Month long health / poop concerns in chicken.

[mvdct]

Hi all,

Asking for your collective wisdom on our bird. Any thoughts about what is going on? Or what can be done?

1) What type of bird, age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Type: Wyandotte.
Age: Just over a year.
Weight: Normal.
Comparison to others: About the same.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.

Not laying. This has been going on for a month now.
Eating and drinking. Often normal.
Apperance. Often normal.
However, at the same time, often slower in movement, more sitting and seems to have less energy than our other two (but this is not extreme).
Crop seems OK.
Vent seems OK - although some build up of poop around vent and nearby feathers.

About a month ago, she seemed really unwell. Not eating and drinking. Not laying. Lethargic. Depressed. Concerning poop (see pic 1 below). We took her to the vets. The vet checked her out.
Not egg bound. Didn't feel egg build up internally. Vet wondered about her kidneys. Put her on a weeks course of antibiotics.

Chicken finished course of meds. Behaviour improved. More eat and drinking. More energy. Poop improved consistency. However didn't and hasn't started laying again. Although does still spend time in next box as if trying to lay. Have given occasional baths in warm epson salts to see if that encourages laying. But no obvious sign of egg trying to come out.

What seems odd is that over the last month her health seems to fluctuate. Some groups of days seem better than others. For example - see attached pic in terms of one of her poops yesterday (pic 2). Notice the large amount of liquid. (again, makes me wonder about her kidneys).


3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
In total, over a month.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
The other two are fine (including the one which was quite ill back in early June - she seems fine now).

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No. Nothing.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Nothing. We were away for a few days before she got ill. Friends were looking after the chickens. They weren't let out to free-range during this time. But their run is pretty spacious.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Normal food (layers pellets in run, grass when out, and yogurt and oats mix - by hand - at some point during the day if we have time) and drink (multiple fresh water sources) has been available.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Over the last month it has varied. Sometimes normal. Sometimes a lot more liquid in it. Sometimes more normal again. At the moment, we seem to be having more liquid. So concern about health deterioation. Hence post. See attached:
Photo 01. From 23rd August.
Photo 02. From 20th September.

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
One visit to vet. One, one week antibitotic course finished about 3 weeks ago. Occasionally epson salt baths. Care as usual since.

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?

Have already taken to vet. The vet was good, but wanted us to balance up cost of too many more investigations, etc. etc. Hence wondering about BYC community wisdom.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
See photos of poop (01 & 02).

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Housing: Normal. No change. Bedding: No change. Woodshavings.

thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[biophiliac]

Sorry about your hen. You have presented an excellent summary and I'm sure you'll get some helpful responses.

@casportpony ?

 

[biophiliac]

@Pyxis ,@Wyorp Rock , @Eggcessive ?

 

[biophiliac]

I think her poop does look odd but I don't know what it indicates. Why did the vet say there was concern for her kidneys? Does she have any swelling or fluid in her abdomen?
How does her body condition seem- does she have some flesh around her keel bone or is it very prominent ?

 

[Kiki]

Did the vet check for worms?

 

[biophiliac]

@rebrascora ?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @mvdct Did your vet perform a fecal float to rule out worms and possibly Coccidiosis overload. Also, did you do any x-rays?

Her behavior is concerning - do you feel any swelling/bloat or feeling of fluid in the abdomen?
@biophiliac asked a great question - the vet was concerned over her kidneys - did he say why? Does she have any swelling of the feet?
When she did lay eggs - were they normal hard shelled eggs or did she have troubles?

It's so very hard to know what's going on - the on again/off again lethargy, not laying and her improving for a short period of time with antibiotic treatment - I can only take a guess - she may have an internal laying/reproductive disorder like Egg Yolk Peritonitis, cancer, tumors, Salpingitis or Ascites.

Do the best you can to keep her hydrated, offer her poultry vitamins a couple of times a week and keep her treats to around 5% of her daily intake.

Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts.

 

[rebrascora]

Wyorp Rock has pretty much covered everything I would have suggested.

Faecal float (worm egg count) should be pretty inexpensive (it's about £10 here in the UK..... Westgate Labs do a mail order service where you buy a sampling kit online and then send them the sample and you sometimes even get next day results via text or email) and at least rule that out or treat with a wormer (flubenvet) .
Unfortunately my gut feeling is that it is something more serious and probably untreatable. That said, the things I would do are to support her immune and digestive systems with a good quality poultry vitamin supplement like Nutri Drops which should be available at a good feed store. They are about £10 for a small bottle with a dropper and can be put in water or on food or given directly. I would also start fermenting her feed. It's simple to do and the advantage is that the food is then moist so dehydration is less of a concern and it contains good bacteria which help with digestion. It is very easy to do and your other hens can eat it and benefit from it too. If you don't feel confident fermenting the feed, a probiotic would be the other option, but fermenting really is just a matter of putting layer pellets in a small bucket (if you only have 3 hens) covering with water and a half a teaspn of ACV with the Mother. Give it a stir and loosely cover. Check and stir twice a day and add more water or pellets/crumble (whatever feed you use) to get a porridge consistency. Keep in a warmish place and when it starts to bubble under the surface (usually a couple of days) it is ready to feed. Scoop the more solid stuff off the top and feed to the chucks and top up the rest with feed and water and stir to keep it working. Feed it in a pan once or twice a day.

My questions about her would be the same as others have asked:-

Is there any swelling between the legs and or below the vent..... compare to your other chickens..... doing so on the roost at night is the easiest way to examine one after the next to get the best comparison.
How is her body condition.... breast muscle covering around keel bone is the best place to assess it. Does her keel bone feel sharp under the skin or reasonably well covered..... again check your other hens to get a sense of what is normal.

Good luck with her

Regards

Barbara

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wyorp Rock has pretty much covered everything I would have suggested.

Faecal float (worm egg count) should be pretty inexpensive (it's about £10 here in the UK..... Westgate Labs do a mail order service where you buy a sampling kit online and then send them the sample and you sometimes even get next day results via text or email) and at least rule that out or treat with a wormer (flubenvet) .
Unfortunately my gut feeling is that it is something more serious and probably untreatable. That said, the things I would do are to support her immune and digestive systems with a good quality poultry vitamin supplement like Nutri Drops which should be available at a good feed store. They are about £10 for a small bottle with a dropper and can be put in water or on food or given directly. I would also start fermenting her feed. It's simple to do and the advantage is that the food is then moist so dehydration is less of a concern and it contains good bacteria which help with digestion. It is very easy to do and your other hens can eat it and benefit from it too. If you don't feel confident fermenting the feed, a probiotic would be the other option, but fermenting really is just a matter of putting layer pellets in a small bucket (if you only have 3 hens) covering with water and a half a teaspn of ACV with the Mother. Give it a stir and loosely cover. Check and stir twice a day and add more water or pellets/crumble (whatever feed you use) to get a porridge consistency. Keep in a warmish place and when it starts to bubble under the surface (usually a couple of days) it is ready to feed. Scoop the more solid stuff off the top and feed to the chucks and top up the rest with feed and water and stir to keep it working. Feed it in a pan once or twice a day.

My questions about her would be the same as others have asked:-

Is there any swelling between the legs and or below the vent..... compare to your other chickens..... doing so on the roost at night is the easiest way to examine one after the next to get the best comparison.
How is her body condition.... breast muscle covering around keel bone is the best place to assess it. Does her keel bone feel sharp under the skin or reasonably well covered..... again check your other hens to get a sense of what is normal.

Good luck with her

Regards

Barbara

Barbara (@rebrascora ) This is good information! Especially how to do a fecal float in the UK - I will tuck this info away and reference you on that. Also the Nutri Drops - I had forgotten the name of them - very helpful

 

[rebrascora]

@Wyorp Rock
I find it really hard to believe that there are not labs in the USA that do this service. The one I mentioned has done equine worm egg counts for many years but just started offering the poultry service in the last few years. It surely has to be a good business opportunity as more and more people are keeping chickens as "pets with benefits" and are interested in maintaining their health and longevity rather than purely production, but also not wanting to pump unnecessary chemicals into their birds or the environment.... or waste eggs due to withdrawal periods. It seems odd that no one in the US has cottoned on to this concept.... you must have labs that do equine samples across the pond. It is certainly easier than pestering vets to find one that will check a chicken sample without an appointment and no doubt, a good bit cheaper.
By the way, many congrats on your Educator Badge..... I only just noticed it.... very well deserved, I have to say.