Polish lethargic & pooping watery yellow/green

[Lillith37]

Thank you! I meant more like I wonder what problem are the antibiotics helping? Hoping it can be healed fully and isn’t a chronic issue

My guess is reproductive infection if she stopped laying before she got sick. It’s quite common. Hopefully she can return to laying without issue but sometimes they do become susceptible to recurring infection.

Make sure you regularly clean their feeding and watering apparatus. Change bedding in nesting boxes regularly and keep their dust bathing areas clean. Chickens can get bacterial reproductive infections via reverse peristalsis through their vent. You can supplement with probiotics once the antibiotics are finished as well.

 

[Jhura]

My guess is reproductive infection if she stopped laying before she got sick. It’s quite common. Hopefully she can return to laying without issue but sometimes they do become susceptible to recurring infection.

Make sure you regularly clean their feeding and watering apparatus. Change bedding in nesting boxes regularly and keep their dust bathing areas clean. Chickens can get bacterial reproductive infections via reverse peristalsis through their vent. You can supplement with probiotics once the antibiotics are finished as well.

Can you elaborate on the bacterial reproductive infections? Are they contagious?

 

[Lillith37]

Can you elaborate on the bacterial reproductive infections? Are they contagious?

So the egg yolk peritonitis is one example of a reproductive infection. The yolks are deposited into the abdomen and develop infection. Not contagious.

Another common reproductive infection is salpingitis, which is infection of the salpinx/oviduct/fallopian tube. There is both bacterial and viral salpingitis.

In regular/high production layers there is usually some degree of persistent inflammation in the salpinx. Bacteria such as E.coli can enter the salpinx via reverse peristalsis through the vent and cause infection. This isn’t necessarily contagious but environment can be a cause of multiple cases within a flock. So if nesting box material is dirty, for example, when they go to lay their eggs, that can be a source of infection.

 

[Chickenmother26]

So I finished the 10 days of antibiotics yesterday evening, but she still doesn’t seem better. She still doesn’t want to eat and lethargic so we’ve been giving her what we can with a syringe. Is there anything else we can do? Her poop is green except for when we make her eat, I feel bad for her I just want her to be better but I also feel bad keeping with the syringes because she doesn’t want to eat, except occasionally a bit of tomato. Any advice/suggestions from anyone? Should I give her more antibiotics or something else?

 

[Lillith37]

So I finished the 10 days of antibiotics yesterday evening, but she still doesn’t seem better. She still doesn’t want to eat and lethargic so we’ve been giving her what we can with a syringe. Is there anything else we can do? Her poop is green except for when we make her eat, I feel bad for her I just want her to be better but I also feel bad keeping with the syringes because she doesn’t want to eat, except occasionally a bit of tomato. Any advice/suggestions from anyone? Should I give her more antibiotics or something else?

If you feel her abdomen beneath her vent and before her keel bone starts, how does it feel? Soft and squishy? Big? Small? Distended or swollen? Fluid filled like a water balloon? Hard? Does she show signs of discomfort or tenderness when you palpate it?

I’m sorry the antibiotics didn’t have more of an effect. If she’s had an underlying issue for a long time, it may have addressed the infection but not given her enough relief to feel completely better.

 

[Chickenmother26]

If you feel her abdomen beneath her vent and before her keel bone starts, how does it feel? Soft and squishy? Big? Small? Distended or swollen? Fluid filled like a water balloon? Hard? Does she show signs of discomfort or tenderness when you palpate it?

I’m sorry the antibiotics didn’t have more of an effect. If she’s had an underlying issue for a long time, it may have addressed the infection but not given her enough relief to feel completely better.

Not big, not distended or swollen, but maybe slightly hard? She’s pretty weak right now from refusing to eat much all day but I think she opened her beak a bit when we were squishing it, so maybe a little uncomfortable. I’m not sure what to do so panicking and sobbing while trying to make her eat

 

[Chickenmother26]

Update: she died shortly after my last message I am heartbroken

 

[azygous]

It's sad to lose a hen you've worked so hard to save. She most likely had a reproductive infection, and those are more often than not, not treatable. But it's always worth a try, and you did that.