Pekin Hen Not Acting Right

[casportpony]

That doesn't look normal.

 

[casportpony]

Get her in a cage or crate and feed her nothing but crumbles and a little cat food. If after 72 hours of eating her poop still looks like that I'm gonna guess that she has a bacterial infection. No grass, no weeds, no veggies, just crumbles and a little cat food.

 

[CayugaJana]

That’s great information @casportpony. What would we do without poop inspector general??!!

 

[Ducktown]

Correct. I'm just going off of previous body condition. After this, I might have to make an assessment of all of my ducks and get them weighed. I have such a hard time judging weight because I know that you're supposed to be looking at the breasts and the keel, but some of my older ducks also have what looks to me like loose fat between their legs. Primarily on my blue swedish hen and my cayuga drake. I feel like it gets in their way when they walk, which is why I cut back on feed, but I guess my Pekin suffered from that.

Also, she's been having normal bowel movements in between, but she often has these as well. It looks greenish in color.
View attachment 1174187

Droppings look like that when my ducks eat a lot of lettuce or other soft greens. As soon as they eat something else, their droppings become solid again. Did she eat a lot of veggies?

 

[Vyctoria]

Droppings look like that when my ducks eat a lot of lettuce or other soft greens. As soon as they eat something else, their droppings become solid again. Did she eat a lot of veggies?

Right before I started noticing her going down hill they had just gotten some fresh kale from our garden, but nothing recent.

 

[chickens really]

If she is Drinking lots of water as Ducks do.....That poop is normal or all mine are sick too ....

 

[casportpony]

Right before I started noticing her going down hill they had just gotten some fresh kale from our garden, but nothing recent.

If all she is eating is crumbles and cat food her poop should not look like that. If she has not had any greens in the last 2-3 days I think it's fair to say she might have an infection.

 

[casportpony]

I have one inside in a crate right now. He drinks lots of water, eats noting but crumbles, and his poop *never* looks like that.

 

[Vyctoria]

Update for the day. She was about the same this morning as last night, which is kind of good considering she'd usually start to get weak at night on me. So we seem to be moving forward. I let her out with the others for a second while I cleaned her area a bit and she went straight for the pond. It was my own stupidity and I thought she wouldn't since the others weren't in there, but I did notice that she was more energetic in the water and trying to clean herself. So I immediately took her in for a bath to warm her up and she was bright and happy. Afterwards she was preening like crazy. She's not totally water proof though, so I grabbed my hair dryer and dried her up some on a low setting.

She's getting stronger overall, but it bugs me that she keeps stumbling and then just laying there for a moment. It's like her legs are weak. Besides that, it's like she doesn't realize she's sick and just wants to be out with the others. I figure if she's got any kind of infection going on I can try to start treating it naturally. I was able to get a tiny syringe in her today of a capsule of echinacea/golden seal, 3 drops of oregano EO, and a tiny bit of garlic juice. I'm currently feeding her a mix of All Flock Pellets and Feather Fixer moistened a bit. Rooster Booster in her water as well. Due to free feeding and stress from being away from the others, her appetite seems to have gone down a bit. I'm going to get the cat food for her this week, but I'm sort of waiting on a smaller bag of the brand I want to come in on the truck this week.

If she doesn't start picking up by this Friday's pay day, I'm going to see about calling the vet. I can at least swing an appointment fee, stool test, and possibly an x-ray. Things are just going to be tight this week I suppose. And the only decent vet who will see ducks is about 45 minutes to an hour away I think.

 

[casportpony]

I'm currently feeding her a mix of All Flock Pellets and Feather Fixer moistened a bit.