Pale comb, lethargic barred Rock

[Kbearda12]

Our 7 month old barred rock is having a rough week. She stopped laying a week ago which initially didn’t worry me because the weather has gotten much cooler and shorter days. But in the last two days her comb has gotten much paler (in these photos it actually looks redder than it has consistently which is nice to see) and now we’re noticing that green diarrhea and she’s been just swaying in the corner of the run. She doesn’t appear to have lost any weight. We’re running by the feed store today and unsure if we should get stuff for worm, coccidius (sp?) or something else entirely. Their coop has pine shavings inside, we don’t see any obvious injury and all the other birds appear just fine. Please help us help our Kylo Henny girl.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She stopped laying a week ago which initially didn’t worry me because the weather has gotten much cooler and shorter days. But in the last two days her comb has gotten much paler (in these photos it actually looks redder than it has consistently which is nice to see) and now we’re noticing that green diarrhea and she’s been just swaying in the corner of the run.

Can you take a fecal sample to your vet for testing?

Feel her abdomen for any bloat/swelling or fluid and check her crop to see if it's emptying completely overnight.
Barring worms or Coccidiosis, I'm going to say she likely has a reproductive problem. Internal laying, egg yolk Peritonitis or similar.

Tell us what type of food/treats you feed.

 

[Kbearda12]

None of the local vets take chickens, a few places have said they’d call us back about testing a fecal sample but they haven’t gotten back to us yet. all our birds are on a basic layer feed, Purina I think, and they get corn and kitchen scraps as treats a few times a week. Occasionally bread.

 

[Kbearda12]

Right now we have her in the garage in quarantine with electrolytes and probiotics going. Her color is better but she still seems lethargic? Her poop has gone more bright green but she IS pooping more which seems like a good thing to me? I’m not sure. I sure hope it’s not reproductive

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is she eating/drinking?

You can try deworming her if a vet is unwilling to do the testing. Fenbendazole (Safeguard) at .23ml per pound of weight for 5 days in row.

 

[Kbearda12]

She’s eating and drinking. She’s looking worse again this afternoon. I forgot to mention we did do a dewormer after this intial post because we didn’t know what else to do.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She’s eating and drinking. She’s looking worse again this afternoon. I forgot to mention we did do a dewormer after this intial post because we didn’t know what else to do.

I'm sorry she is not improving

 

[Kbearda12]

She passed this morning.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm very sorry

If you want to investigate further to find out the cause you can refrigerate the body and make arrangements to send it to your state lab.
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
Alternatively, if you are able to do it, you can perform an informal necropsy yourself. Look in the abdomen and at the internal organs for anything obvious like cancer, organ failure, masses, etc. If you do this, take photos and we can try to help you with what you see.

 

[Kbearda12]

Ah I wish I had come back to this sooner. We opened her up and found rotten egg yolks and some broken shell so I’m assuming some kind of internal laying issue? Everyone else seems healthy (though one gal did lay a fairy egg today and we’re on edge after losing our first chicken).