Sick Chicken Help Needed

[Kiki]

The treats I’m giving her has pumpkin seeds. Is there a reason to avoid this?

A balanced diet would be best. Feeding treats isn't going to make her better....it could actually make her worse.
Although if she is already dying it won't really matter what you feed.

 

[triciayoung]

Green poop is bile. Is she not eating?

 

[petitemusings]

Green poop is bile. Is she not eating?

She’s eating. She eats purina organic layer pellets. We weren’t sure how much she was eating so the vet said to bring her in from the cold and give her some treats.

 

[triciayoung]

She’s eating. She eats purina organic layer pellets. We weren’t sure how much she was eating so the vet said to bring her in from the cold and give her some treats.

She’s eating. She eats purina organic layer pellets. We weren’t sure how much she was eating so the vet said to bring her in from the cold and give her some treats.

He was probably trying to determine if he was eating or not by using treats. I suggest triaging with @azygous

 

[FloppyGirl]

No. Do NOT offer either of these, especially garlic.

I respect we all have our personal experiences/approach to chicken/animal health. I lean towards the natural but respect that others have other ideas. I personally believe that garlic is beneficial to mammals and poultry, have never had issues and have been feeding to both (mammals longer, but now poultry as well).

 

[triciayoung]

My only remaining chicken, an approximately 6-7 year old Rhode Island Red is not well. She’s been very healthy up until the other day when I noticed she’s got dark green watery poop that smells like sewage. She had a lot of mess around her butt and I soaked her in a warm bath to clean her up and now have her in the house. Her comb and waddle are both very pale. She’s drinking water and eating some but the runny poop won’t stop. I’ve called the vet and they have no openings and basically said I’m on my own and to keep her indoors, comfortable and feed her her favorite treats as they think she’s on her way out. Not sure if she’s too old for cocc’s or if she may have worms or something else? She was still laying in the warmer months and now nothing and it doesn’t appear that she’s egg bound.

I ordered some corid liquid but it won’t be here until Wednesday and today purchased some poultry dewormer 5x incase it’s worms. When looking up the directions it says not to administer if chicken is sick.

Does anyone here have any recommendations on how to proceed

How is she doing today?

 

[petitemusings]

He was probably trying to determine if he was eating or not by using treats. I suggest triaging with @azygous

I think it was more about making her comfortable. She is older but it seemed so sudden. She seems to be eating her feed and drinking a lot of water so I’m baffled at what could be going on. I’ll reach out for triage as recommended. Many thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

Since she is having runny poops, I would stick to her usual feed and a bit of scrambled egg for a treat. Chicken feed can be moistened with water to make a porridge which most find appealing. Probiotics such as Probios powder (or the generic from your feed store.) plain Greek yogurt 1 spoonful daily also works. Don’t feed the seed mix now. Make sure that her crop is emptying overnight.

 

[Kiki]

I respect we all have our personal experiences/approach to chicken/animal health. I lean towards the natural but respect that others have other ideas. I personally believe that garlic is beneficial to mammals and poultry, have never had issues and have been feeding to both (mammals longer, but now poultry as well).

Have you read this?
Notice who wrote it. It's not a blogger.
https://zupreem.com/avian/toxic-foods-your-bird-should-never-eat/

 

[petitemusings]

How is she doing today?

She seems the same as yesterday. She sleeping, eating, drinking water. Still has the dark green runny

I like to start at the top of a chicken and rule things out. Look her head over, check eyes nares and ears for watery discharge or crusty gunk. Are her eyes wide and bright or dull and listless? Pull the ear flaps back and be sure it's clean in the ear holes. Note if there seems to be any swelling.

Pry her beak open and look into her throat. Anything other than smooth pink tissue? Is the tongue all one color, any white patches? Any bad odor?

Crop. This is the most common source of trouble in an older chicken as their system begins to have aging "glitches". Is the crop full, hard, lumpy, spongy? This is most important - check her crop in the morning before you feed her. It should be empty and flat. If not, Houston, we have a problem.

Next, check her abdomen. Is she full and swollen in front of the legs? Is she hard and swollen behind her legs below her vent? Is her vent pulsating? With a gloved hand or with a rag, push gently against the vent. Does this cause her to squat and push against your hand?

Check her skin under her feathers from the neck to her feet for any swelling or any surprise wounds that might be infected.

Her stance and walk is important. When she's standing, is she hunched into her shoulders with her tail low and flat? Is she off balance when you stand her up. Try to get her to take a few steps. Is she stumbling or does she appear to have weakness in her legs? How is her balance?

Is she currently molting? Has her appetite been off lately?

Try to let us know if you find any anomalies when you use this list to examine her. There could be some important clues that can help us recommend treatment to get her feeling better.

Her eyes are definitely dull and not as bright as they usually are. Her comb is getting a bit more color but still pale. It’s mostly flat but closer to her neck it’s puffy at the base. I can’t get a good look in her mouth, but it looks more on the whitish side.

Skin looks good from neck down and under wings. Pressed around the vent and she was not happy and tried to get away from me. Her tummy is now gurgling just as ours would if we had diarrhea. She’s very thin and breast bone is prominent.

As for balance, it was pretty off on Saturday and definitely better today. She is in a fairly small space and not too much room to walk around though but standing well and not falling over. She standing straight and her tail is up.

She has already molted and her appetite hasn’t seemed off. I fill up her medium sized dog food bowl every few days. She’s mostly out grazing on our acreage.

One thing I did notice and was trying to pinpoint the smell of her poop and it actually smells a bit fishy. Not sure if that’s normal or not with the color and texture.

I like to start at the top of a chicken and rule things out. Look her head over, check eyes nares and ears for watery discharge or crusty gunk. Are her eyes wide and bright or dull and listless? Pull the ear flaps back and be sure it's clean in the ear holes. Note if there seems to be any swelling.

Pry her beak open and look into her throat. Anything other than smooth pink tissue? Is the tongue all one color, any white patches? Any bad odor?

Crop. This is the most common source of trouble in an older chicken as their system begins to have aging "glitches". Is the crop full, hard, lumpy, spongy? This is most important - check her crop in the morning before you feed her. It should be empty and flat. If not, Houston, we have a problem.

Next, check her abdomen. Is she full and swollen in front of the legs? Is she hard and swollen behind her legs below her vent? Is her vent pulsating? With a gloved hand or with a rag, push gently against the vent. Does this cause her to squat and push against your hand?

Check her skin under her feathers from the neck to her feet for any swelling or any surprise wounds that might be infected in.

Her stance and walk is important. When she's standing, is she hunched into her shoulders with her tail low and flat? Is she off balance when you stand her up. Try to get her to take a few steps. Is she stumbling or does she appear to have weakness in her legs? How is her balance?

Is she currently molting? Has her appetite been off lately?

Try to let us know if you find any anomalies when you use this list to examine her. There could be some important clues that can help us recommend treatment to get her feeling better.

Her eyes are ok - no crusting or anything. They do look duller than normal. I’m having a hard time getting to her ears and mouth. She’s shaking her head a lot when I try to look at both. Her mouth as much as I can see is a pale color though and can’t see the tongue and no odor.

Her crop is getting more color but still pale. It’s pretty flat but gets puffy towards the neck but that’s checking now at 3:50 pst.

Her abdomen doesn’t feel full. When I press around her crop she tries to get away from me. Also noticing that she smells kinda fishy along with her poop.

No swelling around her legs and skin looks fine from neck to wings.

She’s standing normally. Straight with tail up. She was weaker when I brought her in on Saturday. Had a hard time balancing but was better yesterday and same today. She’s able to walk as she normally does.

She has already molted I’d say late September/October timeframe and her appetite seems normal. She does free roam over our acreage and forages most of the day. I fill up her feed bowl about once a week which has been normal which has been normal now we’re down to just the one.

She not in the biggest box right now to move around much but it’s the best I had for the moment. I’ve been charging out the paper towels every-time she poops and change out her water often throughout the day.

I’ve attached a couple pics to include a more recent poop. Some have more stuff mixed in and others are just dark green liquid.