Mites or Cocci

[ambe0487]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)

Buff Orpington 1 year 3 month old Hen


2) What is the behavior, exactly.

Lethargic, comb ends and back turns light purple or very pale but changes constantly. Closing eyes while standing. Pulsing dirty vent. Wasn't going for treats or food when given. Not even eggs. Laid lighter colored egg yesterday.


3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?

I noticed lethargic earlier today when I went to give lunch.


4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?

None that I have noticed, all in high spirits.


5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.

No

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.

When I found her in the run, I decided to give her a bath and soak her in case she was egg bound. Once soaked I noticed small lice eggs on 4 or so feathers by her vent. I gave her a a round of Ivomec as well as the rest of my flock.


7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.

She has free choice of layer pellets, water, oyster shell, granite grit. Not sure if she ate any but we roasted a hog yesterday and they have the bones to pick the rest off.


8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.

Very infrequent. Went 5 hours without pooping #1 is first in series #2 & #3 are with in this last hour. All very runny, stinky, they look very abnormal.


9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Finally got her to eat scrambled eggs after 2 hours of syringe dripping poly vi sol (no iron) and water mix. She is not eating and drinking on her own. Much more lively but not back to normal yet.


10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?

I would like to treat as much myself unless treatment is failing 100%


11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.


12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

Deep litter method with sand base.

 

[ambe0487]

I forgot to post her vent with the lice eggs.

 

[Nksg75]

I saw no one had responded, and wanted to ask if she had lost weight that you can tell?
How is she today?
I was scouring the site looking for info on worming my girls, and came across this.
Could it be worms in addition to mites?
I hope someone who is more knowledgeable helps out.
I understand the frustration of not knowing, and sometimes not getting a response to a post.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Lethargic, comb ends and back turns light purple or very pale but changes constantly. Closing eyes while standing. Pulsing dirty vent. Wasn't going for treats or food when given. Not even eggs. Laid lighter colored egg yesterday.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Very infrequent. Went 5 hours without pooping #1 is first in series #2 & #3 are with in this last hour. All very runny, stinky, they look very abnormal.

How does her abdomen feel - any bloat, swelling, feeling like it has fluid in it?
The poop - I agree does not look normal. @casportpony any ideas?

If you have vet care, that would be best. For some reason I'm leaning toward infection but an internal laying/reproductive disorder (Peritonitis, Ascites, cancer, tumors) may be at play as well.

Do your best to keep her hydrated. Offer her some poultry vitamins. Nutrition (eating is important), but keep the fluids going is first priority.

For the lice, the Ivomec should take care of those.

 

[coach723]

I'd also see if you can get a fecal float test done. That would tell you if you are dealing with internal parasites which can cause runny droppings and sometimes lead to secondary infection.

 

[ambe0487]

I saw no one had responded, and wanted to ask if she had lost weight that you can tell?
How is she today?
I was scouring the site looking for info on worming my girls, and came across this.
Could it be worms in addition to mites?
I hope someone who is more knowledgeable helps out.
I understand the frustration of not knowing, and sometimes not getting a response to a post.

Thank you for your response, I do greatly appreciate your help! It doesns't seem like she has really lost weight. She is a big girl so she may have but not enough to feel through the fluff.

It could be a number of things other than mites/lice. That is what I was trying to figure out. I think I will try to find a Vet to do a fecal Float test in my area.

 

[ambe0487]

CHICK WITH RED SWOLLEN UNDER VENT AREA
Glenda Heywood and Nathalie Ross
I answered a post by a lady who had this problem:
sounds like it might be effects of mites or lice
you may want to rub them with vaseline for smothering the mites and healing the skin
dust them with Poultry and garden dust from Amazon dust do this till the redness is gone

also feed the
wet mash with Vit E for helping if it is E.coli

Some tips on treating this in your bird from a friend of mine

Nathalie Ross
who as a vet tech learnd this treatment

First and foremost the thing to do is to feed her
the probiotic wet mash
E.coli is something chickens do get
Now, anytime you have any gut problems, the health of the beneficial bacteria that should naturally occur in the gut should be considered.

It's usually when the populations of those good
bacterial decrease that we see an INcreased in bad bacteria, thus gut illness. The good
bacteria literally crowd out bad bacteria, and some even secrete substances
that ward off over abundances of bad bacteria.

(1 So during illness, and really any time there is
stress, you'll want to increase the number of good bacteria in your bird's gut. You can do
this quite easily through the use of probiotics
available over the counter, and some even at the grocery store.

(2 In this case, with a
probability of E. coli, you'll want to find a
"probiotic" that contains live cultures of
Lactobacilus (most commonly lactobacilus
acidophilus) as well as B. bifidum.

Bifidum is one of those bacteria that secretes stuff to ward off bad bacteria, in this case it specifically wards off E.coli.

Third, nutrition during illness:
You can mix it up with boiled/mashed egg yolk for a combination of good high protein for healing,
super nutrition from the egg, and the good bacteria from the yogurt. Plus, this treat is soft and easily dissolved.

Fourth vitamin E.
Vitamin E acts specifically against overdoses of E.coli. I'd use the oil capsules. ONE 1000 MG PEOPLE vIT E DAILY TILL HELAED.
You can put it in a small bit of food if you
KNOW that bit of food will be eaten entirely.

When birds are sick, their crops/gizzards slow down, so it's really easy for their crops to back up and get impacted.

If you don't think your bird will eat yogurt (some dont, some love it),

then you can hedge your bets and pick up a non-dairy human probiotic from the human health food store.
You'll find them in the remedies for yeast infections. Liquids are easiest to use, though
you can crush tablets if you absolutely have to do.

Be sure to read the label to see
that it says that it contains both acidophilus (aka lactobacilus) as well as bifidum.
Nathalie Ross provided this excerp

Glenda L Heywood
suggests
natural probiotic for one bird
3 tbsp of dry crumbles
1 tsp dr flax seed meal
6 tbsp of any mind of milk
1 tbsp of yoguart
for each chick cut tip of 1000 mg Vit E capsule and put in the wet mash probiotic
mix well and feed twice a day till bird is better
Glenda L Heywood Cassville Missouri

Great Information Glenda. I took some from all three of your recomendations and got her eating some mashed eggs with Oregano right away this morning. I have also started to mix the wet mash and Poly vi Sol (no iron) into a bowl once she is done with the eggs.
In her water, I put a dose of Corrid just in case it was that going on.
Thank you so very much for the vast amount of information!

 

[ambe0487]

I'd also see if you can get a fecal float test done. That would tell you if you are dealing with internal parasites which can cause runny droppings and sometimes lead to secondary infection.

I asked on my Facebook local page for recommendations for a vet to do a float test. Thank you for your help!

 

[ambe0487]

How does her abdomen feel - any bloat, swelling, feeling like it has fluid in it?
The poop - I agree does not look normal. @casportpony any ideas?

If you have vet care, that would be best. For some reason I'm leaning toward infection but an internal laying/reproductive disorder (Peritonitis, Ascites, cancer, tumors) may be at play as well.

Do your best to keep her hydrated. Offer her some poultry vitamins. Nutrition (eating is important), but keep the fluids going is first priority.

For the lice, the Ivomec should take care of those.

I've put a post out on one of my local Facebook pages for recommendations for a local vet. Just waiting for some responses and when they open tomorrow I'll make some calls.

Do you think she could be laying internally even when I've been getting eggs from her still? Her abdomen feels full and I'd anticipated her laying an egg yesterday by the feel of it but I'm thinking with her being so sick it wasn't ready.

So far this morning I've still been syringe dripping her some Poly Vi Sol (no iron) and poultry drench with water. Also as a precaution I did add some Corrid to her drinking water in case that was in play also.

 

[casportpony]

I'm just guessing here, but her poop looks like she might have a bacterial infection of some type. Getting her to a vet would be best if you can afford it. Poop should be checked for bacteria, coccidiosis, and worms. It's quite possible that she has more than one of them.

Edited to add:
If she does have an E. coli infection she needs antibiotics ASAP.