Lethargic, Sleepy , Yellow Runny Stuff Coming From Her Vent.

[Jeffery Ortiz]

Around a couple days ago one chicken had suddenly become sick even though she was completely healthy the day prior to her sickness.
The hen became lethargic and weak , had runny yellow stuff coming from her vent and her comb was also slowly turning more and more purple.These symptoms worsened by the hour.At the end of the day, she died.

Now there is another chicken who is experiencing the same thing.She is currently closing her eyes, and has runny yellow stuff coming from her comb, I imagine she will become sick like the other chicken and develop worser symptoms.

Does anyone know what it could be?
From what I searched online could it be a possible E. coli infestation?
(ps. The picture of her poop looks glistening and has some bubbles because I was spraying her vent with warm soapy water.

 

[coach723]

How old are these birds? Do you know when they last laid normally? For this bird you said yellow stuff coming from her comb, did you mean her vent? Is it egg yolk like?
How does her crop feel, empty, full, hard, soft and squishy, etc? Does her abdomen, below the vent, between the legs, feel bloated at all, either very firm or water balloon like? Pictures of the yellow stuff would be helpful.

 

[Jeffery Ortiz]

How old are these birds? Do you know when they last laid normally? For this bird you said yellow stuff coming from her comb, did you mean her vent? Is it egg yolk like?
How does her crop feel, empty, full, hard, soft and squishy, etc? Does her abdomen, below the vent, between the legs, feel bloated at all, either very firm or water balloon like? Pictures of the yellow stuff would be helpful.

1.The chicken that first had it was around 3 years old, the current one that his this sickness is almost 2 years old.
2.The currently sick chicken probably layed a normal egg around a couple days ago, the other hen that died she hadn’t made an egg for a couple days.
3.Yes, sorry about that I meant from her vent, Its not yolk color , its like a lighter color kind of like the color of the white part from the poop picture above.
4.Her crop feels a little bit squishy, but im not sure if thats because she ate the food I left her.
Secondly, her abdomen feels normal, not bloated and nothing hard in there.

Sorry if these pictures aren't the best quality, I’m having to hold her with one hand and take the picture, one other thing is now she seems a little bit more normal after taking her poop, but maybe thats because she wants to go back to the coop where she was instead of the cage i have her in.

 

[coach723]

Have you ever wormed your birds or had a fecal test done to check for internal parasites?
If you have a vet that will do that for you, I would do that to rule it in or out as an issue. Worms can cause runny, mucousy droppings, crop issues, weight loss, lethargy, and in severe cases secondary bacterial infections of the gut. You will most often not see any parasites in the droppings, they live their entire life cycle inside the bird.

 

[Jeffery Ortiz]

Have you ever wormed your birds or had a fecal test done to check for internal parasites?
If you have a vet that will do that for you, I would do that to rule it in or out as an issue. Worms can cause runny, mucousy droppings, crop issues, weight loss, lethargy, and in severe cases secondary bacterial infections of the gut. You will most often not see any parasites in the droppings, they live their entire life cycle inside the bird.

Haven’t checked for internal parasites, however i do deworm them, but the last time i dewormed them was around November and i was going to do it this week but a cold front came, so i was putting it off until Monday (tomorrow)

However, once i saw her acting like the previous chicken i gave her the medicine i use for deworming.Which is the one in the picture.

 

[coach723]

Valbazen is a very good wormer. Make sure to redose in 10 days. If she isn't looking better after worming, then if vet care isn't an option, I personally would try some amoxicillin in case of infection. You can get it without prescription as fish mox or aqua mox, online.
Tomorrow morning, before she's had anything to eat or drink, check her crop then. It should be empty then.

 

[Jeffery Ortiz]

Valbazen is a very good wormer. Make sure to redose in 10 days. If she isn't looking better after worming, then if vet care isn't an option, I personally would try some amoxicillin in case of infection. You can get it without prescription as fish mox or aqua mox, online.
Tomorrow morning, before she's had anything to eat or drink, check her crop then. It should be empty then.

I don’t have access to a vet, parents won’t want to take a chicken to the vet.I do have amoxicillin however, its prescribed for humans and comes in a capsule for 500 mg.
Also should i force her to drink water by giving it to her through a syringe? She doesn’t seem to be interested in water or food and when i put her back in the coop she simply walks back to the nesting coop and after a while shuts her eyes.
One other thing is that her runny yellow/white poop from her vent seems to have stopped, But her poop is very strange.

 

[coach723]

You can use that amoxicillin, the dose for chickens is 57 mg per pound of body weight twice a day for 5 - 7 days. I empty the capsule and mix it in a bit of softened (not liquid) coconut oil, use as many capsules as needed to get even doses based on weight (a digital kitchen scale works well for getting her weight), mix it in the coconut oil, divide into doses and freeze them. Then just put it in her beak (break into pieces if needed) and she will swallow it. Usually goes down well that way.
You can give water via syringe if she's not drinking, but you have to go slowly and be careful she doesn't aspirate any. Don't put more than .5 ml at a time in her mouth before allowing her to swallow it. You can try adding a little sugar or honey to the water to see if she will drink that, or gatorade. Offer it in a small bowl or in a spoon held up to her beak to see if she will take it. Room temperature or slightly warmed is better for a sick bird than cold.
Do you have a dog crate you can keep her in? Having her in a warm, quiet place will allow you to watch her, monitor eating, drinking and droppings, and give medication easier. Also sick birds are sometimes attacked by flockmates, so it would keep her from being injured.