Not sure what's wrong

[laurieb01]

Hi. I have a 2 year old Buff Orp who has been acting a little off for the past week. She has been eating, drinking, free ranging, running to me for treats, etc., but she has also been coming up on the piorch, closing her eyes and drifting off for extended periods of time. She has also had watery poop a few times. We put electrolytes in all the water and have been giving her plain yogurt (which I've now read is bad with diarrhea)

She was a little thin, but not much.

So today she is much worse. Her crop was hard so we got water and vegetable oil into her and massaged her crop which went soft quickly. I've mixed up some water, pellets and electrolytes and have been spoon feeding her every hour. She is taking it off the spoon. There is no blood in her diarrhea. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Eggcessive]

You could take in a few droppng to your vet for a fecal test for worms and coccidia. Plain yogurt is good for helping the intestinal bacteria get back to normal, since it contains probiotics. Just don't give too much. I would include a little with some raw egg and with some water. Heat and drinking a lot can cause watery droppings. If her crop is not emptying normally, back off on feed and any whole grains. If it empties by tomorrow, feed is okay. In case she has a crop problem that is not just a result of being ill, here is some reading:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

 

[laurieb01]

Thanks so much. If she's not better by Tuesday (vet closed for holiday) I will take a sample. Her most recent poop was normal looking, well formed, green.

She has been eating more enthusiastically this evening and seems more alert. She keeps dropping off to sleep, though. She'll take a few bites then her head will nod. Then she'll startle herself awake and eat again. Really strange.

 

[Eggcessive]

With off chickens there is always a bit of guess work tyring to figure out what is wrong. When chickens begin molting they can seem a little tired and puny. If she hasn't been wormed, and you can find some Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer at a feed store, you could go ahead and worm her if you want to. Valbazen is 1/2 ml orally, then repeated in 10 days.

 

[laurieb01]

Thanks. I wormed them all about a month ago. We do it twice a year. No sign of lice or mites and I did the finger up the vent to check for egg bound. She is now drinking well on her own and her crop is fairly full but soft. I ordered some Corid from Amazon but if she isn't better tomorrow I'm going to run to Tractor supply and get some. No blood in poop though, so that's good.

 

[laurieb01]

We are losing her. We've tried everything; making her vomit, Drench, oil, massaging crop. TS was out of Corid but I don't think that would help anyway. She seems to have an obstruction of some kind. Her crop was distended but mushy feeling this morning even though she hadn't eaten last night. I tried to make her vomit but she wouldn't. Then her crop went down. ????? Still feels mushy, but almost flat. The only thing I can imagine is that she has a blockage down lower. Poop is watery but greenish. She won't even take scrambled eggs now and only opens her eyes if she's startled. We are making her as comfortable as possible, but I don't know what else we can do. If anybody has any experience with something like this, please, I'd appreciate any advice.