Not Digesting Food?

[thefluffbutts]

Hello again!

Maybe a week and a half ago I posted on here about my sick hen. I gathered some great advise from some very informative people here. I thought that I had cured her.
Well fast forward to now. She is not eating many different foods, mostly only apples. She isn't drinking much. I've been syringe feeding her water twice away along with some electrolytes and other good stuff.She is still lethargic (but not as much as before).
I have been checking her stool for any abnormalities and have noticed that she is not digesting her food normally. Her crop is very empty as she is eating very little.

Any clues as to whats wrong?

Just a few points about her
-don't know the breed
-About a year and a half old
-wormed at the beginning of this month

 

[ChickNanny13]

Instead of the apples, applesauce maybe easier for her to digest but the nutrition she needs is in her crumbles. Stop the apples, try mixing her feed with plain yogurt. Or mix some feed with water with vitamins & electrolytes (Nutri Drench) added to the consistency of mush. Syringe feeding water can cause problem with aspiration.

Is not eating, digesting & lethargic the only symptoms? What was the prior issue? What did you to, that you thought she was better? It's possible eating only apples is causing the "new" issue?

 

[thefluffbutts]

Instead of the apples, applesauce maybe easier for her to digest but the nutrition she needs is in her crumbles. Stop the apples, try mixing her feed with plain yogurt. Or mix some feed with water with vitamins & electrolytes (Nutri Drench) added to the consistency of mush. Syringe feeding water can cause problem with aspiration.

Is not eating, digesting & lethargic the only symptoms? What was the prior issue? What did you to, that you thought she was better? It's possible eating only apples is causing the "new" issue?

So before hand she was eating yogurt, bread, rice, oats and scrambled eggs; all with vitamins in them. After a while she has stopped eating everything all together and for some reason only eats apples. I know they aren't the BEST thing for her to be eating but I thought it'd be better her eating something instead of nothing at all. I haven't tried apple sauce. She might give that a go. Also with the syringe feeding her water. As it is very hot (also with heavy rain Late afternoon and night). I don't want her to get dehydrated. I do give it slowly. She doesn't drink by herself.

So prior to now she was lethargic, not eating and drinking and had stool that was abnormal. I kept her away from the other girls and gave her intensive care; vitamins, offering food, syringing water. She seemed to perk up a lot so allowed her to have some short free ranges. Her stool went back to normal. She started being more vocal. The only thing that seemed wrong was her comb was still floppy and discoloured and she was still slightly lethargic. She's going down hill again now.

I do know chickens shed the intestinal lining and so red spots do occur. I have noticed an increase in these but not specifically a bloody stool. I do have my fears about coccidiosis as I do have SO many wild bird come in and in their food I did give her some oregano oil in some water as a natural remedy just incase it is coccidiosis.

Hope this gave more info that could help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you tried to get her droppings check ed by a vet for worms and coccidia? Enteritis can also be checked for with a gram stain if you ask your vet. This can save you time, worry, and money in the long run to see if she has an intestinal problem, or perhaps another problem. I am not a vet and can't diagnose, but some people who have had chickens with enteritis say their chickens had undigested seeds and food in their droppings. I would stop the apple. Stick to a balanced chicken feed mixed with water and a little egg, and only a tsp of plain yogurt twice a week for probiotics. Does she lay eggs or have any reproductive problems? Can you detail her symptoms?

 

[thefluffbutts]

Have you tried to get her droppings check ed by a vet for worms and coccidia? Enteritis can also be checked for with a gram stain if you ask your vet. This can save you time, worry, and money in the long run to see if she has an intestinal problem, or perhaps another problem. I am not a vet and can't diagnose, but some people who have had chickens with enteritis say their chickens had undigested seeds and food in their droppings. I would stop the apple. Stick to a balanced chicken feed mixed with water and a little egg, and only a tsp of plain yogurt twice a week for probiotics. Does she lay eggs or have any reproductive problems? Can you detail her symptoms?

I haven't gone to a vet yet as the vets in my are aren't too great with birds. I do plan to as some of theses diseases can occur in cattle e.c.t. and they may know about them from them.
She won't eat any seed sadly. Im going to try her on some egg and yogurt and hope she'll eat that today!
She does not lay eggs and hasn't for the past 2 weeks. She has had abnormal stools also; either runny yellow ones or semi soft undigested brown ones. She is very lethargic, often sitting next to her heat pack as if she's cold. She tends to sleep a lot. As you know she won't eat or drink much. None of my other hens seem to be showing her symptoms (which is good (). The weather has been rainy at night then during the day warm to hot. She hasn't been out too much as 1) she doesn't have the energy 2) just in case she's contagious.I have been giving her electrolytes and vitamins daily. I am starting to give her a drop of oregano oil also. Thats all the medical treatment. When she sleeps in the coop she has saw dust that gets changed every fortnight. Currently she is sleeping on a blanket with puppy pads underneath her and a heat pad.
Thankyou for helping !

 

[Eggcessive]

Sawdust is not good for chickens. Some of the hardwoods can be toxic, and especially, if any wood is treated wood, can be harmful itself. Sawdust becomes moist and frequently contains mold, which can be bad for chickens or cause aspergillosis, a fungal respiratory disease that spreads throughout the body through the air sacs. Pine shavings is much better for chickens. Sand can be good, and I have even used a product for horses called Sweet PDZ granules, which is non-toxic and similar to clumping cat litter.

If you have just a regular vet who would do the fecal float and gram stain without seeing the chicken, that would be good enough. If not, I would probably treat for possible coccidiosis with Corid first. Then I would try to get some Fish Mox (amoxicillin) online, and give her 7 days of treatment for possible enteritis. I would also get Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer or horse paste to worm her. The treatments can get expensive, so the fecal tests might save some cash.

Here is some reading about enteritis and aspergillosis:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/7/aspergillosis/

 

[thefluffbutts]

Thank you to everybody that tried to help me, I appreciate it very much! I took a stool sample to the vet today and turns out she does have coccidiosis. I have bought all the things needed to treat her and the rest of the flock. Lets hope she gets all better!

 

[Oolala]

I was going to say take a stool to the vets, that is what I did as soon as I knew things were not right. If you read up on coccidiosis it is a nasty bug and the longer it is left the harder for the chicken to recover. It took just over a week for my girl to start having a proper hard stool again so dont worry if it takes a little time, I was also fortunate that she continued to eat normally but what first alerted to me that she was not right was the very loose stool, undigested food in it and that she was just sitting by the water bowl drinking loads. My other chickens were not affected either so I can only think she either ate something bad in the garden or ate some mouldy pellets which were in the garden shed. I also made her some spinach soup with garlic and mixed in some yogurt which she loved, tinned sweetcorn, scrambled egg. Try to buy live yogurt if you can as the pro biotics help to get rid of the bugs in the intestines, so I read, I couldn't find that here in france unfortunately. I now have a well stocked medicinal cabinet for my chickens as in The six months I have had them they have had antibiotics for a respitory problem, worming powder and metoxyl for Cocciodsis.
Fingers crossed she gets well and recovers soon.

 

[Stayc]

Hope she gets well soon

 

[Eggcessive]

We are all hoping that she gets well soon. It really does help to get lab work to find out what is going on, when it is available.

If using Corid (amprollium) the dosage is 1 1/2 tsp of the powder or 2 tsp of the liquid added to a gallon of water for 5-7 days. Then after completion, use probiotics and vitamins afterward for a few days.