UPDATED !!W/GRAPHIC PHOTOS!!: Coccidosis or Cholera? - sick bird

[pdirt]

We have an 18-month old chicken than was fine a week ago. We are treating her for lice. Her symptoms are:

- resting a lot in strange areas (spare mini coop, on the floor of the coop and now in a nest box)
- obvious lice infection around her vent
- not drinking or eating
- not walking much except to move to a new area
- breathing fast
- pale comb and wattles though they look brighter today
- feathers look good
- she is passive but alert
- if I pick her up and set her down, she will stand on her own but soon sits back down
- lethargic
- pale green diarrhea

Last night I doused her with wood ash for the mites. This morning the mites are gone or surely reduced because I can't find any. We treated the other birds with ash as well, some had visible infections but they all act healthy. We have some pyrethrin ordered and should be here Tuesday. The local shop has no treatments in stock until Tuesday. She has slept two nights now in a best box without getting out of it. This morning I pulled her from a nest box and found what looked like a very small amount of blood and larger quantity of clear goo in the box and on her feathers near her vent. I don't think the goo is egg white because it was so thick and viscous, rather stringy. I thought maybe she was egg bound but do not see or feel any large bulge in her belly or vent area. I have not yet checked her internally as I don't want to stress her more than necessary and reduce her energy level further. She hasn't laid an egg since about Sept I thought was due to a molt/low light (we didn't start supplementing light until late October).

I brought her some electrolyte water but she wouldn't drink. I don't think she has drank in a day or two. I am going to syringe feed her some of the water now.

I accidentally turned her a little too head-down while we were dusting her last night and she vomited clear liquid. I assume this was from her crop.

Could lice do this? It seems like it must also be something else and that the lice aren't helping. Coccidosis? The quick and heavy breathing is new.

Just new now is a pale green diarrhea near her vent.

Thanks for any input or advice.

 

[pdirt]

Further research reveals that symptoms of coccidosis and cholera are similar. The heavy breathing (almost a pant) is distinctive. Her feathers are poofed out more than normal. My wife thinks her comb is especially warm but it feels normal to me, so perhaps she has a fever. Anyone know how to test a chicken's temperature? Google searches only turn up roasted chicken recipes!

The good news is that we have been able to get her to drink some water, mixed with a bitter herb (see below). We put a water-filled syringe up to the tip of her beak and she is slowly slurping up the liquid as we slowly squirt it out. This is a good sign as she wouldn't drink at all (or barely) before.

My wife is an acupuncturist and based upon the bird's symptoms, thought that the Chinese herb "huang lian" aka Coptis (a very bitter herb) would be indicated. If the bird does actually have cholera, then it is interesting to note that Coptis is indicated for cholera in humans. She crushed one tablet and mixed it with a tiny bit of water and fed this via the syringe (not forcing it down the gullet but letting the bird sip it up) and the bird seemed to drink this water more readily than anything else we've given her so far. We've tried also giving her a vitamin/electrolyte mix and water mixed with probiotics as well as yogurt.

I'll post an update as to her progress, but am certainly all ears for anyone's suggestions or if anyone has a better idea as to what condition we're dealing with here. We're not against using western medicines like the sulfa drugs and will do so if she isn't better by Monday.

 

[ten chicks]

Is she a recent addition to your flock,if so then it could be coccidiosis.Cocci is a parasitic infection of the intestinal tract and can kill very fast.Some symptoms of cocci are :runny/watery poop(may or may not contain blood,depends on which strain it is)fluffed feathers,lethargic,not eating/drinking. Green poop usually indicates starvation. If symptoms match,purchase Corid(amprolium)dose for Corid 9.6% liquid is 2 tsp per gallon of water,dose for Corid 20% powder is 1-1.5 tsp per gallon of water. Treat ALL birds for 5 days,DO NOT give vitamins during treatment as they interfere with the ability of coccidiostat to work,give vitamins after treatment is complete. Make sure medicated water is the only source of drinking water.

If you ever suspect your bird is egg bound,DO NOT wait as egg binding kills often within 48 hours. To check for egg binding put on gloves w lubricant insert finger and do a cloacal exam. If you feel an egg give a tums or calcium tablet(break into pces and give orally)this usually helps pass egg often within an hour. Keep her warm/quiet/calm and in a dark location.

If you feel a broken egg,gently remove be careful you do not want to cut her internally,flush vent out with a diluted vinegar/water solution,this helps flush out egg contents and with bacteria,but often an infection results with this.

 

[pdirt]

Thanks for the reply ten chicks. Whatever she had, it was quick. We had brought her into the mud room last night and set a heater on very low to provide some warmth. She was drinking some water last night but this morning she was dead. Sad. But glad it wasn't any longer. Not sure if we are going to do a necropsy on her or not...from what I can tell, one of the state universities will do it, but the cost will be nearly $100 once you figure in the shipping cost. If we have any others come down with this, we might consider it then. In any case, we are going to get some Corid and the sulfa one on hand, just in case we should ever need them. She was one of my favorites because I thought she was one of the prettiest...a Welsummer.

 

[pdirt]

So I performed a necropsy on this bird. Below are some photos, mind you they are pretty graphic, so don't scroll down if you're squeamish. I'm hoping for some help in diagnosing what might have killed her.

Overall, when I cut the bird open, she basically seemed healthy. Liver looked good, nice thick layer of fat. Crop and gizzard were full of food, which was strange because I thought she had not eaten in several days. I smelled the contents of the crop and smelled nothing, no sour smell or anything. I could not find eggs of any kind and certainly no broken egg. In fact, she had not laid an egg in several months but had previously laid good eggs regularly. She was not a new addition to the flock and had seemed in good health until about a week before she died.

Most of the internal organs I can identify. I was not sure where or what the lungs looked like. I did find an intestine-like structure that was bulged and looked peculiar (keep in mind, I'm new to chickens). I cut it open and found what looked like dark red rolled-up leaves. I don't think they were actually leaves, but either an unfamiliar part of a hen's anatomy or diseased tissue. The internal organs had gotten moved around a bit by this point, but I think it was in the general area of the ovaries. Do the internals of the ovaries have dark-red leaf-like structures? Again, no sign of eggs at all. She was nearly 2 years old.

I know that coccidosis needs to be confirmed by a lab, but are there any signs a backyard flock owner might be able to notice if coccidosis was the case?

Another photo below shows a kink in her intestine. I could not find evidence of it, but I wonder if there was some sort of intestinal blockage.

Thanks for any ideas you can offer, folks.






Below is a close up of the "dark red leaf-like" stuff that was found inside an intestine-like structure (I don't think it was the intestine though)



Healthy fat and liver, liver was darker than the photo shows.



Another close-up of the mysterious (to me) dark-red leaf-like structures. They were nested upon each other and I could pull them apart.



My top two fingers hold the intestine-like structure that held inside the dark-red leaf-like stuff shown on my bottom fingers. Intestines were light pink/yellowish but this structure was dark red, just like the contents it held. Ovaries?



Here is an intestine that looks kinked and/or twisted (kink is right on my finger). I don't see much food in the intestine but this kink/twist did concern me as looking not normal.

 

[RussianChickens]

I would think the dark red stuff may be ovaries or gizzard. What was it connected too? And how were the two halves together? Can you provide a picture of both the halves in the original position?

My concern is the dark/black lumps of blood I see in the back ground. When did you open the chicken after she died? Were those in there when you opened her before you cut anything internally? It almost looks to me like she might have had some internal bleeding before she died. Where did the black stuff come from? Was it in the dark red parts or just setting in the body cavity?

Did you locate the heart,liver, and kidneys? (Sorry, without being there it leaves a lot to my imagination.) It looks like a possible liver or very very deformed heart that had ripped, but I seriously doubt that.

What ever that^ is it doesn't look normal.

I haven't dissected any chickens yet nor studied up on the organs like I should, so I'm sure I've made some real groundbreaking discoveries here here. lol

I hope you get it sorted out!

 

[pdirt]

Thanks Russian Chickens for the reply. I cut this bird open after it had been dead for about 3 days. I had her wrapped in plastic bags and buried deep in snow in the meantime.

I positively identified crop, liver, gizzard and intestines. I may have seen the heart but don't exactly recall. I don't think the dark red stuff is the heart or kidneys and it certainly wasn't gizzard. It was way too soft to be either and had a strange fluffy layered feel and look to it, like decomposing leaves. Since this is the first chicken I've opened up, I'm not exactly sure what is normal. The dark red stuff was confined to one area (I'm guessing it might have been in the area of the ovaries) but since I don't know what chicken ovaries (or any animals other than human that I've only seen in books!) look like, I'm not sure it was ovaries or not or if the dark red is normal. I just saw a bulge in a tube-like organ and it looked strange. I cut it open and out comes this layered/fluffy/dark red stuff. It was packed together tightly and as I handled it, the layers became evident. The liver looked fairly normal to me as far as I could tell, especially for being nearly two years old. Mind you the colors don't show up quite as I saw them.

There were no odd smells, other than the smell of blood and probably some feces. I have smelled diseased organs before and let me tell you, there is no mistaking the smell of diseased organs. I didn't smell any such smell.

 

[RussianChickens]

Thanks Russian Chickens for the reply. I cut this bird open after it had been dead for about 3 days. I had her wrapped in plastic bags and buried deep in snow in the meantime.

I positively identified crop, liver, gizzard and intestines. I may have seen the heart but don't exactly recall. I don't think the dark red stuff is the heart or kidneys and it certainly wasn't gizzard. It was way too soft to be either and had a strange fluffy layered feel and look to it, like decomposing leaves. Since this is the first chicken I've opened up, I'm not exactly sure what is normal. The dark red stuff was confined to one area (I'm guessing it might have been in the area of the ovaries) but since I don't know what chicken ovaries (or any animals other than human that I've only seen in books!) look like, I'm not sure it was ovaries or not or if the dark red is normal. I just saw a bulge in a tube-like organ and it looked strange. I cut it open and out comes this layered/fluffy/dark red stuff. It was packed together tightly and as I handled it, the layers became evident. The liver looked fairly normal to me as far as I could tell, especially for being nearly two years old. Mind you the colors don't show up quite as I saw them.

There were no odd smells, other than the smell of blood and probably some feces. I have smelled diseased organs before and let me tell you, there is no mistaking the smell of diseased organs. I didn't smell any such smell.

What's the black globs in the back ground? Were those in any particular place or come out of anything? They look like congealed blood. Which could be a COD.

I'm really perplexed by that dark organ too. You say it was in a tube? Its definitely something else. Cancer? Do you know what part the tube was attached too?

 

[RussianChickens]

Oh Ive got it! Lungs!


I remember dissecting them in school years ago. They were kinda leafy. Could be more so in a chicken! I was just looking at anatomy and they are kind of up towards the front and the back of the hen.

That could be it!

 

[Eggcessive]

I have no necropsy experience, but many others on here have some. Here are a couple of links about the 2 illnesses you mentioned--look at both clinical sign and gross lesions in the partners cornell site: http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/494
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/206/coccidiosis