Symptoms: Lethargic, Diarrhea, Loss of Appetite, Splayed Legs in 1+ yr old Barred Rock

[stevieplsafos]

Hi there fellow chicken owners,

I'm hoping someone can help me nail down what's going on with one of my chickens. She has been displayed the following symptons for about a week and a half now:

Lethargic, Diarrhea, Loss of Appetite, Splayed Legs, not laying

We've had her on a course of antibiotics for the past 7 days, and we have her isolated from the rest of the flock. She drinks water, but just won't eat hardly anything - although, this morning I enticed her to eat a grape, which gave me some hope.

She does not seem to be egg bound or have an impacted crop - i think either of those issues would have killed her by now anyhow. Her first noticable symptom was the lethargy, we noticed that she would leave the coop in the morning but not go any further - she would just sit by the waterer and stay there all day. Once we isolated her, we noticed the diarrhea, which is very green and watery. I don't know if its green because of the antibiotics, which turn the water yellow.

Her legs seem splayed outward to me, which I don't remember ever noticing in her before.

Any ideas? I've done tons of reading about different chicken sickness and her symptoms don't seem to fit neatly into any one category. Any insight anyone could provide would be helpful.

Last weekend, I did give her an epsom salt bath. She seemed to really enjoy it, but her symptoms didn't improve. I've been speaking to a local poultry vet, he's the one who recommended the antibiotics and his suspicion was maybe some kind of toxin. I do free range, so the girls get into anything/everything, but none of the rest of my flock is sick and i would have thought that after 5 days in isolation, she would be showing some improvement.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Cheyen]

Sorry to hear about your gal. Do her droppings look anything like this?



Or this?

 

[stevieplsafos]

A little bit like the second picture, although no signs of blood - just green and watery with the occasional solid chunk. The solid chunks have just started appearing the past couple of days.

 

[Cheyen]

If there's no blood it might not be cocci, but there's definitely something wrong when your bird's poo looks like that. Even though there's no blood, I would put her on some corid or amrpol just in case. Also get some electrolytes in her to help her eat.

 

[stevieplsafos]

OK, thanks. Doing some research on that now and the good news is that, if it is that and she's made it this far, she has good chances of recovery. (She was my very first chicken that I got almost exactly a year ago so I am fighting for her!)

I also noticed that her bottom fluff feathers are constantly pulsing up and down - is this just a sign of discomfort? or maybe an indication of respiratory issues?

 

[Cheyen]

If they're pushing up and down, it could be a sign of respiratory infection, or another symptom of the cocci. However if it were an infection, you'd think the antibiotics would've taken care of that, right? Hope she feels better! I know I'd be upset if my oldest hen got sick. She's about a year old, too.

 

[stevieplsafos]

As an update- I took my girl to see a retired poultry expert who now works in our local farm and garden store. He gave her a pretty thorough examination. His suspicion is some kind of bacterial infection. Have her on a new med and #1 priority now is just getting her to eat- she is wasting away rapidly. Am having decent luck getting her to eat dried mealworms and a littlle bit of chick starter softened in water. Might try bringing her some fresh milk - she is drinking OK and I'm thinking that would at least get some calories in her. If anyone else has good suggestions for getting her to eat, I'm open to them!

 

[Cheyen]

Try giving her some warmed yoghurt. Hope she feels better.

 

[MrJoe]

Stevie,

How did things work out with your hen? I have a hen with similar similar symptoms.

 

[stevieplsafos]

Hi,

Unfortunately, she didn't make it. I think she would have if I had gotten her to eat more, but she had just lost too much weight too quickly. I think my mistake was not taking action quickly enough - by the time I realized she wasn't really eating, it was a bit too late.

So I would recommend isolating your hen, keeping her warm, and making sure she's eating. Mine took well to some chick feed mashed up in a bit of water, and I'm pretty sure if I had been on that from the start, she would have stayed strong enough to see it through

Good luck!!

Stevie