Wheezing, black stool, what to do for pullet?

[Sunny Side Up]

Last night I noticed that one of my 6-month-old Red Sex-Link pullets was wheezing when she breathed, with a real gurgle-y liquid sound in her sinuses. None of her coop-mates sounded anything like that.

I couldn't find the bottle of Vet Rx so I slathered Vicks Vap-O-Rub on her wattles & comb & dabbed some under her wings. When I went to put her in the hospital pen she had some difficulty grabbing onto the perch, which concerned me. But after several tries I finally got her to grab on to it.

This morning there were lots of small, dark/almost-black poops each streaked with white under the perch. The white is the typical stuff you find in poop, I forget what it's called but it's the chicken version of urine. But the poops were small & thin, like what you find under a rooster, not the plump pullet poops. And dark.

They've been eating layer pellets, and fresh pumpkin, and get to free-range each afternoon.

She was eager to eat the dish of layer pellets I gave her this morning, & she's walking & clutching her perch just fine. Her breathing sounds much better too, but when you put your ear to her chest you can still hear a wheeze in her lungs.

I'd like to hear any advice you have as to what I can do to remedy this ailment & relieve her symptoms. There is someone who wants to buy her & 3 more of her flockmates and I want to sell her healthy birds. Thank you for your imput!

 

[eggsrcool]

Usually it appears to be caused by consumption of darkly coloured berries but a hunt around the ground and bushes did not reveal any culprits. The two remaning causes are not good. Firstly that it's a sign of severe malnutrition (seems unlikely). Secondly that it's blood passing through the digestive tract signifying an upper gastrointestinal bleed (melena or melaena). In view of the smell I fear the latter. Neither sound good and the literature suggests they will die within a couple of weeks.

I found information on black poo on this website: http://www.deepblue.uk.net/site/node/402​

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Thank you for that information. This hen sure has me guessing. When I checked on her tonight after putting the rest of the birds to bed I can hear NO more wheezing, no more gurgle-y snotty sounding breathing. She is walking well & gripping the perch with no problem. Her poops are getting bigger & browner. She ate & drank well today.

It could very well be some berries she ate that made her poops look like that. Maybe I'll put some newspaper under the roosts of her coop-mates to see if theirs looks similar. There's a bush with berries they like that grows in their pen, maybe it's coloring all their poops.

And I may go ahead & put some more Vap-O-Rub on her tonight, just to be sure. What could make a bird sound so booger-y one night and be fine the next?

Despite my concern, it was nice to put my ear to this hen's chest & hear her little heart bip-bip-bipping along inside her, a busy happy birdy sound.