No energy and bright green poop!

[SCmama]

Hey everyone, I have a red/golden comet that's having some issues. I was told she's about 11 mos old, but I can't be totally sure. We've had her since Sept and haven't had any problems up until the last 2 weeks. She layed a really soft shelled egg, with some kind of yellow goo on it, and that was her last egg. Now she's been just really lazy. She's always been my spunky, really curious hen. As soon as the back door opens, she comes running to see what we have for them. The past week, not at all. She just kind of sits in the middle of the yard, or lays down and stays there for an hour or so before she'll get up, walk around a bit, then sit back down. I fed everyone else and she didn't even move from where she was laying in the yard. I've noticed Bright green poop...if that's what we want to call it...in the coop. It's not really clumped at all, its more like someone dropped green dye onto the pine shavings. I can only assume its from Lucy, because everyone else seems fine. She doesn't have an impacted crop, and isn't egg bound. I couldn't find any mites anywhere either. She hasn't eaten anything from my hand, but my son said he's seen her eating food from the feeder. She has been drinking ok as far as I can tell. What I'm wondering is What is going on with her?! And can my other hens get it too? I don't have another coop to put her in, so I'm not sure how to seperate her, but I can figure something out if everyone else is going to get sick. Any help and responses would be helpful. We've only had our chickens since this past August, so we're really new to this! Thank you

 

[shannonpdp]

I SHOULD NOTE::: I TRIED EVERY VET IN A 100 MILE DISTANCE AND THEY BASICALLY LAUGHED AT ME WANTING HELP WITH A CHICKEN THEY DONT HAVE THE ABILITY TO HELP THESE BIRDS SO I DID IT MYSELF...SO BEFOR ANY NEG. COMMENTS COME OUT SOMETIMES WE CANT ALL GO RUNNING TO THE VET!!! THE TYLAN 50 WAS ONLY 11 DOLLARS AND THE NEEDLES WAS 3 SO I SAVED MY SILKIES FOR UNDER 15$$$$$$$ WE DO WHAT WE GOTA DO SOMETIMES A VET WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT WE DO, THEY WILL GO TO THE INTERNET !

 

[shannonpdp]

i taught myself this thru online reading i will tell you this same thing happend to me green poop no energy lost 1 silkie and a miniture mixed breed i saved my seabright and male silkie i went to my tractor supply and got some{ liquid tylan 50 100ml } USE FOR 4 DAYS only tylan 50!!! it says exactly that on the bottle and also says for cattle and swine only in small print but its great for saving our babies!!! keep looking you dont need a script i used a diabetic needdle i got at a mom and pop pharmacy cuz wal mart wouldnt sell them to me but every mom and pop would??? get a diabetic needle they are sold in bags of 5 and 10 ask for 1/2 cc 12.7 mm 30 gauge ok so 1/2 cc thats the volume it will hold{ it has numbers on it from 0-50} and 12.7 mm thats the legnth and 30 gauge thats the roundness of the needle...the middle number can vary slightly as its just the legnth ...the dose is 5 for smaller birds and 8 for grown hens this cured the ones i was able to dose you find the middle of the breast and go to the birds left side into the breast meat i had to study a chicken we got at the store to eat at first cuz i was scared...only 1/4 inch into skin pull back on plunger just a little not much if no blood push plunger in if blood comes inside needle start over but its very rare for blood to show. theres sites and videos showing how to inject birds i did this IT WAS A LAST RESORT TO SAVE MY BABIES AND IT WORKED I WAS HAPPY I DONT KNOW THE CAUSE OF GREEN POOP BUT I KNOW THIS WORKS FOR MANY ILLNESSES IN MY BIRDS...NOW NOTE:: you may find ur bird is so sick it has NO BREAST MEAT this was my case the bird almost dead i injected in the leg meat what little there was it worked shes still slowly recovering... i have tried to tell yall exactly everything YOU CAN DO THIS!!!! WHEN I WAS TOLD OF GIVING SHOTS I SAID HELL NO I CANT DO THAT BUT TO SAVE MY SILKIE I DID IT I SAVED HIM....RESEARCH ONLINE IF YOU WANT I HAVE A COLLECTION OF MEDS THAT VETS USUALLY PERSCRIBE BUT THE TRACTOR SUPPLY SELLS THEM..

 

[speckledhen]

Bright green usually means they are not eating or food is not being processed. It's bile. I see it in the final stages of hens with internal laying/egg yolk peritonitis or ovarian cancer all the time. Hybrid layers are very much prone to EYP and internal laying.

 

[smithapex]

Sadly, we lost this hen after three days. After reading more online, we are thinking e-coli got the upper hand on her system and was just too much to overcome. We separated her from flock on TH evening, kept her indoors Fri, Sat, Sun... but she died on Sunday evening. Very sad. I found the "recipe" of yogurt, buttermilk, crushed pellets, plus VitE and VitB (topped with applesauce) which she did eat, though never much at one time. I put a touch of apple cider vinegar in her water also. So, we made a gallant effort and perhaps may have saved her if we had started all of this sooner.:-( We will definitely watch and act sooner if we see the bright green poop on any other hens in future.

We had had a recent multi-night scare with some type of predator (that did kill three hens), so we're wondering if the stress of that perhaps caused the e-coli to get out-of-control..?...I read that all chickens have e-coli in their systems but that different things can cause it to get out of control -- stress being one of them...?

 

[seminolewind]

I have had the same problem with my 2 barred Plymouth rock hens (Lathargic and bright green poop with lots of water around it in the bedding). One of them is also molting and neither has laid an egg in about a month. I started giving them the Tylan 50 3 days ago. Today I started a vitamin supplement (I didn't think it could hurt at this point). They seem to have perked up and are more active, and drinking more, but their poop is still the same green. How long was it before you saw a difference in the poop? I know that I can't give the Tylan more than 4-5 days. What then? Do I just wait to see what happens? These are our first chickens and we are very worried. Any suggestions?

That bright green poo is when they have no more fat stores left. So it's all bile.
Tylan is a respiratory antibiotic mostly. You need something else like Baytril (allbirdproducts.com) or or Penicillin injections or even sulfadimethoxine (feed stores or tractor supply or on line). I usually start with sulfadimethoxine because it works on coccidiosis and it's an antibiotic.

How old are they?
Where did you get them and how long have you had them?
Do you have other chickens?
What do you feed them?

This may sound stupid to you, but anyway, make them French toast. One egg and a bit of milk per slice of bread and a teaspoon of sugar. Fry it but leave the inside mushy. And sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon . OR just take some chicken feed and make a mush out of it (not too dry).

What is their housing and routine like?

 

[Mr Beaks]

I ended up getting some Baytril 22.7 tabs from the vet and gave one pill twice a day for 8 days. Then she got vitamins, electrolytes and probios following treatment. She seems to be doing much better and her symptoms have all cleared up. Sorry I failed to post an update. It's been one thing after another around here!

 

[seminolewind]

Lime green poop, in my experiences, has always had to do with wasting. You never know they're wasting till they reach the end of the line and you get green poop. I'm Not saying that this is true 100% of the time, but it is for me. I'm neurotic about checking under the roosts every morning.

Most, if not all of my lime green poopers were at the end of the wasting from Marek's disease.

Others have different experiences, like SpeckledHen. Lime green poop will happen to any chicken that has stopped eating for a period of time. From a number of illnesses.

 

[seminolewind]

I SHOULD NOTE::: I TRIED EVERY VET IN A 100 MILE DISTANCE AND THEY BASICALLY LAUGHED AT ME WANTING HELP WITH A CHICKEN THEY DONT HAVE THE ABILITY TO HELP THESE BIRDS SO I DID IT MYSELF...SO BEFOR ANY NEG. COMMENTS COME OUT SOMETIMES WE CANT ALL GO RUNNING TO THE VET!!! THE TYLAN 50 WAS ONLY 11 DOLLARS AND THE NEEDLES WAS 3 SO I SAVED MY SILKIES FOR UNDER 15$$$$$$$ WE DO WHAT WE GOTA DO SOMETIMES A VET WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT WE DO, THEY WILL GO TO THE INTERNET !

Some people will always be negative about it, but the ones that feel the same way you do are in the thousands on this forum. Good for you saving those little silkies!

 

[Sharoon]

I got on the internet to look up why one of my Chickens had this lime green poop also lethargic and not eating. I feel so bad cuz I waited way too long to do something about it.She was still walking around the yard and be able to get up in her sleeping area at night. She was drinking and she would eat some greens that I would feed them, but nothing else. On Monday of this week I found your article along with others about injecting them with the Tylan 50. So on Tuesday I went and got some. Also made a mixture up of buttermilk, yogurt and some of their feed ground up. Also put apple cider vinegar in all their water. Any ways we injected her on Tuesday afternoon and gave her some of the mixture I made and left her alone until the evening and fed her some more and she seemed to like it. She did go back in the hen house and lay down but in the corner on the ground. There were a lot of wood shavings and hay on the ground so I left her there. I don't know what I was thinking but just wanted to not stress her out. She did not like to be held. Well it got pretty cold that night and I didn't close their door or turn on my heat lamp for her. I just feel so so bad cuz when I went out the next morning she was laying on the cold ground and barely alive. I did wrap her up in a towel and turned on the heat lamp and waited for my husband to come home so we cold give her another injection. We first gave her a little water as she wasn't drinking anymore.Then we injected her and should have waited a little while to give her some food but we gave her some of the mixture but she didn't swallow it, then my husband tried to give her more and all of a sudden she started slinging her head back and forth and was making this loud screaching sound. I just lost it and and started crying and then she died. I have never felt so QUILTY. I feel like I killed her! I didn't even give her a chance to fight whatever she had. None of my other girls are sick but I will know if any of my other chickens get any green poop I will do the injection immediately and hopefully save their life. She was my oldest girl and came from a different flock than the 4 I have left. I am so glad you saved yours.
Sharoon