Polish lethargic & pooping watery yellow/green

[Chickenmother26]

Hello, thank you for reading!

My polish chicken Jolene, about 2 years old, was standing with her tail down and acting lethargic so I brought her inside. Thought she just needed a haircut, but it didn’t help.

Inside I noticed she was pooping watery/mucousy textured diarrhea, yellow/faintly green tinged liquid and now green solid matter.

She hasn’t wanted to eat anything, even her most favorite treats. She’s drinking a tiny bit on her own. Her wings are drooped to the side, and she’s holding her tail down. She’ll sometimes pull up what looks like her preening feathers, and pulse her tail maybe straining a bit.

I don’t think she’s laid an egg in a while, I thought she was laying and then immediately eating her egg (she’s our only white egg layer, and I found bits of eggshell that might’ve been white but also could’ve been confused with another girl who has a greyish egg.) So if I’m wrong about her laying and immediately eating her egg she hasn’t laid this season at all, but she stopped last season due to a stressful injury (fully recovered for a year now.)

She’s standing in the bathroom now, silent, not wanting to move and it looks like she keeps almost falling asleep. So far, I’ve given her some poultry cell, a bit of fish oil, and a baby aspirin because I was worried it was egg yolk peritonitis before the green poops and I didn’t want her to be in pain.

Her butt was also poop stained when she came in, but I’ve since given her a bath that she was also falling asleep in. None of my other girls seem to be affected.

I also have antibiotics (doxyvet liquid which is doxycycline) I can give if that’ll help, I just haven’t yet because I’m not sure what her issue is and I don’t want to cause more stress. She’s been acting a little off for a couple days now, but today was the day we really noticed she wasn’t okay. I don’t think she seems lighter or thinner, and I’ve been trying to feel for a fluid belly but I don’t think she has one, but I’m not a vet it’s hard to tell, I think she feels like everyone else. Their hen house has hemp as bedding. What do you think her issue is? And what do you think I should do? I unfortunately don’t have the money for a vet, so looking for at home care solutions. Thank you so much for reading this far

Above poop is dark green, tissue pics are to show poop color better.

 

[Lillith37]

Poor darling. The poop indicates malnutrition, infection and/or possible organ issues. When you feel her body condition compared the others you are feeling for two things. Firstly, the breast muscle on either side of the keel bone. The keel bone should be easily palpable with well formed convex breast muscles on either side. Then her belly/abdomen below her vent and before her keel bone starts. It should feel soft and squishy. Any distension, swelling, hardness or fluid is a bad sign.

From memory the doxycycline is more of an antibiotic to treat respiratory issues but I’m not certain. If that’s all you’ve got you could try it, but I think amoxicillin would be better. @azygous can help with dosage.

Try to get her to eat and drink, scrambled eggs. You could give her a human calcium citrate supplement ~600mg each day just in case she is having trouble with eggs.

 

[azygous]

Your hen is very sick and very weak. I agree with @Lillith37 she probably needs an antibiotic, a broad spectrum strong one like amoxicillin. Unfortunately, you can no longer buy it over the counter. You will need to go through a vet to get it. You should probably also try to get a tube feeding kit. This hen needs to be fed in order to make her strong enough to eat.

Do you have other pets that see a vet occasionally? Now that the US government has cracked down on sales of all antibiotics, including the fish meds we all have been relying on to treat infection in our chickens, the first thing we must do is to befriend a vet closest to us. If you don't have a vet, start by asking a close friend with a dog or cat which vet they use and if they like the vet. Ask around to friends and relatives until you find a good recommendation.

Next step is to go into that office and have a friendly chat. Explain you have chickens and will require their services occasionally to procure an antibiotic for you so that you can treat your chicken. You also will need a simple fecal float test occasionally when you suspect parasites, but that you will assume all responsibility for treatment. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to have your hen's poop tested for worms and coccidia, so taking a sample to a vet and asking for a fecal float test would help break the ice.

It is necessary to assure the vet, because most do not treat poultry, that they need not concern themselves with treatment. This is what I did early on many years ago when I began my flock. I had a vet who treated my cat, and he would occasionally sell me an antibiotic for a sick chicken, and also has done fecal tests for me.

 

[Chickenmother26]

Your hen is very sick and very weak. I agree with @Lillith37 she probably needs an antibiotic, a broad spectrum strong one like amoxicillin. Unfortunately, you can no longer buy it over the counter. You will need to go through a vet to get it. You should probably also try to get a tube feeding kit. This hen needs to be fed in order to make her strong enough to eat.

Do you have other pets that see a vet occasionally? Now that the US government has cracked down on sales of all antibiotics, including the fish meds we all have been relying on to treat infection in our chickens, the first thing we must do is to befriend a vet closest to us. If you don't have a vet, start by asking a close friend with a dog or cat which vet they use and if they like the vet. Ask around to friends and relatives until you find a good recommendation.

Next step is to go into that office and have a friendly chat. Explain you have chickens and will require their services occasionally to procure an antibiotic for you so that you can treat your chicken. You also will need a simple fecal float test occasionally when you suspect parasites, but that you will assume all responsibility for treatment. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to have your hen's poop tested for worms and coccidia, so taking a sample to a vet and asking for a fecal float test would help break the ice.

It is necessary to assure the vet, because most do not treat poultry, that they need not concern themselves with treatment. This is what I did early on many years ago when I began my flock. I had a vet who treated my cat, and he would occasionally sell me an antibiotic for a sick chicken, and also has done fecal tests for me.

She won’t even eat scrambled egg So I wetted some of her food and have been feeding it to her with a syringe. She finally had a bit of brown in her poop (still green mostly) but happy to see something getting digested. We actually found some amoxicillin in our pantry! What dosage should I give her? I gave her some deworming liquid today since I was worried about that too.

 

[azygous]

She should have 250mg twice a day for seven to ten days. Give her sugar in her water, as well, to elevate her glucose. If you can find Poultry Nutri-drench, that's a great supplement for sick chickens.

 

[Chickenmother26]

She should have 250mg twice a day for seven to ten days. Give her sugar in her water, as well, to elevate her glucose. If you can find Poultry Nutri-drench, that's a great supplement for sick chickens.

Thank you! I didn’t know about the sugar water, I’ll definitely do that. We had 500 mg human pills so split them in half with a gram scale. I’ve been giving her some poultry cell for vitamins. Just gave her 250 mg amoxicillin, I’ll keep this thread updated with her condition.

 

[Lillith37]

Good luck! I hope she bounces back.

 

[Chickenmother26]

Update 1: she seems to be doing better, not drooping her wings so much & she’s actually eating some on her own and wandering around the house a bit and very occasionally making a little bock. Still continuing with the antibiotics, I wonder what the issue could be? Her poops are still green, a bit more brown now but overall green.

 

[azygous]

The green in the poop is bile from not eating. It will disappear as she gets her appetite back.

 

[Chickenmother26]

The green in the poop is bile from not eating. It will disappear as she gets her appetite back.

Thank you! I meant more like I wonder what problem are the antibiotics helping? Hoping it can be healed fully and isn’t a chronic issue