Suddenly sick -change in behavior today

[rthepunk]

One of my biggest girls had a sudden change in behavior today. She normally runs around with the others but today we saw she was sitting under the coop all day rather than running around with the other girls. A little bit of background on their area. I have 8 girls in a 5 x 10 Coop which opens into a fenced in grassy area about 30 feet x 50 feet. They are fed layer crumble, get water refreshed twice a day, and get scratch tossed into the run every morning. They often get a handful of meal worms once a day tossed into the yard or into their coop in the evening.

Late this afternoon, I tossed some chopped up banana into the yard and she didn't join in with the other girls. She just remained standing under the coop watching the others.

When I went out at dusk to close them up, I saw she did not walk up the walkway into the coop and was just standing at the bottom. I picked her up and laid her on her back in my arms like a baby and she just laid there. VERY abnormal for her. She would have normally squawked loudly. I check and her rear feather had a lot of poop crud and running white around her feathers. Given that it was late and getting dark, I put her into the coop.

Tomorrow, I'll clean up her rear. They were just wormed with some Wazine in their water and a bit of Safeguard in their food about 2 weeks ago.

Her crop doesn't seem to have any obstruction. I felt around her vent and it doesn't feel like there's anything stuck in there.

This came on suddenly today. Completely different bird from yesterday.

Susan

 

[Chickie my my]

I have no idea what is making her feel so bad. Please keep us informed on her condition.

 

[chicknmania]

White diarhea...stuck to her vent feathers CAN be a sign of avian TB, although it is also sometimes a symptom of other things too. How old is she? Has she exhibited any signs of lameness? Put her in a rabbit cage or something where she can be separated from the others, but still can hear and/ or see them. Make sure that she is warm, and eating well. That's bad that she is that lethargic. She will feel safer in a small cage where she can be out of the way. Check her for lice and mites, too. If she were to have Avian TB, it is something they pick up in the soil and is not necessarily anything that will be transmitted to the others, either they develop immunity to it, or they don't. It's in the soil and everywhere. Typically it shows up about 9 months of age, and it can look like it comes on suddenly. Symptoms are white diarhea, lethargy, and eventually lameness. It is not transmittable to people. That may NOT be what she has, but it could be. So the most important thing you need to do is make sure she is eating and drinking, while you keep her in an environment that is relatively low stress. Feed her goodies, anything she likes. An avian vet has told me more than once that is the most important thing in dealing with chicken illnesses, and it really does not matter if it's "healthy" feed, the point is that they need to eat. Oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, scrambled eggs, applesauce, tomato, banana. Whatever she likes. I always mix a little goodies in with the regular feed, and them moisten everything with a few drops of water so that it's just a little moist, because they'll eat it better that way. I don't like to tube feed a sick chicken, but if they won't eat, you can always resort to that, and it is not difficult. But try getting her to eat on her own first, and I would suggest you just watch her, check for parasites, etc, before you start reaching for antibiotics. Look carefully for other symptoms. Don't leave her with the flock, because it might be contagious, and even if it isn't, she will be stressed out trying to lie low in her regular environment. Another thing you can try is Oregano oil in her water (firststatevetsupply.com sells it) ....it's a good natural antibiotic, and is supposed to be very good for a healthy chicken digestive system. I have used it before on sick chickens, and it does give them a boost. Organic ACV -apple cider vinegar(with the Mother in it) is another good thing to give her...1 TBSP in a gallon of water..you can find it at most grocery stores. Of course, you got to give her one or the other, either the oil or the vinegar... don't mix them. Another thing that they love (but it takes a couple of days to make) is fermented feed. It is tempting for them and I've seen sick chickens eat it when they wouldn't touch anything else). It is also supposed to be very gut healthy and very good for them. If you want to make it, there are many recipes on here and everywhere. We make our fermented feed using Purina Flock Raiser for the main feed, mixed with water in a glass gallon jar and adding a splash of organic Apple Cider Vinegar..it ferments well in two to three days. Make sure she has plenty of grit, free choice, and I would try those three things ( the oil, vinegar, and fermented feed), plus the good food and plenty of fresh water, and maybe rotate them on alternate days, see if you can get her up and running again that way. Don't delay though. She is very sick already and any delay is going to make things a whole lot worse.

 

[rthepunk]

Thanks for the advise Chickn. I've been reading on the forum and I'm going to start with a few things tomorrow morning. I want to snip off some yucky feathers around her vent and clean her up. Then, I'll separate her with some ACV in a water plus I'm going to give her a dish of plain yogurt (in case she has a vent gleet problem). I'll give her a nice pile of meal worms, too. We ran out of grit a few days ago, so I'll need to pick up some, unless I can use driveway gravel??? (sorry if this is a stupid question, I'm new to chicken illnesses. Susan

 

[Acefit411]

Keep us posted...
If you separate her from the others, you can get a better feel for what's going on (eating, drinking, pooping, and other behaviors).

This helped me to explain to the very knowledgeable people on this forum what I was experiencing with my hen. I also keep a very detailed dairy on my flock to refer back to when needed. I then put the info into an excel sheet with columns for day and night temps, egg #'s and from who (if I know), free time, and notes of what I have added to water (garlic, ACV, electrolytes or vitamins), treats, etc...

Good luck - I will be following

 

[rthepunk]

Oh, she's 2 2/3 years old

 

[chicknmania]

I don't have any experience with Vent Gleet yet, thank goodness. So you will get a lot of advice from a lot of experienced chicken lovers.

And that's what makes this site so awesome.
If she were mine I wouldn't use garlic on her while she's sick. We do give ours garlic sometimes but I think it can give them loose droppings. Which you don't want on top of whatever else.

 

[chicknmania]

Oh, she's 2 2/3 years old

That's pretty old to start showing symptoms of ATB, it almost always affects the younger ones, as far as I've learned. So that's good.

 

[Eggcessive]

I seriously doubt that your chicken has TB from the symptoms you describe. Avian TB is transmitted usually by wild birds. It IS dangerous, because it can spread to humans who are immunocompromised such as AIDS patients, young children, but it also can spread to cattle, horse, dog, etc. With any chicken necropsied to be found with TB, the whole flock should be destroyed. In this case, it could be anything in the world wrong--coccidiosis, enteritis, kidney disease, and numerous other diseases. In her case since she is going on three, you may want to investigate internal laying or egg yolk peritonitis as possible causes. Most sick chickens will eat a scrambled chopped egg. Here are some links to read about egg yolk peritonitis and internal laying, plus one on avian TB for anyone else interested:
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/egg-laying-issues/index.aspx
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/526089/egg-yolk-peritonitis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135220/

 

[dawg53]

I seriously doubt that your chicken has TB from the symptoms you describe. Avian TB is transmitted usually by wild birds. It IS dangerous, because it can spread to humans who are immunocompromised such as AIDS patients, young children, but it also can spread to cattle, horse, dog, etc. With any chicken necropsied to be found with TB, the whole flock should be destroyed. In this case, it could be anything in the world wrong--coccidiosis, enteritis, kidney disease, and numerous other diseases. In her case since she is going on three, you may want to investigate internal laying or egg yolk peritonitis as possible causes. Most sick chickens will eat a scrambled chopped egg. Here are some links to read about egg yolk peritonitis and internal laying, plus one on avian TB for anyone else interested:
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/egg-laying-issues/index.aspx
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/526089/egg-yolk-peritonitis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135220/

x2. My first thought was vent gleet IF there's a putrid odor enaminating from the rear end, not avian TB. Ecoli bacterial infection could be the problem as well. Only a necropsy will tell what's going on.