Watery stool and now gasping and lethargic

[TheyLive]

1.5 year old RIR hen, began with watery stool 4-5 days ago and is now gasping and lethargic. Flock De-wormed about 1 week ago. Added vitamins and electrolytes to water. Weather is very hot, they have access to shade and ice water at all times, they free range about 3-4 hours out of the day. Clean coop 1-2x per week, clean run 1x per week. No other sick birds that I know of.
She almost presents as acidotic.
any ideas/suggestions gladly accepted

 

[LaFleche]

While fecal floats are nice, it is important to know that depending on the species, worms will expel eggs in different intervals, up to 3 weeks in between the next excretion.
This often can result in clean fecal test results, even though the tested bird is infested and expells them sometimes even the very next day.

 

[LaFleche]

I am used to medicating human patients, not poultry. I have an aspiration concern with the oral meds.

This is an article by @casportpony on how to safely administer oral medications to poultry:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[dawg53]

I am used to medicating human patients, not poultry. I have an aspiration concern with the oral meds.

I understand. It's easy to dose a chicken orally with a liquid.
I mostly use Valbazen to worm my birds. Dosage is 1/2ml given orally to each chicken using a syringe without a needle.
The easiest way to worm chickens is to go out to the coop early in the morning just before sunrise. It would be best to have someone to go with you to hold the chicken while you worm her.
Preload your syringe, snatch a bird off the roost. Have the other person hold the bird for you. Pull the hens wattles down and her mouth will open. Quickly shoot the liquid in her mouth and immediately let go of her wattles at the same time so she can swallow the liquid on her own. If you dont let go of her wattles right away, she can aspirate.
Then release her and snatch another bird off the roost and repeat the procedure until they are all wormed.
Practice it, like a dry run, without the liquid in the syringe. You'll get the hang of it real quick and it's easy to do.
There's another important advantage to this procedure: Your birds will not have eaten yet and will be starving, so will the worms. Feed them the wormer, it'll get rid of them for sure.
You may or may not see worms excreted in feces afterwards. They are usually digested as protein in the digestive tract.
Also, when you pull down on the wattles, if the hen starts shaking her head, just hold on and she will tire. Then you can dose her.
You'll also have to reworm your birds in 10-14 days to eliminate worms hatched from eggs previously missed by the initial treatment. Wormers have no effect on worm eggs in the chickens system.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

1.5 year old RIR hen, began with watery stool 4-5 days ago and is now gasping and lethargic. Flock De-wormed about 1 week ago. Added vitamins and electrolytes to water. Weather is very hot, they have access to shade and ice water at all times, they free range about 3-4 hours out of the day. Clean coop 1-2x per week, clean run 1x per week. No other sick birds that I know of.
She almost presents as acidotic.
any ideas/suggestions gladly accepted

Crop is full and squishy this AM. She didn’t smell like sour crop so I neglected to inspect that. She is isolated, no food, and has water with ACV. Know if any other treatments?

When's the last time she laid an egg? Any bloat or feeling of fluid in the abdomen below the vent between her legs?

What did you de-worm with? (product and dose)

If the crop is full and squishy this morning before she's had anything to eat/drink, then it would be good to address that. The info in the article linked will get you started.
Do keep in mind that most crop issues are a symptom of an underlying condition - a few common conditions are reproductive disorders, infection, worms and coccidiosis.

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

 

[dawg53]

I’ll have to order a microscope online or see if I can get one second hand. I disliked microbiology so this will be interesting. I will definitely try the mineral oil. My birds have an intense dislike of being handled so I did the water solution. What are your thoughts on ivermectin pour on? I may have a better chance with that grabbing them from the coop at night.

Why would you want to use Ivermectin pour on when you would still have to handle your birds?
I used Ivermectin pour on long ago and found that it wont treat large roundworms in poultry due to worm resistance. You're better off using Safeguard liquid goat wormer or Valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer. Give it orally to each chicken using a syringe without a needle, that way you know they got properly wormed, no guesswork about it. Either eliminates all types of roundworms.
The only thing mineral oil will do is give your birds the runs.
@Wyorp Rock gave you excellent advice. It would be in your best interest to follow it.

 

[LaFleche]

Wormers have no effect on worm eggs in the chickens system.

Flubendazole does actually kill the eggs and larvae also.

https://www.elanco.com.au/products-services/poultry/products/poultry-flubenol

 

[TheyLive]

I understand. It's easy to dose a chicken orally with a liquid.
I mostly use Valbazen to worm my birds. Dosage is 1/2ml given orally to each chicken using a syringe without a needle.
The easiest way to worm chickens is to go out to the coop early in the morning just before sunrise. It would be best to have someone to go with you to hold the chicken while you worm her.
Preload your syringe, snatch a bird off the roost. Have the other person hold the bird for you. Pull the hens wattles down and her mouth will open. Quickly shoot the liquid in her mouth and immediately let go of her wattles at the same time so she can swallow the liquid on her own. If you dont let go of her wattles right away, she can aspirate.
Then release her and snatch another bird off the roost and repeat the procedure until they are all wormed.
Practice it, like a dry run, without the liquid in the syringe. You'll get the hang of it real quick and it's easy to do.
There's another important advantage to this procedure: Your birds will not have eaten yet and will be starving, so will the worms. Feed them the wormer, it'll get rid of them for sure.
You may or may not see worms excreted in feces afterwards. They are usually digested as protein in the digestive tract.
Also, when you pull down on the wattles, if the hen starts shaking her head, just hold on and she will tire. Then you can dose her.
You'll also have to reworm your birds in 10-14 days to eliminate worms hatched from eggs previously missed by the initial treatment. Wormers have no effect on worm eggs in the chickens system.

I will try the wattle pull! Thanks so much!

 

[LaFleche]

Too bad we dont have Flubendazole here in the U.S.
I noted that it does not eliminate pinworm eggs.
https://drugs.ncats.io/substance/R8M46911LR

Yes, I was told it is sold in the U.S. as Fishzole though.

And we do not know where @TheyLive is located, might as well be Europe, Australia or New Zealand etc.

Thank you for the link, learned something new regarding pinworm eggs.

 

[TheyLive]

Sadly she died during the night.