Yellow skin on lethargic, not eating, young pullet/hen

[Bocktobery 10]

Forgot to give an update.

Chicken patient is still about the same, although this evening she seemed to have eaten much more food than she has lately. Poops are still green with white or are just runny brown. Last night it seemed she did an almost normal looking poop, at least in consistency, though it was still greenish tinge.

She seems peppy and alert, but still is not movign around like a normal chicken.

She did seem to want out of her cage by being more "talkative", sounding what I call her 'annoyed' call over and over again. (The "BAaaawwk baaawwk bawk bawk bawk bawk bawk" sound- sounds almost like an annoyed laughing gull.)

I think the antibiotics are helping.

If it were botulism, would antibiotics help? I worry about that now because my chickens love our compost pile... Just learning lately that isn't a good idea for chickens and will have to promptly put up a fence around it.

 

[lilcrow]

Yeah, it would be so nice if we could be assured that our chickens would always eat what's good for them, but alas that is not the case. The worse stories I've heard are of the birds eating Styrofoam, and it's not that uncommon. That green poop certainly sounds diagnostic to me, wish I knew more about the feces thing. What is the antibiotic that you have her on?
There are some real brainiacs on here, I wish one of them would drop by.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Thanks lilcrow

The antibiotic I have her on is amoxycillin. I'd like to say she is getting better, but really there is not much difference in her. I have her outside right now with the rest of the chickens, free ranging- its a nice day out today. However, she seems to not know what to do and is largely avoiding the other chickens. I had one other chicken act similar to this a few months back (a large buff orpington) but she somewhat snapped out of it once she started to lay eggs. This Buff Orpington that I speak off had just injured her beak when she acted like this but it continued even after her beak was healed up. I kind of like to think that her introduction to the 'egg layers association' that she has perked her up. She seems to have a place in 'chicken society' now, whereas I think my pullet sized (ill) Barred Rock has lost her place. ???


Thanks again.. I"ll keep updating if there is something more to post.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

just an update because I know it can be frustrating to read a thread and not have the closure on knowing what it all chalked up to be....

My chicken is alive and eating well again. I don't really know for certain what it was that was ailing her, but after some reading I chalked it up to STRESS, mostly bodily changes kind of stress. I think this because she got better right before she laid her first egg. When she was starting to eat more and more she would sometimes 'do' the egg laying song...although she would never produce an egg. She started to eat more and get more and more restless in her cage and exhibited to me that she was lonely by her constant sea-gull like calls, as if she was feeling better and wanted to be up and running with others. So I figured what ever it was has run its course and put her back in the coop with the rest.... THAT is a whole different story, yet even with her now missing several of her head and back feathers from other hens picking, she is still eating like a little piggy just like the other little piggies.. I mean, chickens! She will gobble up all the treats she can now just like the rest, so I feel pretty relieved.

That being said, I still don't think she is up to par with the rest of the chickens and I am keeping a cautious eye on any return of illness. She is still small and even though she is laying eggs here and there, she is not as proficient of a producer as the others. It may just be she is just a genetically weaker hen. I think she also is still dealing with some stress from being reintroduced into the coop with the others picking on her, thinking she is a newbie. But she seems to handle this rather well I do hope that gets better with time.

 

[lilcrow]

Thanks for the update and it's good to hear that it is a positive one so far.