Lethargic chicken with long hard poop

[jolenesdad]

ive got a hen that had been acting lethargic and off for a day and a half. Two nights ago she had poop on her back because she didn’t roost the night before. She has had her feathers puffed and acting slower during that time. I isolated her within the coop and started treating for coccidiosis.

Today, she seems a bit more alert, but she left this large, long, firm poop in her crate. It almost looks like it had hair in it and is about 6-7 inches long. Any ideas?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Does look like some kind of "fiber" ... Try breaking it apart & take more pictures.
Is it possible she ate a mouse/rat or snake or something?
Is she eating/drinking?

@Texas Kiki @WVduckchick @Wyorp Rock @dawg53 @casportpony

 

[Shezadandy]

She might be eating all the hay on the ground. I have one that is pathologically addicted to hay, straw … had to do crop surgery to save her life, and now separate her where she has NO access to long strands of anything. She recovered and is laying eggs again. Wash that poop over some kind of filter and see if it looks like hay... she might be stopped up ...

 

[dawg53]

@Shezadandy I agree, I've had the same thing happen with a Speckled Sussex and had to cull her. I used a molasses flush which helped somewhat, but her crop and probably her gizzard were too packed with pine shavings and hay.
Currently my Light Brahma's like snacking on pine shavings, and I use large flakes. My solution was to remove the nest boxes and close the pop door on the coop after I let the Brahma's out in the morning, and only open it just before sunset, problem solved.
Then I built a platform and put cat carriers on it using hay for nesting material and they work great. The Brahma's dont eat the hay.
@jolenesdad For future reference for liquid solutions for poultry, here's a link. Scroll down to LAXATIVE SOLUTIONS:
http://extension.msstate.edu/content/solutions-and-treatments
Here's a pic of the new nest boxes for my Brahma's, no shavings:

 

[Wyorp Rock]

ive got a hen that had been acting lethargic and off for a day and a half. Two nights ago she had poop on her back because she didn’t roost the night before. She has had her feathers puffed and acting slower during that time. I isolated her within the coop and started treating for coccidiosis.

Today, she seems a bit more alert, but she left this large, long, firm poop in her crate. It almost looks like it had hair in it and is about 6-7 inches long. Any ideas?

View attachment 1711000

@jolenesdad do your hens have a source of poultry grit (crushed granite)?
I agree, it looks like long strands of hay/grass. She may have been having a hard time passing that.
Check her crop first thing in the morning before she eats/drinks to make sure it's empty.

 

[jolenesdad]

The hay on the ground was just in her crate. There is hay in one of the nest boxes... she does have access to grit and soil and gets out to range though not continuously.

I couldn’t break it apart last night when I went to do my last check and saw it because I had my toddler with me and no gloves. I had to leave it and hope it’s still there and not scratched through this morning. I’ve alreasy missed sun up today, tonight I’ll remove her feed from her enclosure and get back out at sunrise to check her crop.

My dog ate a bird and acted this exact wAy for two days, maybe she ate a mouse. Being at a horse ranch, it’s hard to get think I could keep her away from hay permanently.

 

[Shezadandy]

The hay on the ground was just in her crate. There is hay in one of the nest boxes... she does have access to grit and soil and gets out to range though not continuously.

I couldn’t break it apart last night when I went to do my last check and saw it because I had my toddler with me and no gloves. I had to leave it and hope it’s still there and not scratched through this morning. I’ve alreasy missed sun up today, tonight I’ll remove her feed from her enclosure and get back out at sunrise to check her crop.

My dog ate a bird and acted this exact wAy for two days, maybe she ate a mouse. Being at a horse ranch, it’s hard to get think I could keep her away from hay permanently.

Here's the best guide to all things crop related that I've ever come across. It covers a whole range of problems and solutions. Hopefully it's a one time thing - they do after all eat rodents- just saying mine is the only one out of my 100 other chickens that stuffs herself full of hay and straw.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

 

[Shezadandy]

@Shezadandy I agree, I've had the same thing happen with a Speckled Sussex and had to cull her. I used a molasses flush which helped somewhat, but her crop and probably her gizzard were too packed with pine shavings and hay.
Currently my Light Brahma's like snacking on pine shavings, and I use large flakes. My solution was to remove the nest boxes and close the pop door on the coop after I let the Brahma's out in the morning, and only open it just before sunset, problem solved.
Then I built a platform and put cat carriers on it using hay for nesting material and they work great. The Brahma's dont eat the hay.
@jolenesdad For future reference for liquid solutions for poultry, here's a link. Scroll down to LAXATIVE SOLUTIONS:
http://extension.msstate.edu/content/solutions-and-treatments
Here's a pic of the new nest boxes for my Brahma's, no shavings:
View attachment 1711134

LOL My hay eater is a Speckled Sussex too! She's been treatable before with stool softener/water/molasses tube feeding (and I almost always add Poultridrench too) in the past, but the last time- she packed it in there and it was surgery or death. Thankfully surgery worked, but it was a long road to getting her weight back to normal and everything working again. We use pine pellets for bedding and either hay or straw for nest boxes... which she would raid … so now she's a "special" chicken. Sorry to hear yours was beyond help. =(

 

[jolenesdad]

Just thinking... I’ve got a hen that had been laying some huge eggs and they were getting cracked in the box and I just put sand in tbe bottoms two fats ago. Probably four days ago, in the nest box with hay, I came across this hen gorging herself on a cracked egg. Perhaps that’s when she engulfed the hay? Hopefully it wasn’t a direct choice.... however....

She is a speckled Sussex.

 

[dawg53]

Just thinking... I’ve got a hen that had been laying some huge eggs and they were getting cracked in the box and I just put sand in tbe bottoms two fats ago. Probably four days ago, in the nest box with hay, I came across this hen gorging herself on a cracked egg. Perhaps that’s when she engulfed the hay? Hopefully it wasn’t a direct choice.... however....

She is a speckled Sussex.

Darned Speckled Sussex's...troublemakers for 3 of us grrrr.
If pieces of the egg shell made it past the crop, it wouldve been ground up in the gizzard, unless the gizzard is impacted. Again, I think this a where a flush might help.
I was all set up to do crop surgery on my SS, but decided not to because I figured she'd go right back to eating shavings etc...I also didnt have the time to nursemaid her.