Hi All,
I wonder if anyone's seen anything like this - pics and symptoms as follows. I'm incredibly worried - I adore my chickens, they're very much pets.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Gretel is a cross breed layer hen, 2.5 years, 2kg (has lost weight in the past few months, vet doesn't know why, but has been slowly regaining it of late). She is lighter/thinner than the others.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Watery blood on poop sheet under her roosting spot. Pale comb. Moulting. Bit weak but still cheerful and interacting fine with the others and with me.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? About 2 weeks for a small spots of watery blood, but today there's been a big increase as per the pics
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? Not that I'm aware of
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. I have a moderate red mite infestation in the hen house that I'm currently managing. This has led to some depluming in the case of Gretel.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. I took Gretel to the vet 3 weeks ago as she'd been straining to lay an egg and not eating so I thought she might have a crushed egg in her (have seen this before with Phoebe). The vet examined and x-rayed her. She had what looks like a lash egg stuck deep in the cloaca, just where it meets the intestine - the vet couldn't extract it but managed to move it so it wasn't blocking the passage. She thought this might be the reason she had stopped eating. She told me to keep up with the epsom salt baths I've been giving and the massage, and the lash egg would work it's way out. There might be some crushed shell scraping the sides of the cloaca, so she gave me Baytril (general antibiotic) for 10 days. Poop tests have tested negative for bacterial infections, including cocci, and worms - she has no parasites.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. After the vet trip, Gretel has been eating and drinking well. She has her normal layer pellets/layer crumble mix and oats in the mornings + free choice oyster shell. Because of the mite situation, she's also been having chopped boiled eggs, a poultry vitamin & herbal boost drink in addition to fresh water, and some extra protein pellets every day. In the afternoons she gets a couple of chopped up blueberries and a few sunflower seeds for a treat. The chickens roam freely over 1/3 acre for a few hours every day so they are also eating grass and whatever bugs they can find.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Poop is soft, but normal amount. Softness could also be because of the incredible heat we've been having and/or the vitamin drink - they all have slightly softer poop than normal
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Baytril for 10 days from vet (now ended). Vitamin drink & probiotic powder in food. Metacam oral suspension (anti-inflammatory painkiller) to ease pain, 0.6ml/day.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Treat myself if at all possible - the vet told me last time she's not sure what to do going forward. My local vets are helpful and kind but not experienced avian vets, and I cannot afford the fees any more. I've spent over £2k on the vets in the past 6 months
.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. Attached
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Large wooden chicken hut and attached run (although they free range several hours a day). Bedding is HempBed-E (chopped hemp with eucalyptus). Straw in nesting boxes.
Other thoughts: I'm worried she may have eaten some toxin in the garden. We've had rat poison down, but this is well hidden with barriers preventing a chicken from getting to it, and I can't see how she possibly could have accessed it. If this is the lash egg/crushed egg, why is it only bleeding now, and is there some way I can deal with it myself other than the warm epsom baths? Could this be the result of mites biting Gretel and, if so, why are the others not similarly effected?
Thanks so much for making it through this info dump!
I'd be extremely grateful for any help/ideas. 
I wonder if anyone's seen anything like this - pics and symptoms as follows. I'm incredibly worried - I adore my chickens, they're very much pets.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Gretel is a cross breed layer hen, 2.5 years, 2kg (has lost weight in the past few months, vet doesn't know why, but has been slowly regaining it of late). She is lighter/thinner than the others.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Watery blood on poop sheet under her roosting spot. Pale comb. Moulting. Bit weak but still cheerful and interacting fine with the others and with me.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? About 2 weeks for a small spots of watery blood, but today there's been a big increase as per the pics
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? Not that I'm aware of
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. I have a moderate red mite infestation in the hen house that I'm currently managing. This has led to some depluming in the case of Gretel.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. I took Gretel to the vet 3 weeks ago as she'd been straining to lay an egg and not eating so I thought she might have a crushed egg in her (have seen this before with Phoebe). The vet examined and x-rayed her. She had what looks like a lash egg stuck deep in the cloaca, just where it meets the intestine - the vet couldn't extract it but managed to move it so it wasn't blocking the passage. She thought this might be the reason she had stopped eating. She told me to keep up with the epsom salt baths I've been giving and the massage, and the lash egg would work it's way out. There might be some crushed shell scraping the sides of the cloaca, so she gave me Baytril (general antibiotic) for 10 days. Poop tests have tested negative for bacterial infections, including cocci, and worms - she has no parasites.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. After the vet trip, Gretel has been eating and drinking well. She has her normal layer pellets/layer crumble mix and oats in the mornings + free choice oyster shell. Because of the mite situation, she's also been having chopped boiled eggs, a poultry vitamin & herbal boost drink in addition to fresh water, and some extra protein pellets every day. In the afternoons she gets a couple of chopped up blueberries and a few sunflower seeds for a treat. The chickens roam freely over 1/3 acre for a few hours every day so they are also eating grass and whatever bugs they can find.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Poop is soft, but normal amount. Softness could also be because of the incredible heat we've been having and/or the vitamin drink - they all have slightly softer poop than normal
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Baytril for 10 days from vet (now ended). Vitamin drink & probiotic powder in food. Metacam oral suspension (anti-inflammatory painkiller) to ease pain, 0.6ml/day.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Treat myself if at all possible - the vet told me last time she's not sure what to do going forward. My local vets are helpful and kind but not experienced avian vets, and I cannot afford the fees any more. I've spent over £2k on the vets in the past 6 months
. 11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. Attached
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Large wooden chicken hut and attached run (although they free range several hours a day). Bedding is HempBed-E (chopped hemp with eucalyptus). Straw in nesting boxes.
Other thoughts: I'm worried she may have eaten some toxin in the garden. We've had rat poison down, but this is well hidden with barriers preventing a chicken from getting to it, and I can't see how she possibly could have accessed it. If this is the lash egg/crushed egg, why is it only bleeding now, and is there some way I can deal with it myself other than the warm epsom baths? Could this be the result of mites biting Gretel and, if so, why are the others not similarly effected?
Thanks so much for making it through this info dump!
I'd be extremely grateful for any help/ideas. 
