Two sick pullets

[RumneyRoost]

I've got two pullets (one barred rock and one cream legbar) who both stopped laying at the beginning of January. Around that time I found about 4 soft shell eggs, couldn't figure out which one was doing it though. I *think* it was the legbar though.

Prior to that the barred rock had some dirty vent feathers, but otherwise was acting normally. I cleaned her up and then wormed the whole flock in December with Eqvalan Gold (Ivermectin and praziquantel) and treated with Corid in the water for 5 days.

Everyone is acting normally except these two now have explosive diarrhea. It's basically just water with a small amount of brown. Neither are eating much of their regular food but are drinking like crazy. This morning I also found a dropping which looks like it's possibly yolk with a tiny green egg. Now I'm wondering if they caught something viral or bacterial which has started causing reproductive issues.

Both had empty crops this morning. They've definitely lost some weight in the last week or so though. Abdomens feel normal.

This morning I put a call in to the large animal vet down the road. While I waited I took an electrolyte solution out for them, and mixed some yoghurt in with some of their regular food to encourage them to eat some more. The vet was so busy though that they didn't get back to me until 4pm and it was just the receptionist. The vet told her to tell me to treat for coccidiosis which I've already done.

I chose to go ahead and treat with Corid and worm with Eqvalan Gold again. I'm in Canada though so my options for getting antibiotics are very limited. Either I call the vet again tomorrow and hope they don't just tell me to wait for the Corid to work. Or I order Baytril from allbirdproducts.com at the cost of nearly $100 to get it shipped in 3-5 business days.

Any other suggestions?

 

[staceyj]

I've got two pullets (one barred rock and one cream legbar) who both stopped laying at the beginning of January. Around that time I found about 4 soft shell eggs, couldn't figure out which one was doing it though. I *think* it was the legbar though.

Prior to that the barred rock had some dirty vent feathers, but otherwise was acting normally. I cleaned her up and then wormed the whole flock in December with Eqvalan Gold (Ivermectin and praziquantel) and treated with Corid in the water for 5 days.

Everyone is acting normally except these two now have explosive diarrhea. It's basically just water with a small amount of brown. Neither are eating much of their regular food but are drinking like crazy. This morning I also found a dropping which looks like it's possibly yolk with a tiny green egg. Now I'm wondering if they caught something viral or bacterial which has started causing reproductive issues.

Both had empty crops this morning. They've definitely lost some weight in the last week or so though. Abdomens feel normal.

This morning I put a call in to the large animal vet down the road. While I waited I took an electrolyte solution out for them, and mixed some yoghurt in with some of their regular food to encourage them to eat some more. The vet was so busy though that they didn't get back to me until 4pm and it was just the receptionist. The vet told her to tell me to treat for coccidiosis which I've already done.

I chose to go ahead and treat with Corid and worm with Eqvalan Gold again. I'm in Canada though so my options for getting antibiotics are very limited. Either I call the vet again tomorrow and hope they don't just tell me to wait for the Corid to work. Or I order Baytril from allbirdproducts.com at the cost of nearly $100 to get it shipped in 3-5 business days.

Any other suggestions?

Let me flag some helpers down.
@casportpony @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @azygous

 

[Eggcessive]

The small green egg material looks like a lash egg, a product of infection from salpingitis. It is common in hens with reproductive disorders. Baytril is one of the best antibiotics to treat infections in chickens. However antibiotics may of may not help salpingitis. Maybe your vet there will prescibe the Baytril if you talk about her laying the lash egg plus the soft shell eggs laid earlier. Here is some reading about salpingitis:

https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/134/salpingitis/

 

[RumneyRoost]

The small green egg material looks like a lash egg, a product of infection from salpingitis. It is common in hens with reproductive disorders. Baytril is one of the best antibiotics to treat infections in chickens. However antibiotics may of may not help salpingitis. Maybe your vet there will prescibe the Baytril if you talk about her laying the lash egg plus the soft shell eggs laid earlier. Here is some reading about salpingitis:

https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/134/salpingitis/

Thanks. Unfortunately you’re confirming what I’ve been worried about all day. I told the receptionist about the lash egg when I called and I’m guessing that didn’t get passed on. I think i’ll call again first thing in the morning.

The girls are pets so I’d rather exhaust all my options before euthanasia.

 

[Eggcessive]

You might want to give her some calcium with vitamin D3 for a few days for the soft shell eggs, in case she has a calcium deficiency. Here are some pictures and a thread about various shapes and kinds of lash eggs:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-first-lash-egg-experience.637090/

 

[RumneyRoost]

I did give the legbar some calcium with D3 when she laid the soft shelled eggs a month ago. There’s always oyster shell on the side too.
I’ll give some of the tablets to both of them in the morning.

I do have uniprim and sulfatrim for the horses. If the vet won’t give me anything I could try these.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree with @Eggcessive it does look like Salpingitis. If your vet can get you some Baytril that may be better than the Uniprim. A lot depends on the cause. Did your birds ever have respiratory illness? It may have not even been that noticeable, what you might would consider a "cold"?

Did you find those from both pullets? Or just the one? With the Lash Egg having a green outer coating, I'm thinking it came from the Cream Legbar.

You may want to check your Barred Rock carefully for other symptoms. It may just be coincidental that she is not feeling well too. Even though you checked crops, re-check for several mornings in a row just to make sure they are empty.
How old is she?

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x Wyorp Rock, it's probably the Legbar

 

[RumneyRoost]

I thought I put it in the first post but I guess not - yes I’m assuming the lash egg came from the legbar.
I haven’t found anything else that resembles a lash egg and I clean the coop out several times a week.
The barred rock was the first to have a dirty vent.

Everyone in the current flock came from the same breeder. He’s very, very careful about biosecurity. I can’t have Roos at my new house so I chose to get pullets, they were 6 weeks old when I brought them home. None of my girls have ever exhibited signs of illness until now.

I’ll start them with the drugs that I have and I’ll get on the phone with vet when they open.

 

[RumneyRoost]

Checked everyone over this morning.
Crops and abdomens still feel normal.
They’re drinking a lot, but aren’t that interested in eating.

So at this point symptoms include
- diarrhea
- weight loss
- a couple soft shelled eggs a month ago
- one tiny lash egg yesterday

2 pullets affected. Hoping at this point that only one may have Salpingitis. Fingers crossed the other only has issues in the digestive tract and not the repro tract.
The other 3 girls are fine so far.

I broke up a sulfatrim 800-160 tablet and gave them each a quarter. Dosage based on another thread I found. I also split a calcium D3 tablet between them