Wyandotte Wasting Away

[762]

IF it's reproductive in nature, then something like enrofloxacin (Baytril) or amoxicillin would be better to try. You can get oral enrofloxacin here:
https://jedds.com/products/enrofloxacin-10?_pos=1&_sid=ff2b85a61&_ss=r
Amoxicillin is available as a fish antibiotic online also, as Aqua Mox or Fish Mox, many sources, search for the best price.

How would I know? None of our chickens have been laying for awhile.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She perked up on Wed and started eating and drinking more than I had seen her do. Tail was up. But yesterday she kinda went back to how she was. Tail down not moving much. Eating and drinking very little.

She is about 15 months old. No eggs not sure when the last one was. She is down to 3lbs. Crop is emptying. Poop is runny and has been. She is not molting. She was dewormed with Valbazen 2nd dose was 12/7 no improvement. Just finished course of powdered Corid but dosed it directly as a drench via syringe according to her weight. Unfortunately I also have been giving her VitaDrench which I assume has B1.

Not sure what else to do for her. It’s been suspected in necropsy reports that we have Marek’s in the flock, and I know that can present in a number of ways as I have seen.

Photos of her and her Poop?

20%Corid Powder direct oral drench is to mix 1/2tsp powder with 2tsp water. Give 0.34ml of this solution per pound of body weight orally 1-2times a day for up to 3days.

The direct oral drench is in addition to the bird drinking the Mixed Cord water throughout the day as their only source of drinking water.

Tail down, perking back up a bit, tail back down, not moving much...I would suspect some type of reproductive problem, but hard to know.
If you have Marek's confirmed in your flock, this could be contributing to her decline as well.

I would consider giving her 1 Calcium Citrate tablet daily for 3-5 days and give an antibiotic to see if she bounces back. At 15months she's not very old, but it's not uncommon for hens this age to succumb to reproductive disorders. If you do lose her, send the body for analysis or if you are up to it, perform your own informal necropsy to see if you find anything obvious.

 

[762]

Photos of her and her Poop?

20%Corid Powder direct oral drench is to mix 1/2tsp powder with 2tsp water. Give 0.34ml of this solution per pound of body weight orally 1-2times a day for up to 3days.

The direct oral drench is in addition to the bird drinking the Mixed Cord water throughout the day as their only source of drinking water.

Tail down, perking back up a bit, tail back down, not moving much...I would suspect some type of reproductive problem, but hard to know.
If you have Marek's confirmed in your flock, this could be contributing to her decline as well.

I would consider giving her 1 Calcium Citrate tablet daily for 3-5 days and give an antibiotic to see if she bounces back. At 15months she's not very old, but it's not uncommon for hens this age to succumb to reproductive disorders. If you do lose her, send the body for analysis or if you are up to it, perform your own informal necropsy to see if you find anything obvious.

Here she is. Wings down can’t even keep her eyes open. Can’t really stand. I gave her some water with a syringe and she drank a sip or two on her own. Looks like antibiotic won’t be here until the end of the week. I don’t think I should wait that long. Probably suffering a lot…I should probably put her down soon. She was in the same spot all day. No poop.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Here she is. Wings down can’t even keep her eyes open. Can’t really stand. I gave her some water with a syringe and she drank a sip or two on her own. Looks like antibiotic won’t be here until the end of the week. I don’t think I should wait that long. Probably suffering a lot…I should probably put her down soon. She was in the same spot all day. No poop.

Poor little thing.
She's not doing very well is she

I'm sorry

 

[762]

Poor little thing.
She's not doing very well is she

I'm sorry

Yeah it’s really hard to make the call. After I write that she took several good drinks on her own. I could put her in the garage tonight with a heater. I suppose it’s possible she could make it until antibiotics arrive, if that’s even what will help her.

 

[762]

@Wyorp Rock - I put her down just a bit ago via cervical dislocation. She didn't even have the nervous-system aftershock thing they do after they die she was so weak. She had almost no muscle whatsoever.

I opened her up and her intestines were FULL starting about halfway down their length from her gizzard. I couldn't really find a reason why nothing was passing as they were full all the way to her vent. Now, what they were full of was scrambled eggs and I mean scrambled eggs only. So, were they HER eggs sans a shell just building up, somehow backing up into her intestines? As I said, the small intestine looked fine for a distance until the blockage.

I fed her scrambled eggs probably about 2 weeks ago...maybe a bit longer. As I mentioned previusly, she DEVOURED them 2-3 days in a row, then wasn't really interested in them. But she also ate other things...some grain, some meal worms, etc. It seemed to me that in this huge bulge (I would say approximately 6" long...maybe more) of scrambled eggs, if they were what I fed her there would be other stuff mixed in. So maybe shell-less egg material backing up into her intestines is a reasonable deduction. I have no idea.

I cut open her gizzard and it was full of grass, grain and corn. I can't remember the last time I saw her eat any whole corn.

Thoughts?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I opened her up and her intestines were FULL starting about halfway down their length from her gizzard. I couldn't really find a reason why nothing was passing as they were full all the way to her vent. Now, what they were full of was scrambled eggs and I mean scrambled eggs only. So, were they HER eggs sans a shell just building up, somehow backing up into her intestines? As I said, the small intestine looked fine for a distance until the blockage.

It seemed to me that in this huge bulge (I would say approximately 6" long...maybe more) of scrambled eggs, if they were what I fed her there would be other stuff mixed in. So maybe shell-less egg material backing up into her intestines is a reasonable deduction. I have no idea.

I cut open her gizzard and it was full of grass, grain and corn. I can't remember the last time I saw her eat any whole corn.

I'm sorry.

Did you happen to take photos? If not, it's understandable.

Just asking here, was it the small intestine that had the egg or could it have been the oviduct?
Not doubting you at all, just trying to determine IF the scrambled eggs were in the intestines, why and where did they come from since you found food/material in her gizzard, it would stand to reason the intestines would not only contain eggs.

There can be exudes or cooked egg material in the abdominal cavity and/or oviduct when a hen has EYP, Salpingitis, Internal Laying - they all looks pretty close to the same thing, differentiation is usually where material is found and how it looks. Symptoms are quite similar as well.

Was it like scrambled eggs you cooked or material like you see in the photos below.

 

[LaFleche]

@Wyorp Rock - I put her down just a bit ago via cervical dislocation. She didn't even have the nervous-system aftershock thing they do after they die she was so weak. She had almost no muscle whatsoever.

I opened her up and her intestines were FULL starting about halfway down their length from her gizzard. I couldn't really find a reason why nothing was passing as they were full all the way to her vent. Now, what they were full of was scrambled eggs and I mean scrambled eggs only. So, were they HER eggs sans a shell just building up, somehow backing up into her intestines? As I said, the small intestine looked fine for a distance until the blockage.

I fed her scrambled eggs probably about 2 weeks ago...maybe a bit longer. As I mentioned previusly, she DEVOURED them 2-3 days in a row, then wasn't really interested in them. But she also ate other things...some grain, some meal worms, etc. It seemed to me that in this huge bulge (I would say approximately 6" long...maybe more) of scrambled eggs, if they were what I fed her there would be other stuff mixed in. So maybe shell-less egg material backing up into her intestines is a reasonable deduction. I have no idea.

I cut open her gizzard and it was full of grass, grain and corn. I can't remember the last time I saw her eat any whole corn.

Thoughts?

By your description I would think that she suffered from internal laying/EYP.

Sorry you lost her.

 

[762]

I'm sorry.

Did you happen to take photos? If not, it's understandable.

Just asking here, was it the small intestine that had the egg or could it have been the oviduct?
Not doubting you at all, just trying to determine IF the scrambled eggs were in the intestines, why and where did they come from since you found food/material in her gizzard, it would stand to reason the intestines would not only contain eggs.

There can be exudes or cooked egg material in the abdominal cavity and/or oviduct when a hen has EYP, Salpingitis, Internal Laying - they all looks pretty close to the same thing, differentiation is usually where material is found and how it looks. Symptoms are quite similar as well.

Was it like scrambled eggs you cooked or material like you see in the photos below.

View attachment 3716692
View attachment 3716695

I did not take pics. There was no shell whatsoever. So the material it looked like the lower picture except NO runny yolk at all and it was long a 6-8” long made about .75-1” in diameter. It was very much like just one solid piece that bent and curved as the intestines do. It did not look like something she ate since it was so compact.

I could be mistaken thinking it was in the intestines…maybe I got mixed up following the lines. I could get her back out to re-examine her, but I may have butchered things up too much to be able to tell what’s what anymore.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I did not take pics. There was no shell whatsoever. So the material it looked like the lower picture except NO runny yolk at all and it was long a 6-8” long made about .75-1” in diameter. It was very much like just one solid piece that bent and curved as the intestines do. It did not look like something she ate since it was so compact.

I could be mistaken thinking it was in the intestines…maybe I got mixed up following the lines. I could get her back out to re-examine her, but I may have butchered things up too much to be able to tell what’s what anymore.

Sounds like lash material, likely in the oviduct, but this material can also be found in the abdomen as well. Usually you will not see shell with lash material.

I understand about following the lines, I do my own investigations and things can look much different in person than all the nice neat photos or video the professional Pathologists post. Even when I process birds for eating, things can look a bit different. I'm surely not an expert but am always learning something new every time it seems.

I applaud you for looking inside and trying to see what caused her decline. It's sad to see them decline and even sadder, the symptoms you described of her decline/behavior is what most of us see at some point with our own hens. I've seen this with mine, I've found cancer in mine and also peritonitis. Symptoms are quite similar, so often "reproductive disorder" is the category I (we) use to describe what is happening.

In this thread, the lash material is a light color, usually it's more yellow but color can vary. A post or two on down, the OP mentions the material was in casing, which is assumed to have been the oviduct.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/dead-hen-autopsy.1606411/


Not sure if you've seen this video. I admit I have not watched it all in one sitting, but I do scroll through and look at the "photos" which are good and the organs are labeled too. The timeline is pretty good at having each section divided too. I've found it to be helpful as well.