Please - Desparate for help with sick cochins with poopy bottoms

[Scifisarah]

I hope someone can help me piece together this puzzle and tell me what to do. I have spent thousands and so much time on these birds and am heartbroken about not being able to help them. Since last fall my flock of bantam cochins has shown the following symptoms:

- very watery diarrhea (photo 1)
- poop becoming stuck in huge clumps around vent (photo 2)
- excessive water drinking
- vomiting up water after drinking a lot
- some weight loss in certain individuals
- decreased activity in certain individuals
- some seem to have trouble growing in feathers correctly, with odd looking pieces coming out of them (photo 3)

I have been bathing my entire flock every two weeks. After two weeks, some of them have so much poop stuck to their bottoms, that there is barely room for an egg to get through, and one even had an egg stuck to her. I keep their coops extremely clean with mini-flake pine bedding. Their large outdoor run is sandy soil that I rake and clean weekly. I feed them Purina Layena + Omega and stopped giving them any sort of additional treats months ago, in case that was adding to the problem. All of them are mite and lice free. I have not wormed them since last summer, but have never seen physical worms. None of them have any sort of respiratory issues or nasal discharge. When I brought up this problem on the Cochins International FB page, Apple Cider Vinegar 1 teaspoon/gallon water was suggested. I have been using that for the past month, with absolutely no improvement. Yesterday I switched to putting Manna Pro Life-Lytes with electrolytes, vitamins and probiotics in their water. I brought a fecal sample to my vet, but he declined to send it in because he could only have it tested for worms, not bacteria. He had no suggestions for a poultry vet in the area so that was a dead end.

I am so very desperate for help from knowledgeable individuals. On hand to medicate them I have safeguard paste, Tylan soluble, and ivermectin.

 

[MySweetChickens]

you can try worming them

 

[Scifisarah]

you can try worming them

Why specifically do you think it is worms, since I have not seen any?

 

[NextGeneration]

You can't see the worms (parasites.)

 

[Scifisarah]

You can't see the worms (parasites.)

I was under the impression that if they had worms, I would at least occasionally see some in their poop. Should I use the Safeguard paste now, or use Wazine in their water first?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Ridiculous that the vet wouldn't send in a fecal sample, or take a look at it under the microscope himself! I think I'd be finding a new vet that is more willing to be helpful.

What did you deworm them with last summer? I think what I would do is get a scissor and trim off all those fluffy butt's so they won't catch the poop so easily, then wash if needed. Then I would deworm everybody with Valbazen or Safeguard for goats. The paste is fine too I just find the liquid easier to measure and administer. Wazine will only get rid of round worms and chickens get a lot of different worms so it's better to use something effective. Forget the Ivermectin, it's just about worthless as a poultry dewormer.

I would continue the probiotic's. Some scrambled or mashed, hard boiled egg would be good, a little buttermilk has lots of probiotic's in it as well.

 

[Scifisarah]

Ridiculous that the vet wouldn't send in a fecal sample, or take a look at it under the microscope himself! I think I'd be finding a new vet that is more willing to be helpful.

What did you deworm them with last summer? I think what I would do is get a scissor and trim off all those fluffy butt's so they won't catch the poop so easily, then wash if needed. Then I would deworm everybody with Valbazen or Safeguard for goats. The paste is fine too I just find the liquid easier to measure and administer. Wazine will only get rid of round worms and chickens get a lot of different worms so it's better to use something effective. Forget the Ivermectin, it's just about worthless as a poultry dewormer.

I would continue the probiotic's. Some scrambled or mashed, hard boiled egg would be good, a little buttermilk has lots of probiotic's in it as well.

They aren't a farm, or even an avian vet. He didn't refuse to do it, he just told me that since he wouldn't be the vet for my chickens, he would prefer I find a vet and do the testing through them. I see where he is coming from, but now looking back, I wish I'd just been stubborn and told him I wanted a test for parasites, even if he wouldn't be the one offering me treatment.

I used Wazine and Ivermectin last year. I'm planning on putting some of the safeguard paste inside tiny pieces of bread, and feeding that to each of my birds today, then repeating in 10 days. I will feel ridiculous if this problem could possibly have been fixed so easily long ago except I have always heard the misinformation that if you don't see worms in the poop, they probably don't have worms. I was planning on showing this year, but I did give up and trim everyone two days ago since getting them healthy is what is most important to me.

 

[cafarmgirl]

The thing about worms in the poop is that by the time they are passing enough worms in their poop to be noticeable they have a heavy infestation and all the internal damage that goes along with it. I don't know if worms are what's going on with your flock but that's certainly where I would start. Make sure they get enough of the paste, a pea sized amount for each bird. Good luck, I hope that does the trick!

 

[Scifisarah]

The thing about worms in the poop is that by the time they are passing enough worms in their poop to be noticeable they have a heavy infestation and all the internal damage that goes along with it. I don't know if worms are what's going on with your flock but that's certainly where I would start. Make sure they get enough of the paste, a pea sized amount for each bird. Good luck, I hope that does the trick!

I injected each piece of bread with 0.6 cc of paste, and they are all somewhere between 28-38 oz birds, so I think that should be enough. All the hens and pullets wolfed the bread pieces down, but they did not work well for my four boys. They just tidbit the bread for the ladies instead of eating it, even if I shut them all up in the coop. Next time I'll just give it to them with the syringe.

 

[Scifisarah]

I medicated my thirteen cochins with safeguard equine paste yesterday. One of them pooped when I checked on them this morning, and there were squirming little skinny worms in them. Yuck, but I would rather it be this than some sort of bacterial or viral problem. Definitely the lesser evil. After doing some researching, they appear to be hairworms/capillaria. I will medicate with safeguard again in 10 days. I have neomycin on hand now as an antibiotic, but will hold off using it, if they are improving from just the deworming. My kids have fed them earthworms in the past, which I now read are an intermediate host for hairworm. They got a lecture this morning about what they are allowed to feed the chickens. I will probably still switch to the crumble food so it is easier on them to digest, and keep using the electrolytes/vitamins/probiotics in the water.