Orpie is sick!

[The Lazy Farm Girl]

My 3 y/o Orpington wouldn't leave the coop this morning. Unusual for her - she's usually chattering and tugging on my jeans begging for food. We brought her indoors and put her in the sick room.

Symptoms: Mouth breathing, hard crop, no appetite, droopy wings, didn't want to stand, poop has undigested greens, scratch (predominately wheat berries) and yellow urites (some of the yellow is semisolid), puffed feathers, no chatter. Her comb is bright red, though, and she's alert and looking around.

We did two coconut oil and massage treatments. Her crop softened it may have emptied; can't feel any food now, but it's squishy and still large. It doesn't smell sour. She expelled a lot of liquid and yellow poop. The poop has an odor that isn't really a sick odor, but it isn't a normal poop odor. Sorry I can't describe it any better than that.

We have some chlortetracycline powder from another chicken illness. Mixed that with a little Rooster Booster in water and syringe fed several droppers. Her water bowl has more medicated water in it. She isn't drinking much, so that's the reasoning for syringing her.

Her vent looks fine; no evidence of parasites.

Any advice on what else I can do for her would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

When was her last egg?

If she's not laid and should have, then I'd get 300mg Calcium Citrate+D3 into her now, then once daily for a week.

Work on hydration, then see if she will eat some mushy feed.

A crop issue can be a symptom of something else going on, with all the mucous, yellow bits, urates, etc. in the poop, I'd be inclined to think she may have a reproductive issue. Whether it's Salpingitis, EYP, Cancer, etc., it would be hard to know unless you lose her and there's further investigation.

Giving the antibiotic is probably a good idea in case she does have some type of bacterial infection as well.

When was the last deworming?

 

[The Lazy Farm Girl]

When was her last egg?

If she's not laid and should have, then I'd get 300mg Calcium Citrate+D3 into her now, then once daily for a week.

Work on hydration, then see if she will eat some mushy feed.

A crop issue can be a symptom of something else going on, with all the mucous, yellow bits, urates, etc. in the poop, I'd be inclined to think she may have a reproductive issue. Whether it's Salpingitis, EYP, Cancer, etc., it would be hard to know unless you lose her and there's further investigation.

Giving the antibiotic is probably a good idea in case she does have some type of bacterial infection as well.

When was the last deworming?

Thank you for replying.

Calcium is on the to-give list. I was unsure about giving it on top of crop issues, but she should be good now since her crop has emptied at least some. I can't palpate anything in her belly.

Last egg is hard to say since we have more than one Orpington, but we did have a full complement of Orpie eggs in the past few days. All I can say for certain is that she didn't lay today.

We lost a hen to EYP last year. This doesn't follow the same pattern, but that's not to say she doesn't have it. I don't deworm without evidence of their presence.

I read that coccidiosis can cause yellow stool. The summer has been wet and warm, which apparentlyamakes for a favorable environment. I have Corid, but I'm unsure about mixing it with tetracycline. A number of digestive disorders were also listed as yellow-poo causes.

Again, thanks for your reply!

 

[The Lazy Farm Girl]

UPDATE
Orpie is fairly unchanged:
>She laid a normal egg this morning.
>Still fluffed, however her wings are not drooping.
>Still mouth breathing. The room she's in is very cool, so this must be a stress response.
>Still watery poop. Her morning poop was mostly green. This afternoon, her poop was white with little soft yellow nuggets in it. I'm fearful this is yolk from a malformed egg. Picture below.
>She's eating mushy chick feed and drinking medicated water on her own.

I'm feeling a little encouraged but I need to know if there's more I should do for her.

Thanks!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I don't think I've seen the soft yellow nuggets like that, I'll tag in @Eggcessive and @coach723 to see if what their thoughts are.

To me, I'd say it's Salpingitis, but of course, it could be other egg material being expelled, it can be hard to know.

I'd give the extra calcium to help with contractions/expelling the material and finish the antibiotic course of treatment.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have seen those yellow things either. It would be good to see pictures of her next droppings.

 

[theoldchick]

The last time I've seen yellow nuggets like that in chickens was at a feed test station for chickens at a research facility. My job was to collect and test feces for various things. Chickens who had these yellow nuggets in their feces tested above normal for uric acid. When these hens were necropsied they had uric acid nodules throughout their body. Though they did not have any outward signs of gout the hens were diagnosed with visceral gout.

https://poultrydvm.com/condition/gout

 

[The Lazy Farm Girl]

Thank you!

She had a normal-ish poop this morning, but still evidence of the yellow nuggets, and still a bit of some runny material. I didn't take a picture, though. There is an avian vet in the nearest city and I'm calling tomorrow to see if I can get Orpie an appointment. She'll continue the antibiotic for ten days unless the vet says otherwise and she'll get calcium at least until she can see the vet. I'll definitely take a recent poop to her appointment.

She's roosting with her eyes closed, but is otherwise alert and aware of us coming and going in the room. I'm encouraged by that (and that she's still alive).