Listless, runny poo and now vomit . Sad girl.

[JPHens]

Hi Helpful Chicken Folks,

My Matilda (who was super hearty and at the top of the heap) started acting listless in June. A vet visited and did stool sample tests and found nothing unusual. I gave her electrolytes with a dropper and she got much better. She's been ok all summer though never really her normal top dog tough girl self, and she has not laid an egg since June. Last week she seemed to be shy about eating but was eating. Today she is listless again, not eating, with runny poop and also three times I have seen her vomiting a thin green liquid. The others (who she has not been quarantined from ever) are healthy and happy. I feel her crop and it seems OK to me. She won't eat except the little bit I forced on her again with the dropper but she fusses a lot with this.

What she has doesn't seem to fit anything I read.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
JP Hens

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Have you smelled down her throat?

Check her feet, eyes, belly, and butt. Please post pictures of her and anything unusual.

 

[JPHens]

Her eyes and comb look pretty good. Her feet have had what I think is mites (her coop-mate has mites and I have treated her, they are at bay but still there I think), though her lifted scales are all right at the front of her toes. Didn't get a good photo. Tried. She has gotten thinner. Her mouth doesn't smell and her crop seems OK but there is a prominent ridge/keel.

Yesterday I force fed her a few droppers full of electrolyte sol'n and she did some green thin vomit right after the first one, not the second time. This morning she got up and drank a bunch of water on her own, though after drinking she did a funny motion with her throat/neck a few times. She was pretty upright/stretched when she did it. She didn't eat the food there but did eat kale and sorrel when I hung it, for quite a while. I have her locked in the coop run while the others are locked out for the morning. Wondering if it's worth a vet trip. I think what she had in June never really has gone away. Thanks for advice.

Here is a photo of her poo this morning (looks almost normal) and her yesterday evening.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

To treat scaley leg mites, just put a thick coat of petroleum jelly or something on the legs. Suffocates the buggers. Not sure if the vet can help much more than giving her an antibiotic, that is, if it's not a bird specialist. It's good that she's drinking. Do you think the neck stretching was due to discomfort when she swallowed?

I don't know. The fact that this has been going on for a long time... maybe she has some kind of infection in her system? Or a blockage of some kind?

 

[RichtmanRanch]

Sorry to hear about your situation. The green liquid has me thinking sour crop. Don't know if it can last as far back as June though. Her crop doesn't feel like a mushy water balloon? Parasites can cause a lot of symptoms. Depression and lack of appetite are certainly some. Not sure where your boundaries lie with what you will and won't see the vet for. But are you taking her to a vet that knows about chickens? I would think that first visit would have yielded more than just a stool sample. Did they have any other thoughts to offer? Something is up though. Weight loss is not good. I'd continue to force feed her small amounts. But maybe at least give your vet a call to discuss symptoms over the phone.

 

[coach723]

The vomiting makes me think that her digestive tract isn't processing correctly. The droppings picture is not real clear, too much stuff mixed in. And if she hasn't been laying in months she could be laying internally. How does her abdomen feel, soft, hard, balloon-like? Also a blockage or partial blockage could be present. A vet is always the best option if you have one available. There are many possibilities, the challenge is trying to narrow it down.

 

[JPHens]

thanks, Richtman Ranch and coach 723. The vet who visited in June felt did a physical exam (crop, etc) but is not an avian vet. I made an appt. for one (avian) this Sat but it's a long car ride, hard to know if it is worth it. She drank water this morning (and maybe later when I was gone) and she ate a few leaves of kale and also yogurt but would not eat pellets when I was around. Maybe she ate some otherwise... Her abdomen feels really reasonable to me except her keel is protruding. No mushy feel to her crop, thankfully, and no smell. I haven't seen the vomitting today either. I tried force feeding her some electrolyte again but she has more energy and fought me, and I didn't succeed with the dropper and beak. Her tail is generally up, eyes OK, she just looks so still and eats so little. Here are more poo pix... first one liquid and next one just runny (Like I said she's eaten mostly kale so maybe the green doesn't mean much??? Also the little turds are from sparrows)

 

[coach723]

Let us know what the vet finds. I hope it's something treatable.

 

[JPHens]

Will do. Thanks again for your input and ideas.