Urgent: Lethargic, Yellow Dihareha

[kaworunagisa]

Hello all.

As the subject indicates we're having a major problem with one of our Black Australorpes.

First noticed symptoms last night, about 16 hours ago. Hen was not exhibiting symptoms two days ago as far as I could tell.

First, she is very lethargic. She cannot lift herself up and when she tries to move (rarely) she crawls using her wings and legs.

She also has dull yellow-green diarrhea (similar in color to sulfur, with some gray).

Additionally, the latest symptom is labored breathing. She breaths deeply and slowly, and you can easily see her body rise and fall. This has only developed in the last few hours. Over the past few weeks she or other bird have pecked the feathers from around her rear. Additionally, two days ago we found an egg that had a paper thin shell, in fact it was sift and had virtually no shell at all. We don't know if she laid it.

I have separated her from the flock. She is 1.5yrs old. She's always been a good layer and a very healthy, active hen with an interesting personality.

If you have any suggestions, please post. We are looking for both explanations and treatments. Currently, the only drug we have is terramycine, and we have not applied it yet. Please help. Thank you, sincerely.

 

[chickenzoo]

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

Try that link to see the different types of poo. If she may be egg bound or had a ruptured egg inside her you will need to flush her out, and get her on some penicillin and keep her eating and drinking.

 

[kaworunagisa]

Thank you for the fast reply.

Her poo last night was mostly yellow drainage (just checked). However, now it looks more like the third picture in Abnormal poos. Thanks for the link!

So, she may be egg bound? I have never had a hen experience this. How do I go about checking to see if this is the problem and then how do I flush her out?

 

[kathyinmo]

Since I don't get eggs yet, I don't have experience in this area. But, you can go to the top right side of this page, and see where it says, "search." Type something in that box, and search... such as, "eggbound." But, it sounds to me like possibly something else. Can you answer the questions on the sticky.... Oh, here are the questions:
Give us the following information. The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you.

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use, number of chickens and size of areas.
11) Has she ever been wormed? Have you checked for lice, mites?