Yellow poop, lethargic

[jhmoore]

I have a 9 month old Golden Laced Wyandotte hen, who lives in a large coop with attached covered run with 4 other same age, similar size hens. They free range all day on grass in an acre fenced in pasture. She has seemed to be eating and drinking well, laying normally (every other day for her). No pecking order issues.

So, now to my problem. This morning when I opened up the coop, she did not come out. I looked inside, and she was just sitting on the roost- not normal for any of them at 8:00 am! I waited, and she did come out on her own, but just hung out in the run area, not venturing outside. I watched her for a bit, and noticed she seemed to be very lethargic, not attempting to eat or drink, or join her friends. She also seemed to have very runny, yellow-ish droppings, and seemed to be straining to push it out.

I had to leave for work, and just returned 9 hours later. She is out in the pasture, but laying down. She doesn't attempt to get up when I go near her, and still looks "dumpy" . She did stand up, and I can tell she has had more runny, yellow-ish droppings. Anyone have any input as to what this might be? And any suggestions for how I can help her out?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Schultz]

I have a hen who is doing the same and I PM'd Glenda L Heywood. She is a wealth of information. Here is a link for poop. I don't want to "guess" as to what is wrong but I know Glenda can help.
http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[john]

My barred rock was doing the same thing last night and this morning she would not come out. I went in and got her(without any fuss)carried her out, set her down and she layed right down. I came home 5 hours later and she is dead! I have no idea what is wrong. I have 7 more hens and a rooster that live with her. and 8, 8wk old babies right next door that are in the same yard during the daytime as she was. None of the others are showing any of the lethargic signs that she has shown over the last 3 days. i thought she was just fat and lazy. She was beautiful and did not look sickly at all. If anyone has a clue please let me know if it was random or she may have had a disease of some sort. She was only 1 year old.

 

[jhmoore]

I am so sorry to hear about your BR hen. I'm waiting to see if my hen will go back to the coop tonight on her own. If not, I plan to bring her in and keep her quiet and in the dark. I hope someone else on here has some answers for us. Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I would say that she may have some type of serious E.coli
lathargic and yellow poo, untreated it will kill her

Some tips on treating this in your bird from a friend of mine

Nathalie Ross who as a vet tech learnd this treatment
Nathalie Ross "threehorses"
First and foremost the thing to do is to feed her
the probiotic wet mash
E.coli is something chickens do get
Now, anytime you have any gut problems, the health of the beneficial bacteria that should naturally occur in the gut should be considered.

It's usually when the populations of those good
bacterial decrease that we see an INcreased in bad bacteria, thus gut illness. The good
bacteria literally crowd out bad bacteria, and some even secrete substances
that ward off over abundances of bad bacteria.

(1 So during illness, and really any time there is
stress, you'll want to increase the number of good bacteria in your bird's gut. You can do
this quite easily through the use of probiotics
available over the counter, and some even at the grocery store.

(2 In this case, with a
probability of E. coli, you'll want to find a
"probiotic" that contains live cultures of
Lactobacilus (most commonly lactobacilus
acidophilus) as well as B. bifidum.

Bifidum is one of those bacteria that secretes stuff to ward off bad bacteria, in this case it specifically wards off E.coli.

Third, nutrition during illness:
You can mix it up with boiled/mashed egg yolk for a combination of good high protein for healing,
super nutrition from the egg, and the good bacteria from the yogurt. Plus, this treat is soft and easily dissolved.

Fourth vitamin E.
Vitamin E acts specifically against overdoses of E.coli. (GLH suggested)( I'd use the oil capsules. two 1000 MG PEOPLE vIT E DAILY TILL HEAED. give one in morning and one at nite)
You can put it in a small bit of food if you
KNOW that bit of food will be eaten entirely.

When birds are sick, their crops/gizzards slow down, so it's really easy for their crops to back up and get impacted.

If you don't think your bird will eat yogurt (some dont, some love it),

then you can hedge your bets and pick up a non-dairy human probiotic from the human health food store.
You'll find them in the remedies for yeast infections. Liquids are easiest to use, though
you can crush tablets if you absolutely have to do.

Be sure to read the label to see
that it says that it contains both acidophilus (aka lactobacilus) as well as bifidum.
Nathalie Ross provided this excerp

Glenda L Heywood
suggests so as to get the hen to eat this wet mash do this
natural probiotic for one bird
3 tbsp of dry crumblesa
3 tbsp of any kind of milk
1 tbsp of yoguart
2 tbsp of apple sauce put on top of the wet mash so the chickens can smell and see it
you can put the amt of acidophilus in also
and feed twice a day till bird is better

you can email me PM for further help

 

[jhmoore]

Thank you for the response. I am about to go check on her again. This morning, she was laying on the floor of the coop, alone and was breathing very heavy, and had eyes closed part of the time. I isolated her in the bottom of my barn, where it would be quiet and dark. I'll keep you posted, and try your remedy with yogurt and such. If she has e-coli, do i need to worry about the other hens getting it too?

 

[Schultz]

Just wanted to let you guys know I have been using Glenda's remedies and my hen is responding well, I hope all of yours are getting better!

 

[jhmoore]

I just went out to check on my girl and to begin the remedy, and found her dead. I don't know if she had ecoli, or if she was egg bound. But, I will certainly miss her.

 

[threehorses]

Hi there. Yellow droppings can be anything from a normal cecal dropping (not likely in this case), to worm infestation (especially if foamy), to salmonella, or enteritis (stomach infection) such as E. coli.

First thing to do is as you've done - remove this chicken to a place all by herself. Were I you, I'd make sure that whatever she's laying on can be easily cleaned, disinfected, or removed. (Read as an old sheet, etc.) It would also help if it allows you to more closely observe the droppings.

Check her weight carefully. Is her keel bone on her chest prominent? Check her feathers and their shafts and her skin; any signs of parasites? These take a patient and careful eye as they're nearly microscoping. Neck and vent areas are always a good place to catch them.

Are the droppings sulfurous or non-sulfurous? Is her head blackening at all? Or just pale?

If you see any weight issues, parasites, the bird is likely suffering from at least secondary anemia which can be addressed normally. Unfortunately a bird this ill might not make it, but I'd aim towards treating with antibiotics for enteritis if you think she has any will to eat.

While she's like this, offer her only easily digested foods. These include crumbles which are wetted down to a slurry with or without egg yolk. You can put some poultry vitamins in the water you use to make it - use as prescribed on the package, use that water to wet the sluice. You can also add probiotics (yogurt, Ornabac from the petstore like Petsmart and Petco have for sure, acidophilus capsules broken and emptied into it, or Probios or Fastrack from the feedstore). She's going to have to have this. Don't allow any grains or grasses. Her digestive system is very very ill and she won't be able to get those through her system. The water I would offer would be only water, nothing else, unless you have to give antibiotics that way. If you do, monitor her for excessive drinking and adjust accordingly.

IF you can get this bird to a vet to have it tested, I would, so that you can treat correctly. I understand that some people simply cannot or would rather cull. But in any case, keep this bird away from the rest of your flock entirely. Also wash your hands carefully after handling her and it wouldn't hurt to disinfect your shoes. Unfortunately, this is also a symptom of the hopefully-mostly-eliminated typhoid. However, I think more likely it's either E. coli or a parasite infection that has effected her to the point of causing liver issues thus the yellowed droppings.

I hope this helps. I'm subscribed to the topic if you have any questions. I'm kinda scratching the surface here, but wanted to give you some guidelines from which to begin.

 

[jhmoore]

Thanks for the info threehorses, bit she has already passed away. I have already removed and completely cleaned the cage I had her isoated in. Do I need to worry further about the rest of my flock?