Yolk in droppings?

Kneedles

Songster
7 Years
Jul 22, 2014
256
111
206
Wellington, New Zealand
Starting perhaps a month ago, one of my hens (a five-year-old black sex link) started having unusual laying behaviours. Now, whenever she goes to her laying place (every second day, I think), she leaves behind either no egg or an egg with a thin shell. More recently, I have noticed that a translucent, yellow-tinged liquid always comes out with her otherwise normal droppings. It might be my imagination, but I also think that she has been feeding less energetically recently.
I took her to the vet six days ago. The vet had limited experience with chickens. My hen produced droppings with the yellowish liquid in it while at the vet, and the vet similarly thought that it might be derived from her eggs. The vet applied a parasite-killing cream to the back of my hen's neck and gave me a ten-day prescription of a liquid antibiotic (deprim) for my hen, which I am still giving to my hen twice a day. Obviously, this has not stopped the production of the yellowish liquid.
I also gave this hen some caltrate not long ago, which, again, did not fix the problem.
Should I be concerned?
 
Last edited:
I hate to send you down that road, 'cause it's not cheap, but I think it would be helpful to see what's going on. Another option would be to switch antibiotics to something like Baytril
 
I don't think that Baytril is available in my country. A different antibiotic that a different vet prescribed for this hen late last year was called Clavulox. I do have some Aquari-Cycline (tetracycline disruptor) pills on hand, though; should I try using those?
 
I have now also acquired Fish Mox Forte, which is like Clavulox but does not contain clavulanic acid. Between it and Aquari-Cycline, which antibiotic should I use on this hen? I have now almost run out of Deprim and I don't think that the hen has stopped producing unusual droppings. I think that she also has a slow crop now.
 
I'd isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so you can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom