Please help! C. Perfringens / Necrotic Enteritis

[amnich1]

Help! I have a flock of 9 silkies. I bought one last week, she has been quarantined by herself with no exposure to the other birds. Day 1 I noticed she didn’t have much appetite and was very thirsty, but I thought it was just adjusting to a new situation. I noticed her runny and green poops yesterday. Decided to give her some cracked corn for the night in case the fermented feed I use for my other birds was bothering her stomach. This morning I did more research. Seems like clostridium perfringens that has evolved into necrotic enterosis. I was working from home today so was able to monitor her. She seems to be acting fine, nothing about her behavior would make me think she is ill. She had a much better appetite today when I introduced yogurt and gave her some electrolytes this morning. After reading on here I went on a wild goose chase for amoxicillin with no luck. Came home with corid since apparently coccidiosis is frequently a precursor to C. Perfringens. Started her on that this afternoon. Called a dozen vets - no one can see her until mid April ?? I ordered some fish mox online - it won’t be here until Thursday. I have been reading prognoses on here and am so worried she won’t make it that long. What do I do?

 

[azygous]

C. perfringens is so fast moving and lethal, your little Silkie would be half dead by now, not "acting fine". It's one of several bacteria that can opportunistically colonize intestines inflamed by coccidia. E.coli is more commonly associated with necrotic enteritis, though it can also be fatal if not treated in time.

Treat her with the Corid. That's what you can be doing until the amoxi gets to you. Should your hen become sicker, you can treat her with the drench dose, which is undiluted amprolium once a day for three days in addition to the drinking water dose.

 

[amnich1]

C. perfringens is so fast moving and lethal, your little Silkie would be half dead by now, not "acting fine". It's one of several bacteria that can opportunistically colonize intestines inflamed by coccidia. E.coli is more commonly associated with necrotic enteritis, though it can also be fatal if not treated in time.

Treat her with the Corid. That's what you can be doing until the amoxi gets to you. Should your hen become sicker, you can treat her with the drench dose, which is undiluted amprolium once a day for three days in addition to the drinking water dose.

Thank you for your response! I did what you suggested and started her on corid and then treated her with the fish mox when it arrived. After a few days the fish mox got rid of the unique smell, so I thought it was helping, but even after the full treatment the consistency and color did not change. She has still eating and drinking and behaving normally. She is not a super active chicken but wasn’t that way when I got her, which was only a few weeks ago now. She doesn’t seem lethargic though, just not as active as my others. The vet local to me had an opening come up that I took her to last week. He did a float test in house and found nothing. He put her on three drops of Albon once a day for 5 days. A few days later the fecal sample that was sent out for external testing came back positive for cocci, even though I had her on corid. It has been 7 days since she started the Albon. She was supposed to be on for 5 only according to vet directions but he hasn’t called me back and I’m unsure whether to stop in case he would tell me to continue. She has no improvement still in the diarrhea. She isn’t drinking as much water as she was at the beginning but still drinks quite a bit, more than average I’d say. Her crop is a bit squishier than I see in my other chickens but does not seem to be sour and does empty overnight. If it weren’t for the diarrhea I would think she’s a totally healthy chicken. I’m not sure what to do. My next thought would be to try to deworm, but she didn’t test positive for any worms and I’m not sure if this could hurt more than help. I have been giving her medicine via yogurt, which she happily takes. She seems generally disinterested in crumble but will still eat it, but is voracious for corn and mealworms and yogurt, so I think it’s just a food preference. I’m not sure what to do next. The corid, amoxicillin, and Albon don’t seem to have done the trick. Do you have any thoughts on what to do next? She is still isolated from the others. Thank you!!

 

[azygous]

It's pointless to worm a chicken that has tested clean for worms. There is always coccidia in chicken feces. It's when they multiply to greater numbers than the chicken can deal with that they become a problem.

She may have a reproductive infection and they're very stubborn to treat. But they are also not always successfully treated.

Try boiled rice with keifer or buttermilk. That often firms up the stools. Try to wean her off the corn. It's not good to allow a chicken to become addicted to it, which appears to be happening with your hen.