Underweight- unable to stand/walk Saturday

[BabyRaptors]

I have a Blue Orpington that’s 1.5 years old. She’s always been small, but she’s recently been having issues. She hasn’t laid an egg for 3 weeks and seems to be having a slow molt.

Saturday evening she went downhill, but seems to be a little better now. I did so many different things to help her and have no idea what actually worked. Any input as to what may be wrong, what may have helped, and how to correct/prevent this in the future would be appreciated. I’m going to list everything I noticed and did, with hopes someone can help me determine what happened and what special care she may need.

Saturday
AM: First out as always, not as talkative and reluctant to come for worms.

PM: Everyone else in/going to bed, she was laying in the run, I lifted her to stand and she fell down. Since she was unable to stand or walk I set up the quarantine box in my garage. I did a quick check for injuries, gave her a couple drops of nutridrench, made a food mix with coconut oil, vet rx and water. She took a couple bites and sips of water before going to sleep.

Sunday
Still unable to stand, wings out and leaning most of the day. i did a more thorough check for injury, lice and mites. Her crop was slightly squishy. I gave her an epsom salt bath, massaged chest, checked vent and put vetrx around her neck. She ate a couple small bites of scrambled eggs, 2 bsf larvae, some nibbles of food- she would drink the vitamin/electrolyte water as I kept moving it in front of her.

Monday
Am: She was sitting upright and looked perky. I gave her recovery 911 water. Chest was flat and she popped her tail up when I rubbed her back.
PM: I sat her outside the pin while I cleaned she was able to stand and flapped her wings- still unable to walk without falling. Concerned that something may have happened with the food I threw it all out, purchased a new bag and rooster booster vitamin dressing.

Tuesday
Am: Gave her fresh recovery 911 water and a small platter with Greek yogurt, coconut oil, molasses. She attempted to stand throughout the day, mostly on her hocks.
Pm: I took her out to my garden. She was excited to see everything. I gave her a couple kale leaves and went to pick cucumbers. She had walked about 6’ down the path, but did have a pure liquid poop.

Wednesday
Am: Fresh vitamin/electrolyte water. More standing upright and walking. I carried her out to look at the others and when she saw my big barred rock she started trembling, possible coincidence? But she stopped when we got back to her box.

Thursday
Today I just gave her plain water, wet food and scrambled egg. She’s more talkative and mobile.

She been drinking plenty of water and not eating as much as she should. Her comb has stayed very bright red with a purple tinge that comes and goes daily. Mostly liquid stools with a green tinge.

She’s always had a problem gaining weight and after ruling out crop issues I’ve been focusing on nutrient deficiencies. Some kind of illness seems possible with the green stools, but she seems to be feeling better. I don’t want to think cancer/tumor because she’s so young and sweet.

Sorry that was long- didn’t want to miss important details.

I have a separate part of the coop/run that I would like to prepare for her to stay during the day until she’s strong enough, but want to get input before putting her that close to the others.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Debbie292d]

You're sure doing well to try to care for her and get her past whatever is causing this weakness.

She been drinking plenty of water and not eating as much as she should. Her comb has stayed very bright red with a purple tinge that comes and goes daily. Mostly liquid stools with a green tinge.

The green poop or green-tinged poop is most likely emaciation due to her not eating.

I've got one right now that started out like yours, and about the same age. I do much of what you do, but had to feed her by hand to start out. I mix some of their crumbles, a raw egg yolk, and a little water and make pea sized balls out of it. I sit her on my lap, open her beak, and put one in. When she swallows that, I put a couple more in, and keep doing that until she acts totally ticked off at me.

I gave mine a Tums equivalent (500 mg calcium carbonate) two days in a row, just in case she was having reproductive issues. She's way better today, but still didn't lay an egg.

Have you considered deworming them? That's where I'm going to next as we've never done it in nearly a decade, albeit Ivermectin drops for SLM (scaly leg mites). That's not necessarily good enough if ours would have worms.

Mine came out of a large breeder pen where she's been for several months, so I doubt it's worms, but it's the only thing I can think of to try, and might be worth you trying too.

 

[BabyRaptors]

You're sure doing well to try to care for her and get her past whatever is causing this weakness.



The green poop or green-tinged poop is most likely emaciation due to her not eating.

I've got one right now that started out like yours, and about the same age. I do much of what you do, but had to feed her by hand to start out. I mix some of their crumbles, a raw egg yolk, and a little water and make pea sized balls out of it. I sit her on my lap, open her beak, and put one in. When she swallows that, I put a couple more in, and keep doing that until she acts totally ticked off at me.

I gave mine a Tums equivalent (500 mg calcium carbonate) two days in a row, just in case she was having reproductive issues. She's way better today, but still didn't lay an egg.

Have you considered deworming them? That's where I'm going to next as we've never done it in nearly a decade, albeit Ivermectin drops for SLM (scaly leg mites). That's not necessarily good enough if ours would have worms.

Mine came out of a large breeder pen where she's been for several months, so I doubt it's worms, but it's the only thing I can think of to try, and might be worth you trying too.

Thanks so much for the reply! I’ve been hesitant to feed raw egg incase they carry something else. I’ll probably try that tonight since she’s always preferred the cracked egg box ones over cooked.

I’ve never had to deworm before and it honestly scares me because I can’t find actual chicken dewormer and I’m afraid I’ll mess up the mix. What do you suggest?

I forgot to add I gave her half a tums on Sunday.

20 minutes ago I found another one laying under the coop. I eventually got her to come out to me and discovered her crop is large, squishy and smelly. I feel bad because I usually carry her around a few times a day and haven’t because I’ve been so focused on pearl.

Could they both be fungus related? Maybe bad feed or worms?

Other than the hot humid weather we’ve had the past few weeks I’m at a loss as to what’s going on. I try my best to clean their bowls and coop weekly.

 

[Debbie292d]

I wouldn't rule worms out or in, just a thought when we're reaching for what's wrong and tried most everything else.

For that crop issue, I'd give probiotics every other day for a couple of weeks. If you want to read some excellent articles about crop issues, these two are awesome and very informative:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

I'll be choosing one of these for deworming. Not sure what our TSC may have so when I run to town tonight or tomorrow, I'll check.

Valbazen (albendazole): https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...s-for-poultry-waterfowl-and-game-birds.75490/

Safeguard (fenbendazole)

Valbazen dosing is by weight.
undiluted at a dose of 0.08ml per pound of weight, given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

If you have no means to get either of these, you can get them online. Here's three places you can try:

Jedds https://jedds.com/collections/poultry
Twin City Poultry https://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com