Pecky has mystery diarrhea & abdominal bulge?

[New2theFlock]

Thanks. I got her first thing this morning at sunrise I think before she ate. She is skin and bones. Very sad. Breast bone protruding so took a minute to find her crop. Puffiness was just feathers. I gently pressed on the crop, and it did not feel hard or chunky, just full of air and maybe liquid. I heard some digestive type noises but nothing came out of her mouth.

I gave her a quick bath because she was so messy from the diarrhea. Her abdomen felt hard but I'm assuming that was bones. Very sad. She could barely stand up in the bath.

The nesting box where she sleeps is a total mess. Liquid poop everywhere. My son will clean that today.

While separated, I gave her water w ACV in her own little dish, which she drank readily. She was not interested in my homemade frozen yogurt/ electrolyte/ bee pollen mix. I then gave her the monastat, which she ate a little bit of. She then toddled back toward the coop, so I gave the others treats and let her back in.

I'll try again with the monostat this afternoon. Any other suggestions?

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Thanks. I got her first thing this morning at sunrise I think before she ate. She is skin and bones. Very sad. Breast bone protruding so took a minute to find her crop. Puffiness was just feathers. I gently pressed on the crop, and it did not feel hard or chunky, just full of air and maybe liquid. I heard some digestive type noises but nothing came out of her mouth.

I gave her a quick bath because she was so messy from the diarrhea. Her abdomen felt hard but I'm assuming that was bones. Very sad. She could barely stand up in the bath.

The nesting box where she sleeps is a total mess. Liquid poop everywhere. My son will clean that today.

While separated, I gave her water w ACV in her own little dish, which she drank readily. She was not interested in my homemade frozen yogurt/ electrolyte/ bee pollen mix. I then gave her the monastat, which she ate a little bit of. She then toddled back toward the coop, so I gave the others treats and let her back in.

I'll try again with the monostat this afternoon. Any other suggestions?

Sorry to hear she is doing to poorly. As you can see in the diagram below chickens really only have their keel/breast bone running underneath them. If your hen is just skinny you will be able to feel the outline of the bone but the area past her legs up to her vent will still be soft. If the area below the vent feels hard that is a very bad sign in my experience. It is usually from a reproductive disorder like egg peritonitis or tumors. It can cause pressure or blockage on the digestive tract which may be why she is so skinny and not eating well (or she may just feel bad).

If she is just skinny, the gas in her crop may be due to malnutrition/starvation rather than yeast, and in either case the main issue seems to be that she's not eating and has diarrhea.

 

[New2theFlock]

Sorry to hear she is doing to poorly. As you can see in the diagram below chickens really only have their keel/breast bone running underneath them. If your hen is just skinny you will be able to feel the outline of the bone but the area past her legs up to her vent will still be soft. If the area below the vent feels hard that is a very bad sign in my experience. It is usually from a reproductive disorder like egg peritonitis or tumors. It can cause pressure or blockage on the digestive tract which may be why she is so skinny and not eating well (or she may just feel bad).

If she is just skinny, the gas in her crop may be due to malnutrition/starvation rather than yeast, and in either case the main issue seems to be that she's not eating and has diarrhea.

@Razzlefrazzle and other BYC friends,

Here's an exciting update. I pulled Pecky aside this morning to get her cleaned up and get some food and liquid into her.
- She ate and drank readily, including the Greek yogurt and oat mixture I made.
- tailfeathers were not as poop covered as the day before.
- Oddly the area in her abdomen didn't feel as hard as it did yesterday (maybe wishful thinking today).
- While her poop was definitely diarrhea, it did have some tiny solid pieces in it (not worms).
- Although she was still standing still and puffy each time I checked on her from my office in the am, when my son checked on her and clean the coop this afternoon, he said she didn't have poop on her feathers and was walking around with the others and that the nesting box where she's been sleeping wasnt a hot poopy mess as it was the day before. Progress!

Perhaps we have turned a corner.

I plan to repeat my morning clean up and eat up routine tomorrow and will let you know what we encounter. If she is less messy and still eating well, what should my next steps be to stop the diarrhea and help her get her energy and weight back?

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Glad to hear she is eating!

I'd continue doing what you're doing for a week or so, including treating with Monistat. Diarrhea could just be from drinking a lot and not eating much or a yeast imbalance, and it can take a while to correct an upset digestive system. Hopefully she'll get stronger and her poop will start looking better day by day. If she still has diarrhea when she's eating well and has no signs of sour crop I'd consider deworming her with Safeguard or Valbazen. Deworming is a little hard on the body so I try not to give it to really sick/weak hens unless it's a last shot type situation.

 

[New2theFlock]

Glad to hear she is eating!

I'd continue doing what you're doing for a week or so, including treating with Monistat. Diarrhea could just be from drinking a lot and not eating much or a yeast imbalance, and it can take a while to correct an upset digestive system. Hopefully she'll get stronger and her poop will start looking better day by day. If she still has diarrhea when she's eating well and has no signs of sour crop I'd consider deworming her with Safeguard or Valbazen. Deworming is a little hard on the body so I try not to give it to really sick/weak hens unless it's a last shot type situation.

Got it. Sweet Pecky. During this morning's special breakfast session, although she ate her probiotic snack mix well and drank water she pooped twice-- both clear watery liquid with tiny white granules in it-- smaller than a grain of rice-- maybe half the length and width. Might those have been worms?

If i deworm her, do I have to keep her completely separate from the flock? Won't she poop out the works and the others will eat them? Yuck.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Got it. Sweet Pecky. During this morning's special breakfast session, although she ate her probiotic snack mix well and drank water she pooped twice-- both clear watery liquid with tiny white granules in it-- smaller than a grain of rice-- maybe half the length and width. Might those have been worms?

If i deworm her, do I have to keep her completely separate from the flock? Won't she poop out the works and the others will eat them? Yuck.

Could be tapeworm segments from the sound of it. If it is and you look closely you should see the white bits moving and stretching in and out. Tapeworm is best treated with Praziquantel which you can buy online in tablet form for cats. Dosage is 10mg/kg given once and repeated in 14 days.

If you treat one, I'd treat the whole flock as it's unlikely no else is infected and tapeworm can be rather difficult to get rid of since each little segment released in the poop contains hundred of eggs which are released into the surrounding environment, get eaten up by insects, which are then eaten by the chickens who get tapeworms again. In general it's a good idea to pick up all that chicken poop as often as possible so fewer worm eggs make it make it back around to the chicken, but you don't have to keep anybody separate. Also Praziquantel only works on tapeworms, not roundworms (the most common type) or many others, so if you haven't done a general dewormer lately you may want to treat with safeguard or valbazen later.

 

[New2theFlock]

After being up much of the night researching way too much about deworming chickens, I went to Walmart and chopped up a nice breakfast for Pecky: pumpkin seeds, canned pumpkin, Greek yogurt, oats, bee protein, chili pepper powder, cucumbers, garlic, oregano, turmeric, and shredded carrots.

She didn't like it at all. At. All.

But the manager's special about to expire coleslaw mix which I got as a treat for the other birds? She went to town on that and got in the bag itself for seconds.

The monistat for sour crop is also not her jam. But now that I know of her deep love of shredded carrots, I'll take care of that this afternoon.

I've attached a pic of one of her poops during breakfast. The other was watery and unremarkable. Thoughts?

My spouse is over all the talk about and space allocated in the fridge for chickens, btw. Anyone else have that problem?

My hesitation about the dewormer is that we are about to go out of town and after whatever I do tomorrow, any care will be done by my teenage son for five days. He won't exactly be chopping up produce for Pecky while I'm gone. . . .

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

After being up much of the night researching way too much about deworming chickens, I went to Walmart and chopped up a nice breakfast for Pecky: pumpkin seeds, canned pumpkin, Greek yogurt, oats, bee protein, chili pepper powder, cucumbers, garlic, oregano, turmeric, and shredded carrots.

She didn't like it at all. At. All.

But the manager's special about to expire coleslaw mix which I got as a treat for the other birds? She went to town on that and got in the bag itself for seconds.

The monistat for sour crop is also not her jam. But now that I know of her deep love of shredded carrots, I'll take care of that this afternoon.

I've attached a pic of one of her poops during breakfast. The other was watery and unremarkable. Thoughts?

My spouse is over all the talk about and space allocated in the fridge for chickens, btw. Anyone else have that problem?

My hesitation about the dewormer is that we are about to go out of town and after whatever I do tomorrow, any care will be done by my teenage son for five days. He won't exactly be chopping up produce for Pecky while I'm gone. . . .

Well she's looking much better! Glad she's excited for her salad, but do try and encourage her to eat her regular chicken food.... you want to be sure she's getting the proper nutritional balance and you don't want to spoil her too too much

The poop pick is a little blurry, but I do see white specks that are very reminiscent of the time I had tapeworm in my flock. That will need Praziquantel to get rid of it. I'm not against natural treatments, but no amount of garlic, pumpkin or chili will kill worms or cause them to abandon ship (but too much garlic will make your chicken sick). And she will feel so much better once they are gone and hopefully be able to put on some weight again.

 

[New2theFlock]

Pecky was attacked by the other chickens this evening. Although she was badly wounded, she was still trying to eat when we got her out of the run and to the garage. I decided administering a lethal dose of dog pain killers via some water and scrambled eggs was the best option for a bird already so sick. We isolated Pecky in the chicken hospital in the garage said our goodbyes. My hope is that she will OD overnight, but if not,, my neighbor will help me shoot her tomorrow.

I hate this. Why are the chickens so ruthless to each other?

 

[All Ball]

Hi New2theFlock - I was researching around and saw this thread, and that you didn't get a response to this last post. SO sorry you were not able to save Pecky. The way I tend to view it is the flock views a sick chicken as a potential carrier of disease, and will move to take out a weak flock member as a way of protecting the group. Yeah, it's not fun, is it? Hope your flock has been doing well since this.