Yellow Runny Poop and Lethargic Hen

[chey2126]

I have a Plymouth Rock Hen who is going to be 3 in March. She typically is very energetic hen and isn't afraid of people. She is free-range in the afternoon and typically will follow me around. Today i've noticed that her poop was yellow and runny. She also sat on her perch when I went out to feed her. She is always fighting to get to the food first. She has now just been sitting in the coop and will only move if I walk out to her and call her name. She looks pretty much normal and I haven't seen any discoloration on her face. She also hasn't been clucking as loudly or as much as normal. I'm worried that she could have some type of disease like blackhead. She likes to be in our garden and i'm worried she may have ate a worm that could have done something to her. Last week our other hen had been very lethargic and we tried treating her as if she was egg-bound but we never felt anything and she ended up dying. I think maybe she could have even passed something on to our other chicken and I am very worried. Please let me know if you know anything that this could be or any type of medicine we should be trying.

 

[GitaBooks]

That sounds like the same symptoms my chickens had. One winter, I lost three hens to it. They would get lethargic, got covered in mites (the others weren't so bad, as they dust bathed), their droppings got green, and then they would die. I never found out what it was, but I would certainly separate her from the others, get her hydrated and warm, get her on vitamins and maybe some probiotics, see if she can fight it off on her own. Make sure she doesn't have worms or mites draining her injury.

Best of luck!

 

[Akrnaf2]

Reed this and act!
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/search?q=Broody+chicken

 

[chey2126]

After I had posted this my hen started going down hill very fast. She lost all the color in her face and it was hard for her to move. She had all the symptoms of black head so we decided to treat her for that. I'm hoping anyone who might have these symptoms can have some help. We don't have any turkeys but a lot of wild sparrows always get into her coop eating her food, we think they could have given it to her. We started off by going to Tractor Supply who thought we should just give her a powder with electrolytes to put in her water. It was from Sav-A-Chick Products, Electrolyte. We bought this before knowing what was wrong. She wouldn't drink this on her own so we used a syringe to get her to drink some. We started reading how cayenne can kill the bacteria from Blackhead. We put some into a water solution and let some grapes soak in it, she is in Love with grapes. This was the main food we gave her for about 2 days because she wouldn't eat anything else. We then made scrambled eggs and added in the cayenne, we used a good amount, and also added some spinach and a little bit of the electrolyte water. We have been feeding her this for a week with her normal grain. Along with the electrolyte water, we also force feed her a solution of cayenne water. I've read that chickens can't taste spicy things but she definitely hated to drink it, but she had no choice. At first we tried giving her this every two hours for 2 days then did it about twice a day for another 3 days. There is also a medicine from fish stores that helps kill intestinal diseases but we decided not to buy it because it was $10 also, my parents don't care for the chicken as much as I do. Now it has almost been a week since we started this and she has had such an improvement already. The color of her face has returned to a bright red and she is walking around just like she used to before. She has been clucking in the morning, which she hasn't done for a week. We think she is fully recovered but we are going to keep feeding her a little bit of eggs with cayenne in the morning for at least another week to make sure she is perfectly normal. Sadly I wish we could have saved our other chicken because I believe she had the same symptoms. I hope I can help anyone with this problem but you need to act fast, I read blackhead can kill within 48 hours. Hope this helps!

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens rarely get blackhead, but it is possible. The bright yellow in her stool could be histomonas (or blackhead,) but more commonly could be from egg yolk material from internal laying/egg yolk peritonitis, or from e.coli bacteria from EYP. If your parents would permit it, you could take in a good sample of her regular and cecal droppings to your vet to do a fecal test for cecal worms, bacteria, and protozoa. That might save money in trying different medications. Your vet also may be able to prescribe a strong antibiotic if she needs it. Casportpony has a lot of experience with blackhead and using metronidazole (fish zole or Flagyl) in turkeys, and has seen it in chickens. Her posts may give you some more information. Hens 3 years and older may commonly have egg peritonitis or internal laying, especially if they are not laying or lay irregularly.