What is this in my chickens poop?! Sick pullet

[Yellow321]

Hi, Yellow321! I'd be leaning towards a worm problem. They should be wormed regularly. Put a marker on your calendar so you don't miss worming them each month. I'm not saying it isn't coccidiosis though. Have you given them any raw meats, fish or chicken? If so, don't do it any more! If it was off it might have caused salmonella. Probiotics, Prebiotics and yeast extract are supposed to be a good preventative. I, usually, dose my chickens with a weekly (or twice weekly) treat of cooked pasta or cooked rice with yoghurt mixed in as well as any additional capsules of probiotics, prebiotics not mentioned on the carton, and anything else that you think they may be lacking. They love it! Try to get yoghurt without the sugar as the bacteria feed on it. Don't forget chickens will attack any mice that come near them and eat them. You don't know what the mice may have. Worms, worm eggs, etc. You can't stop them from eating the mice unfortunately. I've seen mine attack and kill a mouse. Then, run around trying to outrun the others trying to steal her 'treat' until she finally swallows it. All you can do is try to make it as impossible as you can for the mice to get in but I let mine out to free range for a while each day soo ... Also, give them things like yoghurt, etc., to counter those problems. I really believe that helps. Good luck! Please let us know how things are going with her. Hope she gets better!

@FlippinFancyFeathers
Thanks for the tips. I've tried giving her Greek yogurt. She won't eat it unless I tube it down her. I've tubed it a few times mixed in with my concoction since she's been mysteriously sick.

I went on a week long vacation mid July and came back and saw mice in my run in the early morning because the food was left out each night while I was gone. I've since picked up the food each night after they roost and bring it back out each morning. Tedious and early morning for me (ugh) but I haven't seen any mice since. All that to say, I don't know what all went on while I was gone. She was fine before I left. Came back and she's like this and declining. Maybe or maybe she didn't eat a mouse!

I haven't given them any raw meets ever.

As for probiotics, they're in her feed ingredients and I just read the ingredients on their grit and apparently nearly all store bought grit I can find is laced with probiotics! So she gets some there too. I've given rooster booster vitamin + electrolytes+ probiotics to her since she got sick. I bought some powdered probiotics too and have given that to her occasionally. Honestly I don't even eat this much probiotics myself lol and I feel this overload of probiotics for chickens as a cure-all is overkill! They haven't helped her through all of this anyway.

What dewormer do you use?

 

[Eggcessive]

Good advice from Wyorp Rock and others. I second treating her for possible coccidiosis, and I would finish the course of Amoxicillin at 250 mg twice a day. Lash egg material and salpingitis may not respond to antibiotics. Amoxicillin or enrofloxacin (Baytril) are both commonly used by vets to treat salpingitis. Tylosin which treats a number of things, probably wouldn’t do a lot for salpingitis. It is unfortunate that she may have this so young in life, but treating for coccidiosis could help if that is the reason she has not been able to keep up in development. Valbazen is the best wormer out there for most chicken worms. Dosage is 1/2 ml given directly into her beak once, and then repeat in 10 to 14 days.

 

[Yellow321]

Good advice from Wyorp Rock and others. I second treating her for possible coccidiosis, and I would finish the course of Amoxicillin at 250 mg twice a day. Lash egg material and salpingitis may not respond to antibiotics. Amoxicillin or enrofloxacin (Baytril) are both commonly used by vets to treat salpingitis. Tylosin which treats a number of things, probably wouldn’t do a lot for salpingitis. It is unfortunate that she may have this so young in life, but treating for coccidiosis could help if that is the reason she has not been able to keep up in development. Valbazen is the best wormer out there for most chicken worms. Dosage is 1/2 ml given directly into her beak once, and then repeat in 10 to 14 days.

@Eggcessive
She only weighs 2 lbs so I haven't done 250mg as that would be way too much for her. I have fish amoxi which is 500ml, so I divided it up and gave her 1/4th of that which comes out to 125mg. That's a little more than the 57mg/lb but not much more so I figured she would be ok with that. Do all of my calculations sound about right? I did it for 8 days so within the 7-10 days, and it didn't help her at all from what I've seen. So I stopped at day 8 (yesterday) and switched over and gave an oral dose of Corid. Do you think I should keep up the Amoxi for a couple more days along with the corid at the same time? And then along with the Valbazen, too? Would that give a big tummy ache?! Or worse, medication overload and kill her due to her already fragile state?!

Are we nearly positive this is salpingitis? When she was feeling well, she hadn't shown any signs of lying yet. Like, not even close lol. She hasn't even grown a comb yet, let alone shown any red in the face. So could this really be a reproductive thing already? Or could it be something else based on the poop photo? I'm treating for Cocci and have already done a round of Amoxi and I have now ordered some Baytril (Enrofloxacin is actually what I ordered - hope that's is indeed the same thing?). Anything else I could potentially try to treat for? I've never seen something like that come out of any of my chickens! But I'm new to this so I wouldn't know lol

I also just read in this article that Baytril shouldn't be used on chickens that are meant to consume and to eat their eggs! If she survives this, I definitely had planned on eating her eggs. So if I give Baytril does that mean her eggs are ruined forever?

Thank's for the help! Everything is worth a try at this point because she seems near death and she and I have been at this for about 3 weeks now

@Wyorp Rock

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh, okay, 100 mg would be more accurate for 2 pounds. I’m not familiar with packets of amoxicillin, just the capsules. Do you have a picture of the product or label? Baytril and enrofloxacin are the same. She is close enough of age to laying for it to be a reproductive problem, such as salpingitis. As far as knowing definitely that this is salpingitis, it looks like lash material, but as Wyorp Rock said in her post, it could also be cecal core. That is when coccidiosis is in the cecum (between the small and large intestines,) and the core of the cecal wall is excreted. Take pictures if you see more of that material. Salpingitis tissue tends to be flesh colored.

 

[Yellow321]

Oh, okay, 100 mg would be more accurate for 2 pounds. I’m not familiar with packets of amoxicillin, just the capsules. Do you have a picture of the product or label? Baytril and enrofloxacin are the same. She is close enough of age to laying for it to be a reproductive problem, such as salpingitis. As far as knowing definitely that this is salpingitis, it looks like lash material, but as Wyorp Rock said in her post, it could also be cecal core. That is when coccidiosis is in the cecum (between the small and large intestines,) and the core of the cecal wall is excreted. Take pictures if you see more of that material. Salpingitis tissue tends to be flesh colored.

@Eggcessive
Ah, as you all have mentioned, it sounds like it could be either! Thanks for the explanation.

It's worth mentioning that I have been creepily watching her poop since this all started 3 weeks ago. I dig through most of her poops to see exactly what's in them! And I haven't seen this come out of her before until yesterday after the first direct oral dose of corid. So that has me wondering - surely that's not just a coincidence! And then now today these 3 weird pieces came out of her. Fingers crossed that this corid treatment was the key. She and I are exhausted over this.

If corid does the trick for her, should I still follow up with Baytril? Or would that not really be necessary by then if it is coccidiosis?

I forgot to link that article I mentioned above about giving baytril and not being able to eat their eggs?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/baytril-enrofloxacin-sources.959119/

Here's a photo of the fish amoxi I have. They are capsules that I break apart and it has powder inside that I divide up.

 

[Yellow321]

I have some liquid Ivermectin on hand. Would that work as a dewormer? Or is it too harsh?

 

[Loving my girls]

As a latecomer into this thread it looks like a lash egg to me too, personally I would treat with ivermectin (as a cure all for bugs, grubs and all thing creepy) and if there is no change I’d just love her for as long as she’s got be it days, weeks or years.
I’m not experienced in cocc. (That that cannot be named ) so can’t comment on the likelihood of that being a possibility.

For me; Eggs aren’t as important as the wellbeing of the hen

 

[triciayoung]

Do you have photos of her?

It looks like is might be lash material (Salpingitis), but it could be cecal core, hard to tell.

Any improvement at all with Amoxicillin? Dose is 57mg per pound of weight given twice a day for 7-10 days.

If she were mine, I'd treat for Coccidiosis.
Liquid Corid dose is 2tsp or Powdered Corid Dose is 1 1/2tsp per gallon of water given for 5-7 days as the only source of drinking water.
Do not add any extra vitamins/electrolytes that contain B1(Thiamine) to food or water during the course of treatment.

See that she's eating her chick starter really well, you may be able to entice her with bits of egg. Keep her hydrated.

Any lice/mites on her?
Crop emptying overnight?

If she stopped growing, she may be failure to thrive.

Excellent @Wyorp Rock, treating with Corid is the best start.

 

[triciayoung]

Because you went to the vet with one chicken, this vet may be willing to give you Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprim. This would give her a different antibiotic and it is the most effective for coccidiosis (not all strains of cocci are treated with Corid)

 

[Yellow321]

Because you went to the vet with one chicken, this vet may be willing to give you Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprim. This would give her a different antibiotic and it is the most effective for coccidiosis (not all strains of cocci are treated with Corid)

@triciayoung
I'll call the vet on Monday. But even if they do give me some, they're going to overcharge me lol. So I'm looking into getting some of my own.

Would either of these two be what you're talking about:

1) https://jedds.com/products/trimetho...96285&pr_ref_pid=6832815407293&pr_seq=uniform

2) https://jedds.com/products/sul-med-100-powder?variant=40215737401533