Life threatening event and now yellow urates

[jonalisa]

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.

Wow, sounds very similar. Poor thing. Was she throwing up egg at some point? What were the first signs?
Ok I just gave 125mg Amox. I have 6 tabs left; hoping it helps. Gave it orally, dissolved in pedialyte with syringe. She's on a roost in the brooder but I have a soft dog bed in case she falls. I gave 2 more syringes full of pedialyte.

 

[jonalisa]

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!

She's really only started eating feed today, mixed with pedialyte. She's also eating a lot of yogurt. A few blueberries. She won't touch egg at all. But I am surprised that she ate often today, almost every time I checked on her she was eating - even after vomiting.
Thanks for the info on the neck spasms, that's exactly what it seems like...adjustments to make the food go down. I just gave 125mg of amoxicillin tonight - I had been giving tiny amounts up to now based on an old BYC post that was obviously incorrect. She's not on any wormer. I had been giving prednisone, but I am tapering that off.
Her poop is below. The color is like green/brown. Urates are less yellow than in the past weeks. Her crop feels small. Of course she has lost a lot of weight and muscle.

 

[Eggcessive]

Mine did not throw up anything until I made her vomit to empty her crop when it was not emptying at all. They do not vomit egg matter, but it is usually feed or crop contents that have been fermenting, and later rotting. Crops sometimes become sluggish or slow just from an illness. I am not an expert on crop problems, but others such as TheChickenChick.com and TwoCrows here on BYC are good with advice.

 

[jonalisa]

Mine did not throw up anything until I made her vomit to empty her crop when it was not emptying at all. They do not vomit egg matter, but it is usually feed or crop contents that have been fermenting, and later rotting. Crops sometimes become sluggish or slow just from an illness. I am not an expert on crop problems, but others such as TheChickenChick.com and TwoCrows here on BYC are good with advice.

Interesting. The stuff looked like albumen mixed with yellow yolk...hmmm. And it was burning hot. Today it was a putrid green and not as thick - more watery. Well, good to know as I could not wrap my head around where this egg matter was located that she could be throwing it up!

 

[jonalisa]

Mine did not throw up anything until I made her vomit to empty her crop when it was not emptying at all. They do not vomit egg matter, but it is usually feed or crop contents that have been fermenting, and later rotting. Crops sometimes become sluggish or slow just from an illness. I am not an expert on crop problems, but others such as TheChickenChick.com and TwoCrows here on BYC are good with advice.

Thank you.

 

[jonalisa]

I'm seeing a pattern here...so early a.m. I give amoxicillin dissolved in pedialyte orally by syringe with nutridrench. Then give extra pedialyte. She has access to feed mixed with pedialyte and yogurt. She seems alert, preens and is curious/walks around the room a bit. Once she has eaten, maybe 30 min later, she tilts her head down and out comes a thin, mucous-like dark green/army green liquid. I hold her upside down and the liquid pours out. It's got some feed in it. Her poop is watery with the same green liquid.
After throwing up she is weak for some time. Her claws are clenched. I give her pedialyte and hold her a while. When I put her down she goes right for more feed and yogurt.
By nighttime, she is very weak and can't stand or roost. I give more liquids and lay her in a small dog bed in the brooder. I always think, this is it. no way she'll survive the night.

In the morning, eyes closed, not moving. More liquids, she perks up. Wide awake and alert and goes right for the food. Cycle repeats.
I realize she isn't getting any nutrition.
So my questions: Why is she not pooping more? Is this stuff just mostly staying in her crop until rejected? Why?

 

[Relleoms]

Hmm, I wonder if the poultry drench is the only thing keeping her alive at this point, since it is absorbed before digestion. It sounds to me like she has an impaction somewhere, maybe a tumor or something, that’s not allowing anything to move past her crop. Or a pendulous crop, which my vet said doesn’t allow anything to pass, even without an impaction. The only way to know for sure is to get a necropsy done when she passes. At some point soon, you may consider putting her down as she’s likely starving to death slowly. Poor girl Best of luck to you both.

 

[jonalisa]

Yes, I had that thought today about whether I am just keeping her on the edge of life. I really don't feel capable of culling.

 

[Relleoms]

Going back & reading some old posts, you may consider worming as a last ditch effort. She may have worms causing a blockage in her digestive tract that won’t allow the food to pass. You could try liquid safeguard for goats at 0.25ml/pound orally for 5 days. Also continue with antibiotics. I used doxycycline for 10 days, I capsule dissolved in 1 liter water as the only source of water. Just a thought!

 

[Relleoms]

Yes, I had that thought today about whether I am just keeping her on the edge of life. I really don't feel capable of culling.

I totally agree, but in hindsight, I wish I had. It kills me to think she suffered because I was scared. I wish they made a “practice” chicken, kind of like Annie for CPR, that you could practice cervical dislocation. My brother suggested practicing on her after she passed, but that thought never crossed my mind & we had already brought her body in for the necropsy. I really want to learn, though, so I can do it when faced with a similar situation in the future. It makes me so anxious just thinking about it.