Puzzled by my hen

[taprock]

Gunther is a polish, silkie cross about a year old. She is in a small coop with pine shavings and five other bantams. This afternoon her comb looked pale and she looked fluffed up. I also found two spots of dark almost bloody looking poop. I checked her vent and found some bloody poo there too. Her vent has no color at all. I would think coci if she had been in any contact with the ground. We are in northern michigan and the ground has been covered with snow since November. She did eat some while I was watching so I did not bring her in for the night. I can treat her for coci but her vent being pale makes me wonder if that could make it worse. Any suggestions or questions would be appreciated.

 

[CMV]

I am thinking it is way too cold for cocci to be an issue. I have a foot of ice pack everywhere, how about you? When was the last time she was wormed? I recently saw some blood in my birds' poop, but discounted cocci immediately due to their age, and the weather. My birds haven't seen ground in months. They are not mucking about in the dirt where they can pick up a cocci overload. I am worming my birds as soon as the weather is reasonable enough to spend an hour in their coop after dark. I am guessing you should do the same.

 

[chickwhispers]

So Sorry @taprock! I can't imagine what it could be if not coci. Perhaps it just got too much for her to handle? Either way I hope you get it figured out.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Its not an egg crushed inside her, right? I second the worm possibility. Had she eaten and passed a foreign item i don't think the comb would be pale??

Mine have worms right now too, also watching for a thaw... i have been soaking their pellets overnight with just enough water to cover them and they eat that better, get more out of it that way. Combs pinked up a bit. I'd feel safe with ivermectin if you get no other leads?

 

[taprock]

I wormed everyone in October. The snow cover showed up mid November. We have about 3 feet in the un drifted spots now. No one else is acting weird. I was thinking because of the pale vent it might be reproductive related but really have no idea. I only have pour on ivomectin right now.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Speaking of food is that a new bag? I had blackish poops and sick looking hens and suspect it was bad feed. Issue went away when the feed did, switched to kent feed.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

How is she doing? Any better? I don't know of any repro issues except broken egg that would cause bleeding. Bleeding can be in intestines too though. I did mine oct/nov too and the worms are back.???! I didn't bleach the coop though. Worms are usually just bits of blood in poo though. ....

 

[taprock]

No better, no worse. I have not found any more blood. I checked her for lice, mites etc. and found nothing. She is incredibly pale but acting pretty normal. She did have some poop frozen in the feathers around her vent this morning but nothing really abnormal looking. I guess I'll just keep watch until something new develops or she looks normal. I hate not knowing what's up, don't you just wish they could talk sometimes!

 

[Eggcessive]

You might try putting her on some Poultry Nutridrench or a good poultry vitamin like Avian Superpak (dose 1/4 tsp per gallon water) which has vitamins and minerals. Could her vent have been pecked when you found the blood. Other things besides cocci and worms can cause blood in stools, necrotic enteritis being one I can think of. Here are 2 links for you:
http://www.jefferspet.com/avian-super-pack/p/AB-P1/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Is she still with us? Pooping solid? I think the pale vent is cause she's probably pale all over. Stress (eat too little) or diarrhea which they don't get anything out of what they eat since it moves too fast can cause pale comb. Have you tried bringing her away from the others and feeding? Where is she *currently* on the pecking order???