Year old hen lethargic, with white/yellow runny poo- isolating herself

[My1stChickens]

I have a young hen, a little over a year old that's isolating herself, and was the first one on the roost last night. She has white/yellow opaque liquid poo. Her comb is bright red, but she's moving slow and has messy tail feathers. When I let everyone out of the coop, she was sitting quietly, while the others were "chickening". The rest ran out the door, and after a minute she did get up and go with them. But not to the feed pan, she wandered to the other end of the run, I never saw her eat or drink. This time of day, they all sit around, and that's what she's doing.

She's recently been wormed, and was sprayed with permethrin last weekend with the follow up spraying last night. I suspect she laid a shell-less egg a couple days ago on the roost. I suspect her only because of where that egg was located, relative to her spot on the roost, so not 100% sure.

Wondering about coccidiosis? (No sign of blood in poo-- it's milky white or pale yellow) She came to me at six months, and as part of what ended up being a lengthy quarantine, was treated for coccidiosis even though she was healthy the whole time. (two of the others had respiratory issues, and one just wasn't right, so they all got Corrid in the water for 5 days) From what I understand the coccidiosis is always in their body, but may only affect them when they are stressed/vulnerable.

Right now I'm just watching her. I have one other who has a messy butt, but she is active, laying eggs, eating well, etc. Another who tends to isolate herself but always has-- she's flighty/timid, with poor social skills. It's the Barred Rock that I'm a little worried about. I am tempted to give her a bath, but she's not "stopped up" or blocked, and I am a little reluctant to risk stressing her. I could put her in a cage to see if she eats/drinks, but she's not getting picked on, not panting from heat, so I've left her with the flock.

We are in a heat wave-- heat indexes at 100 every day, and we don't cool off a lot at night-- just down to about 78-80. After tomorrow, we're expecting a "cold front", with highs closer to 90 and cooling off to 65-70 at night. If the heat has been an issue, that may mitigate the situation. Oh-- they always have multiple water sources, I freeze waters to maintain availability of cool water. They get ice water in a flat pan to wade in, and frozen watermelon each afternoon. I add electrolytes/vitamins to the water about half the time. They have access to shade at all times, and a fan in the coop.

 

[Helloworld]

I take gallon jugs of water and freeze overnight and sit it down in coops when temps get to 90. I put hay around it because some like to sit right beside it so it helps with possible wing frostbite.

I think you have a walking problem.

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be a reproductive disorder if she is the one who laid the soft shell egg. You could pen her up in a wire dog crate with food and water for a couple of days to see if she lays again, or try to catch her in the nest box, then look.

It would not harm her to give another Corid treatment for 5 days since you may already have some. If you see more droppings, you can post a picture here. A picture of her might help as well. Has she been standing puffef up or hunched? Is she eating or drinking? You can offer some chopped scrambled egg or a little tuna or cooked meat, and keep her chicken feed there as well.

Using 1/2 a calcium with vitamin D tablet once a day for a few days to help firm up her egg shells would be good, if she lays another soft egg. Tums would also work, or a cooked egg and shell ground up finely, fed back to her.

 

[My1stChickens]

This is a very full bodied hen but she’s not puffed up or hunched. I just came back from checking her and she was actually sitting next to another hen rather than alone. When I offered treats everyone else scrambled and she did not move or even take treats that were thrown within her reach. Afterwords when the rest decided to go back out to the pen, she got up and followed and I was able to take a picture of her dirty butt

I have not seen her eat- And I’ve seen her disinterested when feeding or offering treats but at some point she ate something, because there is now some green in the poop.

I also noticed that her body is crooked. Her tail is bending to the left – see picture. She's always been just a little crooked, but it seems more pronounced.

I do have Corid and could treat just her if I caged her. I could put the cage in the coop, and if she felt well enough to fuss I could always let her out. At present I don’t think that would be the case. Because their coop is large and comfortable the flock does spend some time in the coop during the day. It’s 12x13 with roosts, places for dirt bathing. Food water calcium grit are available and there is a fan. Would that be reasonable, rather than bring her in the house?

 

[My1stChickens]

I take gallon jugs of water and freeze overnight and sit it down in coops when temps get to 90. I put hay around it because some like to sit right beside it so it helps with possible wing frostbite.

I think you have a walking problem.

I freeze the gallon waterers In the morning, the water is on the East end of the run, because that's shaded and that's where they hang out. By midday, the shade has shifted and temps have risen so I bring more frozen gallons to the West end. Recently, they like to hang out in the chicken tractors (there are two in their run) so I also put cold water there. They never have far to go for cool water. Now that does not stop them from running through the sunshine if I approach the run, because they hope I have treats!

Finally, there is always another waterer in the coop for them. The coop of course stays shaded, but it's also extremely well ventilated with the South wall 80% wire mesh reinforced with hardware cloth, and the East well has the top 1/3 ventilated. And there is a fan.

 

[Eggcessive]

In the third picture, what is the shiny blob toward the center right? Poop? I usually try to leave my sick hens with their flock as long as they are not being pecked or bullied. Since flies can be awful and can cause flystrike on poopy butts in hot weather, I might try to soak her bottom or clean it off. Some just use a garden hose and some rubbing. Green poop is a sign of not eating much.

 

[My1stChickens]

In the third picture, what is the shiny blob toward the center right? Poop? I usually try to leave my sick hens with their flock as long as they are not being pecked or bullied. Since flies can be awful and can cause flystrike on poopy butts in hot weather, I might try to soak her bottom or clean it off. Some just use a garden hose and some rubbing.

I'm think that blob is poop. In person, it looked more green-- not black like it shows up on the computer. She is not being picked on. But isolating her would give more insight on whether she's eating/drinking. Corid dosage is 8cc gallon, and 16 cups to a gallon means .5cc per cup-- right? Can I add electrolytes to the Corid water or no?
I will catch her (without making it stressful-- so might be at dusk when she goes to roost) and clean her bottom off.

 

[My1stChickens]

OK, I washed her off. She was easy to catch (which always worries me) but did consider breaking free before the bath was done. I used lukewarm water, just barely cool to my hand (it's 96 degrees, so I wanted it a little cooler than the air temp). If the bath was going to change her body temp, lowering it a degree would be better than raising it a degree in this heat. I soaked, worked gung loose but did not clean forensically as I did not want to stress her. I think there may be one mite nest at the base of a feather. If so I will deal with it later, no way I could take a scissors to her while restraining her. But her skin is pink, clear, clean. Her vent looks fine.
She actually perked up a little this afternoon as was not isolated, but rather hanging out with the girls-- just quietly. The wire cage is set up in the coop, and I've scrambled an egg (from before Wazine withdrawal) shell and add, added some raw sunflower seeds for protein, and a few bits of watermelon and grapes. I will put her in the cage closer to bedtime-- for now she and the other hen I washed are out in the grassy pen while they dry. It's warm, and there's a nice breeze.
I probably will give her fresh water this evening, I'd feel better seeing her eat/drink before adding medication to the mix that might be off putting. I don't remember whether Corid is bitter or not, but I'd like to see eating and/or drinking without raising any obstacles to same.

 

[Eggcessive]

Corid dosage is 10 ml or 2 tsp per gallon or 0.625 ml per cup. Most people do not use anything in the Corid water. No vitamins during Corid, since it mimics thiamine in the coccidia organism. Glad that you cleaned her off, and made sure her vent was clear. Let us know how she is getting along in the morning.

 

[My1stChickens]

Corid dosage is 10 ml or 2 tsp per gallon or 0.625 ml per cup. Most people do not use anything in the Corid water. No vitamins during Corid, since it mimics thiamine in the coccidia organism. Glad that you cleaned her off, and made sure her vent was clear. Let us know how she is getting along in the morning.

thanks Eggcessive-- I thought it was 8cc (from a chicken veterinary site-- but I trust the experts on this board implicitly) so will use .625 per cup, and modify the dosage information I wrote on the bottle. Will update once more when I put her in the cage and offer delectable treats to tempt her to eat.