Runny weird poop and lethargic

[virgogypsy75]

Hi all!
I'm hoping someone can offer some sound advice for one of my hens (Lulu). About a week ago I noticed she was yawning a lot which triggered me to look online and found possible gape worm or respiratory infection. The "yawning" has since stopped but the last few days she's slowly becoming lethargic, each day a little worse. Today was definitely the worst, she didn't join in with the other free ranging hens that much. She did forage and peck around on her own, ate grass, clover and even some dried mealworms. I fed them all some scrambled eggs with organic yogurt, apple cider vinegar and egg shell and she did definitely have some of that. But again as the day went on the more lethargic she got, and stood around with her eyes closed. Her comb and wattle are also more pale than normal.

Her poop is really runny and weird looking! I've looked numerous times at the poop chart and not finding many similarities.

The first photo was taken this morning from last nights coop droppings.

This second photo was taken this afternoon

And then a little while later I got these. The first has these two bean like things in it...the second pic I took a stick and broke them up. They were squishy feeling and one looked like a seed inside. Weird!!! I don't know what the heck to do! Should I treat her for worms? I haven't seen any at all but I know that's not always the case.

Thank you in advance for any advice that can be given! By the way, I'm not a big vet goer for my chickens. I try and do what I can on my own for various reasons one being a money issue. So at this point I can't afford to bring her to the vet but also don't want to give her a ton of chemical medications based on assumption that could potentially do more harm than good.

 

[cafarmgirl]

How old is this bird? Is she laying regularly? What is her body condition like, does she feel like she's lost weight or does she feel bloated in her lower body at all? Are they on a regular deworming program? Any mites?

This is one of those situation's where there are just a whole lot of things this could be.

 

[virgogypsy75]

She is about a year and 5 months old. Honestly through the winter my chickens never stopped laying and I have six. However I don't know who lays what. I've been getting 5 eggs a day the last few days and I'm assuming she is not laying. I do put apple cider vinegar in their water and add DE to their feed but I haven't done that since last October. I'm trying to do it at the change of the seasons. I haven't checked for mite issues but I will definitely do that in the morning. Lulu was egg bound in December and internally checked her vent and even injected olive oil to help "lube" the way. She ended up passing the egg but was thinking maybe she could be susceptible. However I checked her today and her lower belly did feel a little bloated but doesn't seem like she's lost weight.

I wish she could just tell me what's wrong! I'll continue to check her in the morning, look for mites, lice and everything else and start deworming for a few days. And really hope for the best. Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I'll keep you updated!

 

[hcarlsonlewis]

I had chicken who had egg laying issues and at one point I had a similar situation. I sent a picture to someone at the University of Georgia in the poultry department. He said what it looked like to him was an egg didn't fully develop was caught inside and became infected which is why the poop was green. He called in some amoxicillin for me and the green poop was cleared up in a few days. I mixed the medicine on some spaghetti and made it like sauce. Much easier than giving her some in her beak.

 

[Sarevan]

The bean things you broke up look to be the stuff they shed from intestinal lining. Some of them can have weird nodules with stringy tissue holding it together. First time i saw that i thought my chickens were mutants. Thought of alien movie too but that is just me.

A test for gape worm is to stick a qtip down the throat to rub sides of throat to see if pink red small worms are there.

Another reason a hen "yawns" is to adjust her crop, stretches out her neck and yawns. A piece of grass can be in throat and be bugging them too.

The poo pics look like she has green poo? and runny. Green means not eating properly.

I would check her crop make sure emptying over night, should be nice and flat in the morning. Smell her does she smell bad from either end? Is the crop soft and squishy, like a water ballon or feel solid? What kind of feed is she eating? Have you checked feed for moisture in it or dried clumpy molds?

Check her vent does she smell bad, any sign of mites/ lice? Any strange whitish discharge sticking to outside of vent? Glove up and insert lubed finger to feel for an egg that may be obstructing. Feel any weird lumps or does internally feel smooth?

When she is breathing does she open her mouth, any strange breathing sounds? Are her nostrils clear, eyes clear no discharge or bubbles in eyes? Open mouth and check the upper palate, the long V in the top is it clear of mucus or food?

Check for good blood return by gently pinching comb and see if it fills in fast when blood returns or does it stay pale?

Body wise has she lost weight compared to other hens? Does her breast bone feel more prominent than the other hens? Does her abdomen feel soft, or fluid filled and squishy, or solid feeling? Compare her to other hens. Should be able to feel internal organs, gizzard will feel roundish and solid. Be gentle feeling abdomen.


*** To get her feeling better till figure this out I would tube feed her or get her to eat yogurt, scrambled eggs, cooked rice helps with diarrhea, add vitamins to water or poultry nutridrench directly into her mouth. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

Right now can be parasites internally, food not being eaten or not passing through, an illness like respiratory bringing her down or a combo of things. Hoping more experienced members post here soon ***

 

[Eggcessive]

Those pink things in the stool look like internal laying bits, called lash eggs I believe. They can have poops similar to some of those you have pictured. Here is a link about lash eggs, look at page 6: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/473989/weird-egg-weird-clump-lash-graphic-pics/50

 

[virgogypsy75]

Hi all! I've taken a step back from my post to try and help my Lulu. She's doing about the same. I checked for mites/lice and she's clean. Doesn't stink at either end. Internally feels smooth. She's breathing fine with her beak closed. I do feel however her crop/breast bone area are a little more prominent than the other.

I've been feeding her scrambled eggs with organic yogurt, little bit of garlic and a bit of mothers apple cider vinegar and she definitely eats it and also drinks water. She doesn't dive in like the others but she free feeds herself. She also walks around and eats grass and clover. I do believe she's lost a bit of weight only because I don't think she's eating feed. Only what I give her and what she eats in the yard. But I can't confirm because I haven't seen her not eat the regular feed either.

However most of the time she lays down with her eyes closed and tail down. Her comb, wattle and skin around her eyes are pale. I just don't know what to do anymore. I actually have some amoxicillin that my doctor gave me a few weeks ago in case I needed. I never used it. I found two more of those bean things in her poop from last nights droppings. So you think amoxicillin could help? I just don't know how to treat this because I have no clue what she may have. I feel bad and afraid she's suffering. Any further advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[virgogypsy75]

Oh and it's still green runny poop.

 

[winifredbee]

I have a similar situation going on with one of our school hens. I'm thinking she has an egg she can't pass. I'll be following your situation to see what happens. Today her poop looked like a green worm and I found what looked like a garlic clove in her poop. Some days she seems better but I'm worried. She looked like she was trying to lay an egg today. Found two nice eggs today but I'm not sure if they were from her. Poor thing.

 

[rpar003]

I would give her some of the antibiotics. I figure they can't hurt her at this stage. The second poop photo you posted looks similar to our hen, who the vet told us is egg-bound. Maybe you could get her to have some extra calcium too? That's meant to be really good for egg bound hens, and it won't hurt her. I crushed up a pill and mixed it with yoghurt (my hen didn't eat much, but then she's not eating much at all at the moment).