Possibly sick youngster

[Qualien]

I have a female racing homer about 5 months old. We released her with our flock for their first 10 mile training release on Tuesday the 27th. She did not return with the flock, but instead came in 2 hours later, huffing and puffing. We decided to keep her in, and give her rest for 3 days. 2 days ago we released her with the flock from a 7 mile distance, and she came back with the rest of the flock. When I went to retrieve her yesterday morning, she had a mushy green diarrhea around her vent feathers. She was immediately put into isolation, and I watched her intently throughout the day, and gave her access to as much feed and water as she wanted. I've also given her nutridrench. Her droppings in the morning were very watery with not alot of solid material. In the afternoon they looked slightly better, but there was not a lot of solid urates in her waste. She appeared to be slightly puffed out at some points during the day, but other than that has looked physically fine. My flock of pigeons get fed 2 tbsp per bird in the morning upon their return from flight, and 1tbsp per bird in the evening after the new youngsters have loft flown. This bird has already laid her first set of eggs, and is usually one of my fastest fliers with the exception of her first 10 miler. I checked her throat, and their were no signs of canker. It was nice and pretty pink. I've attached a picture of her vent area, her physical condition, and her fecal material in the afternoon. Any thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated. I'm wondering if she could just be stressed about flying because of some sort of predator attack.

 

[biophiliac]

I have a female racing homer about 5 months old. We released her with our flock for their first 10 mile training release on Tuesday the 27th. She did not return with the flock, but instead came in 2 hours later, huffing and puffing. We decided to keep her in, and give her rest for 3 days. 2 days ago we released her with the flock from a 7 mile distance, and she came back with the rest of the flock. When I went to retrieve her yesterday morning, she had a mushy green diarrhea around her vent feathers. She was immediately put into isolation, and I watched her intently throughout the day, and gave her access to as much feed and water as she wanted. I've also given her nutridrench. Her droppings in the morning were very watery with not alot of solid material. In the afternoon they looked slightly better, but there was not a lot of solid urates in her waste. She appeared to be slightly puffed out at some points during the day, but other than that has looked physically fine. My flock of pigeons get fed 2 tbsp per bird in the morning upon their return from flight, and 1tbsp per bird in the evening after the new youngsters have loft flown. This bird has already laid her first set of eggs, and is usually one of my fastest fliers with the exception of her first 10 miler. I checked her throat, and their were no signs of canker. It was nice and pretty pink. I've attached a picture of her vent area, her physical condition, and her fecal material in the afternoon. Any thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated. I'm wondering if she could just be stressed about flying because of some sort of predator attack.

Maybe @sourland or @Old_Strain_Lover has thoughts on this.

 

[Qualien]

Update: today my hen has been sitting in her nesting bowl with her face feathers puffed up. She is not interested in eating or drinking that I've seen, and not interested in moving around either. The wet diarrhea around her vent has slightly dried. I'm open to any ideas that might help, or anything that may be wrong with her. I'm stumped.
@biophiliac do you have any ideas?
There still isn't anything visibly too wrong with her, and I don't want to let her back in with the flock until I figure out what is going on, but I fear she may be going into a slight depression from being separated from the flock, and her mate for days.
I'm also adding updated pictures from today.

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

Did she pair up already that she laid eggs? 5 months is awfully young for that. She doesn't appear to have progressed very far with her molt either... I was going to say she doesn't even really look 5 months old. At that age youngbird sickness (something like adenovirus) is often a problem... although the droppings don't look too terrible. How is her weight? Without having a fecal test done, I don't give medication recommendations as I don't believe in blindly throwing meds at a problem when you don't know the cause... and if it is a virus of some kind, then there isn't any meds for it anyways. What kind of pellets are those that you are feeding?

 

[Qualien]

She is already paired up with a bird born in January. She herself was born 03-08-21. The eggs she laid from her first set were infertile, small and did not hatch, but they were laid 07-06-21. The pellets in the bowl are actually for nesting, they are equine pellets to make cleaning bowls easier. We feed a pigeon flight mix from Big V feeds out of Oklahoma, and she has constant access to grit in the loft. It does feel as if she has lost a little weight, but she has always been pretty petite.

 

[Qualien]

Update: I let her out to see if she would be more interested in moving around the house. She hopped out of the kennel, flew around for a bit, scavenged around on the floor, and then flew up to one of the upper shelves by the roof to perch, and is looking out the window. She still seems alert, and she is still interested in flying, so I'm thinking this is at least a partially good sign. I am fairly new to pigeons, so I could just be worried for nothing, but that is why I am posting on here. this is the first maybe sick pigeon we've had, and we don't have an avian vet in our area. My main concern is the leakage around her vent, and that if she is sick, it could spread to the rest of our flock (which is why I have her separated, and sanitize myself after handling or examining her.) No other birds in the loft appear even remotely sick, and their droppings look healthy. What do you guys think? Should I be worried? Is it probable that she is sick or experiencing health issues? It is all very scary for us, and so I am trying to post the most information accurately that I can. Thank you!

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

Yeah, that last picture you posted where all the droppings are visible... they look pretty bad. She doesn't look too well either from her posture. If she starts vomiting I would say young bird sickness (adenovirus)... otherwise I would guess something like ecoli or salmonella. Stress can bring out a lot of problems in young birds as their immune systems are still developing. Definitely do not let her pair up or lay eggs again this year... it's a big no no in young birds(think of something akin to having a 13 year old child give birth and raise a baby on it's own... they just are not ready for it). I don't know if you have any probiotics, or possibly chicken pellets (they typically contain probiotics in them)... but you could try and give those and see if you see any improvement in her. It's probably likely that she will need a course of medicine to clear it up though...

 

[Qualien]

Thank you @Old_Strain_Lover she ate and drank quite a bit before bed last night, and is currently sunbathing, but she still looks pretty bad. She hasn't started vomiting, and I will be getting probiotics shortly. I'm very worried about her still. Should I still be keeping her separated from the rest of my birds? I did not know that about young birds. All my birds are together in their loft, and not separated, but if she does lay again this year I will definitely be taking the eggs away from her. Thank you.

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

Thank you @Old_Strain_Lover she ate and drank quite a bit before bed last night, and is currently sunbathing, but she still looks pretty bad. She hasn't started vomiting, and I will be getting probiotics shortly. I'm very worried about her still. Should I still be keeping her separated from the rest of my birds? I did not know that about young birds. All my birds are together in their loft, and not separated, but if she does lay again this year I will definitely be taking the eggs away from her. Thank you.

I would definitely keep her separated from the others. It's unknown what is wrong with her, so you don't want take the chance of making the rest sick.

 

[Qualien]

Thank you. I agree. I will continue to keep her separated from the flock. I will attempt to keep every one updated on her condition, but we have no way of getting her tested (both in location and monetarily), so the most I can do is what is suggested, and hope for the best. I also hope this forum may help to keep other new fanciers informed. Please assist me with any additional thoughts that any of you may have as her disease/treatment progresses. Also, for the moment before I get the probiotics, do you think it would be better to give her nutri-drench in her water, or apple cider vinegar?