that its likely she won't. But I will keep my hopes up and keep trying.
Thank you again.

She's a lovely hen

You are right, a lot of people do give a round of Wazine first to help ease the load, especially if there's a large infestation of roundworms, then treat with the broader spectrum de-wormers.

I hope she continues to improve. It's hard to see them declining.