Life threatening event and now yellow urates

[jonalisa]

Prednisone probably is not a good idea since it can make her more suseptible to infections. Some people use amoxicillin or Baytril (prohibited by FDA for chickens in the US,) and you can get those online for fish or if you Google them for poultry. I usually don’t treat with drugs since EYP is so common. She probably won’t lay eggs again, but you are not supposed to eat eggs or meat after Baytril. I have had a few die recently to reproductive problems, some with ascites, some with internal laying. If I have time, I try to do a brief necropsy to just find a cause. Sorry about your chicken.

Ok thanks, very much, Eggcessive, I appreciate the information and advice. It occurred to me, as I think about the day she was choking and I held her upside down to help her vomit ...I initially I described what came out as a yellowish mucous mixed with scratch (and all the other chickens were clamoring to eat it).
Now obviously I wonder if it was egg...although I assume it wouldn't actually be in the stomach, right....hmmm, dunno.

I'll taper off the prednisone, as I assume stopping is problematic. Maybe give her some yogurt? She seems a little lethargic and slow but not on her death bed thus far. She's pooping a bit more and less yellow.
I'm going to continue to let her out with the others and bring her in at night and see how it goes. We just had over a foot of snow so getting out is gonna take some time

 

[jonalisa]

Prednisone probably is not a good idea since it can make her more suseptible to infections. Some people use amoxicillin or Baytril (prohibited by FDA for chickens in the US,) and you can get those online for fish or if you Google them for poultry. I usually don’t treat with drugs since EYP is so common. She probably won’t lay eggs again, but you are not supposed to eat eggs or meat after Baytril. I have had a few die recently to reproductive problems, some with ascites, some with internal laying. If I have time, I try to do a brief necropsy to just find a cause. Sorry about your chicken.

BTW, what is the dosage for amoxicillin? I have 8 125mg tablets. (Amox/K CLAV 875-125MG tab)

 

[jonalisa]

Update: Such a touch and go situation... Charlotte's weight is so low that when I place my hand on her abdomen, I only feel the keel bone. I can easily lift her with fingers on one hand, no effort.
I am tapering off the prednisone but have started some Amoxicillin. For about an hour this morning, she laid on her side on my chest with eyes closed, not moving. She lays her head on my face. My husband went and got yogurt and she perked up and ate about 1/4 to 1/3 cup and has more here and there since then. After that I brought her outside with the others, but she just stood puffed up with eyes closed. I brought her in and offered more yogurt, tuna and some electrolytes. When she puts her head down to eat, sometimes raw egg comes pouring out of her mouth. I gave her a warm bath in the tub with epsom salt. She vomited more egg in the tub, but overall seemed to really enjoy it, pulling up her feet and letting herself float while I supported her. I checked her vent lightly, but don't feel anything unusual. She leaned against me while I blowdried her.
So while things are not good, she's also preening and sometimes just wants to be walking around. Moments of normalcy.
I know there is little that can be done, and unfortunately I don't have a local avian vet. If anyone knows of anything I should or could be doing, let me know.

 

[jonalisa]

Here she is dozing on my chest.
I just want to add that over the last couple of hours she has been having what look like spasms, where she will jerk her neck and head side to side or in a circular motion. It seems to be accompanied by gurgling sounds in throat or lower. Seems involuntary.

 

[jonalisa]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xv33cn3ri6n7mug/VID_20180311_164503.mp4?dl=0

Here's the neck movement video

 

[Relleoms]

Is her crop still full? This probably isn’t what you want to hear, but a week ago today, we had a one year old hen with very similar symptoms. It was like she was shivering and she had violent, jerky neck movements. I brought her inside, put her on a heating pad, offered hard boiled egg yolk (she wouldn’t eat it), gave her nutridrench & water regularly & massaged her crop regularly. There were a lot of gurgley sounds coming from her. She pooped twice, but both were pretty much straight urates. A few hours later, she started oozing mucous-y vomit (close to 2 cups over an hour or so) and she passed that evening. The necropsy revealed pendulous crop but no impaction. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do. It still makes me cry thinking about it. Sorry to be a debbie downer; I really hope your girl has a better outcome & is able to push through.

 

[jonalisa]

Is her crop still full? This probably isn’t what you want to hear, but a week ago today, we had a one year old hen with very similar symptoms. It was like she was shivering and she had violent, jerky neck movements. I brought her inside, put her on a heating pad, offered hard boiled egg yolk (she wouldn’t eat it), gave her nutridrench & water regularly & massaged her crop regularly. There were a lot of gurgley sounds coming from her. She pooped twice, but both were pretty much straight urates. A few hours later, she started oozing mucous-y vomit (close to 2 cups over an hour or so) and she passed that evening. The necropsy revealed pendulous crop but no impaction. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do. It still makes me cry thinking about it. Sorry to be a debbie downer; I really hope your girl has a better outcome & is able to push through.

Thanks for the input (Nah, you are not a downer and sorry for your loss. Yes, I realize that is a likely outcome, unfortunately. With the wisdom of @Eggcessive, I do in fact think this is egg yolk peritonitis. The mucous-like vomit is actually egg which did not go it's usual route and ended up in the abdomen where it will fester and cause untreatable damage.
I wish I knew more about it - most sites basically say the same thing - but I am trying to visualize why she can vomit it when I don't think it is actually in the crop...And holy crap, every website with an afflicted chicken looks just like my Charlotte!

 

[jonalisa]

Well we've had some trying days and nights. Sunday night I thought she would be dead by morning. She couldn't stand or roost. I gave her syringes full of electrolytes. By morning she was really hungry and alert. Then a full day of vomiting egg and having weakness. Last night she was alert and got right up on the roost.
Today she was really hungry, ate yogurt, some feed mixed with electrolytes but then vomited...a lot. (see photos) Including photos because it looks like poop (?). After that, she was starving again and is eating but after a few bites she gets these neck spasms which almost seem like an involuntary way for her to get the food down. Video link below.
She has moments where she seems either close to death or close to recovery (I know that's unlikely).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/okznk6dn4fncrs3/2018-03-13 12.33.06.mp4?dl=0

This started Feb 16th, so this is now going on for almost a month. How long can EYP last?
What is with the neck spasm? Is it the body's way of moving the food down?
I am trying to visualize what is going on internally. Can anyone explain?

Open to opinions and thoughts on what to try...
jonalisa

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that I have missed your updates the last few days, not sure why. Amoxicillin dosage for chickens is 125 mg twice a day.
She sounds so much like a hen that I have been treating for about 3 weeks who is wasting away, and had a soft end on her egg shells for a long time. She has a slow crop that eventually became sour and smelly. I have had to make her vomit, and tube feed her water, NutriDrench, and yogurt. She will eat egg, and she will go outside and peck at things in the grass. I have grit all over to make sure she takes some. She now has a drooping wing, and I don’t suspect Maresk, just maybe she has had a stoke or is showing neurological signs being close to death.

 

[Relleoms]

I’m sorry, I may have missed it; is she pooping?

If so, what’s it look like?

If not, I would suspect she’s not getting anything from her crop to pass.

The neck spasms are most likely digestive. Our girl with pendulous crop did that, pretty violently at the end. The vet equated it to a pregnant lady trying to adjust a baby to get comfortable.

And did you say she is on antibiotics? What about dewormers?

These are the situations that really make chicken keeping hard. Hang in there!