Sick BO Pullet - Please Help

[Eggcessive]

Oops, sorry, I just saw that @Eggcessive suggested that as well! I need to read slower.

No problem. We just think alike!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree with going ahead and treating her with the Corid, it won't hurt her.

Check her crop first thing in the morning before she eats/drinks - it should be empty.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Sounds like she gets a lot of treats, and she may have just lost her appetite for good food. Like a kid that snacks all day then turns his nose up at green beans and carrots, lol. You might try making a mash of her regular feed, maybe add a little plain yogurt, and see if she will eat that. This, along with the other good advice you are getting. Good luck with her!

I only started giving her treats out of desperation since she seemed to go off feed altogether. She won't eat mash either (that's what I'd been trying to feed her the last few days). If I put oats in the mash she'll pick them out lol.

I got some plain Greek yogurt, so I will try that. And maybe some scrambled eggs later, to get her eating something. I hope she's drinking plenty so she can get the meds in her.

She definitely still has the will to survive. As I was getting ready to bring her in she charged me and flew onto my shoulders. When I tried to get her down she jumped on my head lol. She's such a brat and I love her! fingers crossed.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Since hou have the Corid, I would go ahead and start it at the maximum dosage. Add 2 tsp (10ml) of the liquid (or 1 1/2 tsp of the powder) to a gallon of water, and give for 5-7 days. But if possible, I would have her see a vet to test some fresh droppings for coccidiosis, worms, and perhaps a gram stain for bacteria. Do you see anything in her droppings that resembles egg material? I would try to feed her separately, or give her some cooked egg, wet chicken feed, or tuna.

Nothing like egg material. Pure liquid (not yolk or whites like) and then when she got food in her, green chunky diarrhea. I think I may have spotted a little bit of pink intestinal lining too. She is on Corid now, hope she's drinking up.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @BigBlueHen53 she's munching away on Greek yogurt with some pumpkin and pumpkin seeds (the girls got a big old pumpkin... I brought her a small piece so she wouldn't miss out).

Here are recent poops. That orangish stuff looks like shed intestinal lining, which I know could be cocci.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Also... From her last few poops and pictures I've seen online, it really is starting to look like c. perfringens. I have no idea what to do about that...

 

[Eggcessive]

If it were clostridium perfringens, and I would get that fecal float and gram stain done by a vet to confirm it, it can be treated with many different antibiotics. From what I have read, some of those are amoxicillin, bacitracin, oxytetracycline, and tylan. Treating for coccidiosis first is good, even if it is clostridium, since it usually follows an outbreak of coccidiosis. Probiotics would be good to use now and after Corid.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Unfortunately my vet has been out of town all week, so I have to wait till Saturday to speak with her.

Meanwhile, I have Glory on FishMox (amoxicillin) and Corid, with my fingers crossed that, between the two, the issue is being treated. Hard to tell, though. She is still having varying degrees of watery, green diarrhea. And I'm still having a hard time getting her to eat her feed or wholesome things like scrambled eggs and greek yogurt. I did get her to eat a good bit of cottage cheese today. Outside of that, she only wants bread, grapes, mealworms, or oats (but not oatmeal). The only way I've gotten wholesome food types in her is to ball them up in a little pill of bread, which is not sustainable--I know bread is not the best for them, especially if battling a bacterial or fungal infection. But I get desperate when she doesn't eat.

All said, despite the struggle, she's still somehow very energetic, alert, and spunky. She flies up and down from her roost, tries to fly onto me any chance she gets, and is always on her feet scratching and pecking around. Her comb and wattles are nice and red (for her maturity level), and they even seem to have grown the last few days.

So frustrating (and baffling)! I feel she's giving me a window of time to help her but I don't know how... Hoping the vet will have answers.

@azygous and @Wyorp Rock I'm copying you, too, since you've been so helpful in the past.

If it were clostridium perfringens, and I would get that fecal float and gram stain done by a vet to confirm it, it can be treated with many different antibiotics. From what I have read, some of those are amoxicillin, bacitracin, oxytetracycline, and tylan. Treating for coccidiosis first is good, even if it is clostridium, since it usually follows an outbreak of coccidiosis. Probiotics would be good to use now and after Corid.

 

[Eggcessive]

Try making feed balls out of her chicken feed if she likes dough balls. I have one picky eater who somedays likes scrambled egg, others canned tuna, and she goes nuts for a good birdseed, but it beats not eating anything. Glad that she is holding on.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Try making feed balls out of her chicken feed if she likes dough balls. I have one picky eater who somedays likes scrambled egg, others canned tuna, and she goes nuts for a good birdseed, but it beats not eating anything. Glad that she is holding on.

Good idea--I will try that!

I've done mash, which she used to love, but it's like she realized it's made of feed and since then has been morally opposed to it. If I mix it with things she likes, she'll find, extract, and eat them without allowing one morsel of feed to pollute her palate.

Part of me wonders if the feed is what got her sick in the first place. Sometimes they kick the mash out of the bowls in their run--they seem to eat them up right away, but I always worry some might get buried and go moldy. So maybe she is subconsciously avoiding the thing that made her ill.