sick chickie

[jkulp00]

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I noticed that one of my 2 year old RIR's had a lot of yellowish poop crusted up over her tail feathers. When I let the birds out she came out and pecked around but her energy level was definitely not up to normal and although she's been eating she isn't quite as crazy aggressive about it. I didn't have time or daylight to deal with it last night, but read a bunch on the internet and after work today came home, completely cleaned out the coop and run and replaced litter, gave her a warm bath and got all of the gunked up crusted poop off of her and dried her off, fed her some bread soaked in olive oil and gave her some medicated feed for coccidiosis. Today the tips of her comb are a little purplish. When washing her I checked out her vent and it looks pretty normal - pink and not swollen. She pooped in the kitchen (lovely I know) twice after her bath and the poop was pretty much yellow water with some small black solids in it. None of my other girls have any symptoms.

Is there anything else I should be doing for her? She seemed to enjoy her bath and did perk up a bit and I am glad she is eating and drinking. Everything I have read has suggested coccidiosis or that she is overheated (not likely in december in PA) or not eating enough. It is hard to tell what she is eating daily bc she is in with the other girls but I have watched her eat when foraging and she still has an appetite. I know that i should be quarantining her but i just don't have anywhere to put her at the moment.

Any advice would be welcome, I am also considering worming all of them because it seems like this could be a possibility as well.

Thanks chicken friends!
Jess

 

[jkulp00]

bump

anybody?

 

[kacklinkelly]

Sorry I can't help but I feel your concern. Hopefully someone with knowledge will run
across your post before the night is over. Best of luck :>

 

[babsbag]

If you think it might be coccidia, which is usually a chick ailment, you need to treat her with Corid in her water. There is not enough meds in the feed to treat, only to aid in prevention.

I have never, in 4 years, wormed my chickens. I don't know how in the world I would worm 50 free ranging birds, totally not on my to do list, but many people do it. I just think that a bird that is in a weakened condition already should not be posioned with wormers unless you know she has worms. You could try and find a vet to do a fecal for you, just like they do one for a cat or dog. I am not against worming, I worm my cats, dogs, and goats. Just against worming when it isn't needed.

Sorry she is sick, and I really don't have anything for you to try and do to make her better. Chickens are hard animals to diagnose. I hope she gets better.

 

[jkulp00]

Well I just wanted to update to see if anyone has any thoughts. I put her in isolation in a dog crate in the garage on Friday. I have been giving her regular feed as well as gatorade following the advice that she might need to boost her electrolytes. She is still pooping yellowish-white poop that is kind of stretchy/stringy with dark green/black clumps in it. It is very bad smelling. I went through it with a stick and am not seeing anything that looks like worms. It seems like the poop is less watery than it was but still not normal. She is eating and drinking but I don't think as much as she should be. She is more inclined to eat other food than the feed - she eats mealworms with some enthusiasm and ate scrambled egg yesteray. Today I offered her oatmeal with mashed banana but I am not sure how she is going to do with it. Just kind of looked at me when I put it in there. I ordered Tylan 50 injectable as they don't sell it anywhere around here and taking her to a vet would cost 75 dollars. I am hoping that when it comes (hopefully tomorrow) that this will help. Any advice is most welcome.

Merry Christmas to you all

 

[jkulp00]

Seriously, no one can help me at all? Please?

 

[Silver63]

I haven't been on in a long time, but your note caught my eye. I had a hen with similar sounding poop & it turned out to be a broken egg. My chickens are also pets & i splurged and took Red to the vet. She got a steroid injection & antibiotics to help her out. It helped her recover, but sadly I lost her to something else shortly after Easter. Hope this is helpful. After she got her initial shot she pooped out some nasty stuff & once she did that, she was back to herself. Good luck.

 

[jkulp00]

I posted in another forum since I wasn't getting much help here and was told that yellow/white droppings indicate respiratory distress, along with the bluish comb. She is now wheezing audibly so I am going forward with a course of treatment including continued quarantine inside, feeding of high protein diet (when she will eat) and encouraging drinking, Vet Rx, and Tylan injections once it arrives in the mail (so frustrating). She doesn't really seem to be getting notably better or worse but I am shocked that she will only really eat mealworms and turns her nose up at anything else I offer her including softened layer pellets and scrambled egg. Keeping my fingers crossed....

 

[cafarmgirl]

I posted in another forum since I wasn't getting much help here and was told that yellow/white droppings indicate respiratory distress, along with the bluish comb. She is now wheezing audibly so I am going forward with a course of treatment including continued quarantine inside, feeding of high protein diet (when she will eat) and encouraging drinking, Vet Rx, and Tylan injections once it arrives in the mail (so frustrating). She doesn't really seem to be getting notably better or worse but I am shocked that she will only really eat mealworms and turns her nose up at anything else I offer her including softened layer pellets and scrambled egg. Keeping my fingers crossed....

I think that is probably the best course to follow at this point. Chickens can be very, very hard to diagnose, sometimes the symptoms can point to many different possibilities. That's probably why you didn't get a lot of responses, sometimes it's just very hard to try to suggest to someone where to start with a sick bird.

You might consider fogging your coop with Oxine AH to try to prevent the spread of this if it is indeed a respiratory bug. Oxine is antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal. As long as you use it as is, meaning NON activated, you can fog the coop with the birds in there, let them breath the mist. It can also be used in their waterers to keep them clean.

Best of luck with your bird, hope you are able to get her well again.

 

[jkulp00]

Thank you. I was able to acquire the injectable Tylan and started that yesterday. She has had two shots so far. I have been coating her beak and nostrills with vet rx and encouraging her to eat and drink. Aside from feeling kind of bony from not eating much for a week I see no positive or negative change in her condition. Fingers crossed the Tylan starts working and she starts to show some improvement.