Milky, yogurt type of dropping

[fatimastic]

My 1 and a half year old Australorp is a little bit lethargic. She is not as interested in food and her surroundings as she was before. She has been excreting extremely weird and milky/ yogurt-y droppings. More on the yogurt side. Her vent is also a bit dirty. She has been drinking a lot of water though. More than usual. This has been going on for around a week, but on the plus side, she is eating and drinking water on her own.

 

[azygous]

Have you checked her crop? Stools like that often accompany crop disorders. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[fatimastic]

Have you checked her crop? Stools like that often accompany crop disorders. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Her crop is fine actually. I do suspect her if ascites because of her abdomen and her breathing. She has never been the most healthiest of the hens as she contracted respiratory disease when she was young. And she did have impacted crop, but that got fixed. She is currently not the most active but not that lethargic either. Her droppings are mix though. Sometimes watery and sometimes a bit more solid.

I tried to extract fluid from her abdomen and this is what came out. I'm afraid that it might have been egg yolk and that I ruptured it inside, but it was too runny. Just to be safe, I gave her antibiotic.

 

[fatimastic]

Have you checked her crop? Stools like that often accompany crop disorders. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

@azygous what do you think about it?

 

[azygous]

I saw that and cringed. Broken yolk is never good. An antibiotic is definitely called for.

 

[fatimastic]

I saw that and cringed. Broken yolk is never good. An antibiotic is definitely called for.

So it was a broken yolk... she is currently preening herself and eating but she isn't like she was a month ago. Should I give her a 2nd dose of antibiotic today?

 

[azygous]

Yes. Give her a good week of antibiotics. The yolk almost always allows bacteria to colonize the oviduct. That's likely why she isn't feeling well. What antibiotic are you using?

 

[fatimastic]

Yes. Give her a good week of antibiotics. The yolk almost always allows bacteria to colonize the oviduct. That's likely why she isn't feeling well. What antibiotic are you using?

I accidentally ruptured the egg yolk yesterday in an attempt to extract water out of her belly. She has been like this for an entire month. The antibiotic I'm giving her is Vibramycin.

 

[azygous]

In order to hit an egg yolk while extracting fluid from her abdomen it may suggest that she has been internally laying and the eggs were in the abdominal cavity. This isn't encouraging for hope she can recover as she's likely to continue to lay internally until it finally kills her. The only way to get the eggs out of her abdomen is surgery. Then the vet would need to implant a medicine in her ovary to stop ovulation. It's not easy to find a vet anywhere that can do this.

 

[fatimastic]

In order to hit an egg yolk while extracting fluid from her abdomen it may suggest that she has been internally laying and the eggs were in the abdominal cavity. This isn't encouraging for hope she can recover as she's likely to continue to lay internally until it finally kills her. The only way to get the eggs out of her abdomen is surgery. Then the vet would need to implant a medicine in her ovary to stop ovulation. It's not easy to find a vet anywhere that can do this.

But her abdomen is not hard to indicare EYP...
It's squishy, feels like water filled. I've lost a hen last year due to ascites and her sypmtoms match that of the current sick hen. She is not per say wheezing, rather she makes these gargle-y sounds after some exertion.