Sweet Smelling Breath and Panting Need help.

[SchwartzLakeFarmNC]

Fellow chicken crew, I have an 11th month old BielFelder Pullet which started showing some signs of possible sour crop or maybe something else in which I need the experience of this group.

Our Pullets are all on Nutrena all flock 20% pellets with free choice of oyster shell whenever they need it. 2x a week they get boiled eggs, yogurt and either tuna or calf manna for added protein.

This Pullet has had issues laying eggs since she started, she laid so many soft eggs we give her calcium pills which do help, but as soon as you stop them she will lay soft eggs on the poop board, sometimes 2 eggs at a time, so we know internal laying will most likely kill her at some point. Yesterday, my wife says her breath is like sweet corn, if you can image when you open a can of creamed corn, then you get what I'm talking about. We started giving her monostat twice daily as we felt she might have sour crop. She ate a little wet mash and scrambled egg, but doesn't seem interested in food at the moment, she does drink water and her poops were mostly normal looking until late today, when they became more watery. Her crop is very small, liquidly feeling.

We did start her on aquamox in case of infection as well.

Is my thinking right that maybe she has laid internally and is dealing with an infection maybe? The mouth open and heavy breathing along with the sweet corn smell has me stumped, anyone have any thoughts on what we might be dealing with or ideas to try. She does not have any parasites or worms, no other chicken is having any issues at all. Would respiratory be anything to consider?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Sour crop is my best guess as well. As for the no-shelled eggs, I feed my chickens their own eggshells for calcium, which they love. If she has a continued lack of calcium then she will begin to pull calcium from her bones, overall weakening her entire bone structure. It sounds like you are trying everything you can.
Try visiting this other post, I hope it helps.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-my-hens-breath-smell-sweet-like-corn.931432/

 

[SchwartzLakeFarmNC]

Thank you so much for response and other thread, that was super helpful!
Going to treat her for sour crop, we have acidfied copper sulfate as well that we can try if monostat fails to correct along with yogurt.

 

[SchwartzLakeFarmNC]

Update:
As the instructions directed in the other thread, attempted to get our pullet to "vomit" up anything in the crop but i't completely empty, nothing to come up. Gave another dose of monostat and aquamox. She doesn't eat, gave wet mash/yogurt/boiled egg mix but not very interested.

If her breath is still the same, will be moving to acidfied copper sulfate in hopes to kill the yeast causing the sour crop.

She feels "hot" almost like a fever. Anyone else have any ideas to try or have had anything like this before?

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Update:
As the instructions directed in the other thread, attempted to get our pullet to "vomit" up anything in the crop but i't completely empty, nothing to come up. Gave another dose of monostat and aquamox. She doesn't eat, gave wet mash/yogurt/boiled egg mix but not very interested.

If her breath is still the same, will be moving to acidfied copper sulfate in hopes to kill the yeast causing the sour crop.

She feels "hot" almost like a fever. Anyone else have any ideas to try or have had anything like this before?

I just went through something eerily similar. I would not make her vomit anymore, it can cause them to aspirate. The monistat needs to be twice a day for a week. I hope she pulls through! I'm sure more knowledgeable folks will chime in.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pullet-open-mouth-breathing.1615618/

 

[SchwartzLakeFarmNC]

I just went through something eerily similar. I would not make her vomit anymore, it can cause them to aspirate. The monistat needs to be twice a day for a week. I hope she pulls through! I'm sure more knowledgeable folks will chime in.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pullet-open-mouth-breathing.1615618/

So if I'm looking at this poo correctly, either we are dealing with a reproductive issue or liver issue correct? Would Aquamox change the color of the urates?
Pullet ate a little today, perked up some but still not the same.

Any advice other than continue antibiotics, never seen a worm or cocci evidence, can I rule worms/cocci out most likely?

@Eggcessive
@TwoCrows
@Wyorp Rock

 

[TwoCrows]

So if I'm looking at this poo correctly, either we are dealing with a reproductive issue or liver issue correct? Would Aquamox change the color of the urates?
Pullet ate a little today, perked up some but still not the same.

Any advice other than continue antibiotics, never seen a worm or cocci evidence, can I rule worms/cocci out most likely?

@Eggcessive
@TwoCrows
@Wyorp Rock

Worms or Coccidiosis wouldn't cause poop to look like that. Kidney infections and or liver infections can cause yellow urates, I think Ecoli will yellow urates also. Dehydration can too. I would continue with the antibiotics for 7 days and see if the urates whiten up. I hope she gets better soon!

 

[SchwartzLakeFarmNC]

Thank you so much for your response. We knew we would eventually end up dealing with a reproductive issue down the road, never thought of Ecoli, not sure how she would have gotten into anything like that, they free range together in a fenced area so nothing they can actually get into.

Will continue the Aquamox for 1 week and go from there. I have other antibiotics too if we need to try something a little stronger.
Poor girl.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thank you so much for your response. We knew we would eventually end up dealing with a reproductive issue down the road, never thought of Ecoli, not sure how she would have gotten into anything like that, they free range together in a fenced area so nothing they can actually get into.

Will continue the Aquamox for 1 week and go from there. I have other antibiotics too if we need to try something a little stronger.
Poor girl.

Keep us posted!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We did start her on aquamox in case of infection as well.

Is my thinking right that maybe she has laid internally and is dealing with an infection maybe? The mouth open and heavy breathing along with the sweet corn smell has me stumped

She does not have any parasites or worms

If her breath is still the same, will be moving to acidfied copper sulfate in hopes to kill the yeast causing the sour crop.

I'm not sure if I would give Acidified Copper Sulfate along with Amoxicillin. @coach723 @Eggcessive thoughts on that?

You just started treatment with Miconazole, it's given 2X a day for 7 days in a row, it's not going to work overnight.
Pick a treatment and stick with it, not fussing, just have seen folks jump from 1 remedy to the next in the same day or in just a day or two and are frustrated and upset that they aren't seeing results.

Yellow urates often can indicate something going on with the liver, but hard to know. If she has an infection, the Amoxicillin may be helpful.

Possible she's laid internally, usually they will stand around hunched, tail down and act like they don't feel well when they have laid internally, have EYP or are having some other reproductive difficulty.

As for her laying soft shelled eggs, often that's a hard one to get under control. If giving the extra calcium helps I'd continue with that.
What are you giving - Calcium Citrate, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Gluconate? How much?

As for worms, often you will not see worms in the poop unless there's a heavy infestation, then you might see roundworms or tapeworm proglottids. Otherwise, you'll never see them. Getting a fecal float through your vet will give you more information as to whether deworming is a good idea or not.

Both articles are very good in treating crop symptoms, it's a good idea to read them entirely to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/