Listless Chicken with Diarrhea (Updated with pictures!)

[primenumbergirl]

Sara9889, yup, I think our chickens have the same thing.

 

[Sara9889]

It sounds remarkably similar....even what our vets said. Our vet took a poop sample and found no parasites. She gave us Flagyl, an antibiotic. But I have had a difficult time syringing it into Harriet, so I switched to a soluble antibiotic from the feed store.

We may be a couple of days ahead of you, so I will let you know if we have any changes. Today Harriet is eating a few grapes, but has lost her appetite for some of her other favorite foods.

Good luck to you!

Sara

 

[primenumbergirl]

Sara9889, how's Harriet doing?

Catherine looked a lot more alert after her trip to the vet and ate quite a bit last night. However, this morning she was back to being weak and tired and just picked at her food.

I've been watching the other chickens to see if there are any symptoms, and I'm a little scared that one of them looks sleepier than usual.

 

[Sara9889]

Harriet is still not wanting to move around a lot. She is very picky about eating, only seems to want blueberries or grapes. I can't tell if she is drinking much. But she's had some of the runny poos so I suppose there is something going through.

I'm not seeing much improvement but keep trying! Is Catherine eating? I do hope they get better....

Sara

 

[cslosberg]

My cukoo maran is having the same issue. The other day one of the birds (we weren't sure which) laid what I think is a shelless egg (small sack, kind of gelatinous). This morning she is very lethargic, walking like she has a load in her rear. I suspected she is egg bound, tried to catch her to give her a warm bath (she usually lets me pick up her but won't this time of course). Then she let loose with a whiteish substance and then passed an egg that was sort of formed but broke on the way out. Then she hid in the coop and now is in one of the nesting boxes. I'm hoping that she is able to sort this out or let me pick her up and put her in the bath.

 

[Sara9889]

You might want to search the forum for internal laying or peritonitis...I read a bit about this condition and it may be happening to your girl if she is having shell-less eggs. Hope she is better soon!

Sara

 

[Sara9889]

Primenumbergirl,

How is Catherine doing? Hope all is OK.

Harriet actually went outside for a short while today and seemed to have a bit more energy than yesterday. But she still will not eat anything other than blueberries and grapes. Have tried crumble, bread, scrambled egg, cheese and she wants nothing to do with it.

Sara

 

[elmo]

Did the vet check her for mites?

 

[Sara9889]

Elmo,

They did check Harriet and she was parasite-free. And none of our other chickens have had any symptoms, thank goodness!

Sara

 

[primenumbergirl]

Sara,

I think Catherine is doing better. She spent some time in my vegetable garden chewing on weeds and pea flowers. She walked around for a whole 10 minutes before flopping down to rest. Her poop looks more normal, although it's smaller than usual due to the small amounts she is eating.

She's acting just like Harriet in that she'll only eat certain foods. Wednesday evening she ate a whole ear of corn, but wanted nothing to do with it on Thursday. Thursday evening she couldn't get enough grass or Broccoli. This morning she refused to eat anything but sunflower seeds. Still, she's started to drink water again, which is a blessing.

I'm starting to think that it might be her crop that is causing her problems. Last night her crop felt like a water balloon half-filled with sand. This morning it was much smaller, but it felt like a lump about the size of half a kiwi, not hard, but dense compared to last night. It was like the sand in the balloon from last night had just been pressed into a smaller space. I massaged it for a bit trying to feel anything unusual, but I didn't find anything of note. As a comparison, her healthy sisters had nothing in their crops, no lumps, nothing.

Does anyone have any idea what this means?