Panting, lethargic, wings drooping, suddenly...What is it?

[Bocktobery 10]

I'm going ot start treating her with Denugaurd and maybe some tetracycline, just because this sounds and looks a lot like what i lost a hen to last year.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

She's been soaked in epsom. I did the gloved lubed finger thing and felt nothing. Online instructions said to go straight back, and I did, but it didn't go very far in. I didn't feel anything but 'wall' of flesh. No hard shells, no openings of any kind, just went inside a bit. I also probed down- felt nothing. I don't feel anything in her abdomen either.

She is gurgling now, and making small sneezes. I have given her a doze of denugaurd. (3tsp in a gallon of water, and I syringed about 5 ccs into her mouth/beak) I may proceed with either tylan 50 injectable, or maybe just some more tetracycline- but I don't think her system is moving.

What do I do from here?

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Oh, I forgot to say when I removed my finger the first time, there was a smell of sulpher. Is this normal? Could that mean anything?

 

[Bocktobery 10]

There is blood now coming out from her mouth.... just a little bit. She seems to be getting weaker. I'm very concerned... does anyone know anything about blood coming out from the mouth?

She also pooped a little bit. It doesn't seem too abnormal. It was a bit runny/watery and a bit on the green side, but still granualy and congealed like normal poop. It was only a little bit though.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Yesterday my brother in law sprayed wasp spray inside a cubby in his pop up camper (on my lawn) .. could it be some sort of poisoning?

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Anyone still out there?

Its now been more than 12 hours- she is still alive this morning. Seems to be the same. There is crusty blood around her beak. I have not been able to check inside her mouth for sores yet. I've been doing reading since and I think she may have ILT?

Her crop did not go down since yesterday. I smelled nothing on her breath yesterday. Today I do not know what it is (if its some poop, or coming from her mouth/body) but there is a faint funky smell to her whole body- light odor not too offensive, but present. Her sinus do not appear to be swollen. Her eyes are a bit glassy, but nothing very unusual. I gave her some water treatment with denugaurd in it this morning.

The swollen crop, the gurgling noises and lethargy are all symptoms that one of my chickens last year had when they had MG- which out of two sick in this manner recovered. I'm not sure if ILT is a mycoplasma? Can anyone tell me? I've tried to find information on it to see if denugaurd would help with it. MG is in my flock- I suppose they are carriers/have been exposed... so I am not sure if I'm dealing with a re-occurrence of that, or if this is something new like ILT. I've never had symptom of blood coming from mouth before and I am freaking out about it. Would denugaurd help clear up ILT and MG? I heard MG carriers will have a resurgence of MG if they get ill. Which is why I'm treating her for it now. What preventative measures do I take to prevent the spread of this to my other chickens- do you change your clothes after touching the sick chicken?? Spray yourself down with lysol?

 

[Sara Ranch]

How's your girl doing this morning?

I don't know what else you could do, other than what you are and what others have suggested.

Yes, it's possible that she was affected by the toxins your brother sprayed. She could have breathed it in or eating coated grass/food/insects.

How is your her crop? Swollen? Flat?

Has she drank any acv water today?

Can you get her to walk around/to move on her own? It will help get whatever bad stuff inside out.

In other posts, people have suggested giving her aspirin for the pain. I don't know if aspirin will make internal bleeding worse or not with chickens.

Can you get her to eat any meat/animal protein? Helps with blood clotting and energy.

I hope she recovers.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Thanks Sara,

She's still hanging in there. She is drinking and eating a bit and also trying to get away (walking, hobbling)... so she may be feeling a bit better. No blood, no gurgles, no sneezes or coughs, no runny eyes, no facial swelling now... Just a liquid-y crop and mostly water diarrhea, but not much. She ate a bit of pineapple for me and earlier some ACV water. Right now, I'm just trying to get the crop better, to treat that first I think would be key as that might be all this is. All the rest of the flock seems healthy and happy (Thank God!) so it seems to be just her (so far) .. She's not panting, but she's still sick.

I just gave her a warm bath (she had eliminated stinky liquid poo all over herself) with some essential oil thyme shampoo. I thought it would not hurt, hopefully it won't, but will help as thyme is supposed to be one of those oils that fights bacteria and fungus. If she ingests some of it while preening that might help? .. but I rinsed her well. Even if she breathes in the thyme fumes, it should help the sinus passages. I'm at a loss because I tried to make her vomit and I could not... I have have NOT been successful at that ever.

I'm not sure what happened to her. Right now it just looks like sour crop. What was the blood from??? There were a few droplets of blood on the floor near her cage this morning, but that's been it. I'm going to continue with the denugaurd treatment- I know my flock was exposed to MG a year ago. All her symptoms yesterday reminded me of it.

 

[Sara Ranch]

If you have it, put some oregano and garlic in her water/in a bowl/somewhere she can reach it. Both are very beneficial to chickens/ducks.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Sara, thanks... I did do that.. and it helped... I made a paste of garlic powder, ginger powder, and cant' remember the other powder.. and mixed it into a paste with butter. I put in in her beak and she swallowed it. This made the liquid go down, and she then had just a solid mass- about the size of a ping pong ball in her crop. I then filled a syringe with olive oil and put it in the back of the beak (not a good idea, do not do that!.. I think some got down the wrong pipe for her) and then started to massage the clump... but it then filled back in with fluid.

SO this tells me that the backup might be somewhere behind the crop? Is this crop stasis then? Or is that not the right term? She ate a little bit for me last night and a little bit for me today. (Regular mash mixed with yogurt and a few ground up oats) I've also been giving her sips of red wine vinegar mixed with water and also apple cider vinegar mixed with water. (I did not have any red wine to try so I tried the red wine vinegar) The red wine vinegar seemed to really help clear up the fluid. She does now have fluid in her crop again- lots of little gritty things in her crop too (stones? corn bits?)
When I first found her sick her breath did not smell bad... now it does. I'm continuing with the denugaurd (because of my flock being exposed to MG before and because her symptoms match what I saw in a hen that died last year with it)


I'm going to be taking her to the vet this evening to see if anything can be done (that was the closest time available). At this point, I think it is either infection or some sort of impaction further down the digestive track... could be wrong though. She is still hanging in there, but I can tell its crunch time now. She has only pooped twice, and not even good poops, just a watery one yesterday and today a little tiny normal one. She holds her feet to her abdomen- I have a feeling, this is because she feels very sick inside the stomach, so that's probably the target area, where the pain/discomfort is.