Recovery from impacted/sour crop help. Day 12 of diarrhea...

[FeatherWeather]

Ok. I might let her out a little bit today since she seems perfectly fine except for the diarrhea. She's been in the hospital crate for almost 2 weeks. I feel bad for her. I'll put the gangs food up while she's out there so she won't eat the regular stuff.
She was drinking a ton of water, but it's been slowly tapering off. The crumbles I'm giving her is flock raiser. Does that have more protein than layer? I only have layer in pellets.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Flock raiser is usually about 20% protein vs. 16-18% in layer food. Generally that should be totally fine for hens as long as they aren't getting a lot of extra protein in treats, but for a bird with an upset stomach I'd go for "bland" food. If you soak the layer pellets in a little water they'll turn to mush (I have some bantams that don't like the whole pellets, but love it mashed up), though if your girl wants to eat the pellets I don't think it'd be problematic.

Anyway, sounds like she's on the right track. I'll keep my fingers crossed

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My girl Feather is recovering from what I determined was a worm infestation.

I dewormed her, treated her with corrid, had her on Monistat, electrolytes, Rooster Booster and probiotics. Plus I had to give her a stool softener twice for the impaction that caused the sour crop ) I'm hoping it's just taking awhile for things to go back to normal. If I do have to give her an antibiotic, I have fish mox.

She still has diarrhea. It's white milky with mushy looking poo. No water spray anymore. I did try the rice in her crumbles. The buttermilk seemed to make her poop more. She loves the rice, so I think she is overeating it (which may cause more diarrhea??). So, I'm feeding her only moistened crumbles today. She's still looking and acting perfectly healthy. Just having the diarrhea. I am spraying Vetricyn on her vent 3 times a day and it looks like the inflammation is going down. Can the diarrhea be from her vent being inflamed? Is there any other treatment I can do to get her vent back in order? Maybe preparation H? I'd love to get her back out with the gang...She's very bored and lonely.

Photos of poop now?

What did you deworm her with?
When was her last egg?

The buttermilk made her poop more, but was it firmer or the same? Buttermilk will provide probiotics to help offset all the treatments you gave her. The rice is to help firm up poop.

If she's acting fine, eating/drinking on her own, etc., and weather is agreeable, then I'd start re-integrating her back with her flock to see how she does. Since she's been absent a couple of weeks, it may take time for the flock to accept her again, you never know how these things go.

Do make sure her crop is emptying overnight, if it's not, then address that issue. I normally leave birds with their flock even if they need some type of treatment. I just pull them out long enough to give meds, care, etc., then put them right back with their flock.

 

[FeatherWeather]

Photos of poop now?

What did you deworm her with?
When was her last egg?

The buttermilk made her poop more, but was it firmer or the same? Buttermilk will provide probiotics to help offset all the treatments you gave her. The rice is to help firm up poop.

If she's acting fine, eating/drinking on her own, etc., and weather is agreeable, then I'd start re-integrating her back with her flock to see how she does. Since she's been absent a couple of weeks, it may take time for the flock to accept her again, you never know how these things go.

Do make sure her crop is emptying overnight, if it's not, then address that issue. I normally leave birds with their flock even if they need some type of treatment. I just pull them out long enough to give meds, care, etc., then put them right back with their flock.

I dewormed her with Safe Guard (horse paste). I went ahead and did all the girls. I actually had a question about that. I did the 5 day treatment. Should I repeat again in 10 days?

None of my girls have laid for about a 6 weeks. It's been really cloudy and stormy here in CA lately. Plus they were getting harassed by some blue birds. I was throwing scratch on the ground in the mornings and I think the blue birds figured it out and wanted it. Since I stopped, they blue birds haven't been much of a problem. I also believe they all did have worms. So, maybe all that affects egg production??

Good news though. I went ahead and put her back out with her posse yesterday and when I brought her back in last night, she has been pooping normally. YAY!! I'm so relieved. This has been really tough. I only have 4 girls and I raised them from chicks. So unfortunately for me, they're not just chickens. They are part of the family.

I am so grateful for this forum. You guys helped me save Feathers life.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I dewormed her with Safe Guard (horse paste). I went ahead and did all the girls. I actually had a question about that. I did the 5 day treatment. Should I repeat again in 10 days?

If you gave Safeguard for 5 days in a row, there is no need to repeat.

I'm glad her poop is starting to firm up, this is promising news!

Shorter winter hours/less daylight, parasites, diet, stress, age, molt, etc. etc., can affect production. Hopefully once the days start getting longer and the parasites have been taken care of, they will come back into lay.