Another chicken poo query

BabyBantam

BabyBantam

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Nancy has just gone through a successful full moult and 'was' fine. She suddenly seems to be eating less and although she went to bed with full crop last night, tonight it's completely empty. She also seems to be losing weight and not as strong as usual when fighting not to be picked up. I've not really seen them over the last few days due to the weather, but am a bit concerned.
I'll try and get a photo tomorrow, but I think her poo is on the green side and seems to contain bits of undigested food. She's been eating a lot of sunflower hearts to help with her protein, but no more than Mildred who's poo is fine, so not sure what's going on.
They've spent the last few days under our veranda on the patio rather than in the flooded garden, but apart from that, no difference in living conditions.
Any thoughts?
 
Yep, she's fully feathered again with just her wing and 'bustle' feathers not yet fully grown - only a little bit to go though
 
If these upload ok, this is Nancy's poo compared to Mildreds. There seem to be part and whole bit of food passing through Nancy without digestion. Between them, they have eaten 75g of Garvo alpha mix plus added dried mealworms and sunflower hearts today, but thats it. Nancy was first down this morning and attacked the food dish as usual.
There is a huge difference in poo, hence I'm worried.
 

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I've also taken a piccy of the girls, if you think it may help?
Nancy's the Lavender :)
 

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Anyone...... :( Nancy gone to bed with empty crop again and it's gonna be below 0 again tonight
 
A couple of months ago, my Sussex, Marigold, was doing poos with what looked like sort of turquoise green coating in places, and wasnt eating properly either. In her case this followed a period where her crop was impacted, so I treated that with olive oil and massage and got the swelling down, but then she wouldn't eat and it stayed empty. I took her to the vet, who is experienced with birds, showed him a green poo sample, and he said it was probably a liver infection and he prescribed antibiotics. She improved considerably whilst on the course, and has since returned to normal feeding and pooing. Shes not back in lay yet, as whilst all this was happeneing she was also moulting which might have pulled her down a bit, but she is now fine in herself.

You might consider a vet visit therefore for Nancy. Meanwhile, try to get her to eat soft moist food like soaked pellets with delicious additions such as hulled sunflower seeds, scrambled egg, or mealworms, all of which are high in protein. Bio-active natural yogurt will also be good, as its nourishing and will help the balance of her upset gut. You could add it to her mash, or maybe just try offering her a spoonful - Ifound that Marigold started to eat it quite eagerly once i had opened her beak and got a bit inside, so she knew what it tasted like.
 
I agree with Marigold here BB. Internal infection which needs treating -we've just had one the same and he went onto 10 days of Baytril. Then you need to reactivate the gut flora as antibiotics destroy them. Beryl's tonic is fantastic. We've used it with problem digestive cases with immediate success. But a good probiotic natural yoghurt or just scratch feeding with healthy birds will have an effective result in restoring the gut action. Scratch feeding results in the bird eating the others poo containing the necessary flora.
 
Hi guys,
Thank you for the response, I'll talk to the vet tomorrow.
Nancy's still not eating much, but seemed to eat quite a bit of the warm mash mix I made up this morning. The run smells pretty bad too, so know something's not right. I've checked her crop and doesn't feel hard or lumpy, nor is it full of water or squishy, just empty.
I've started adding chicken vet' energy drops to their water as I was recommended it as an appetite stimulant by the vet some time ago.
Just hoping he will give me baytril, as last time I took a sick bird in, was told she was fine and refused to give me anything.
 
Take a green poo sample with you to the vet, and if she won't help, change your vet! Or just go to another one this time anyway, and enquire when you book if the person you are going to see has experience with birds, specifically chickens. Theres a list of recommended poultry vets at the top of this section, i dont know if there's one near you, whereabouts are you?
 
Nancy has just been to the vet. She's lost 20% of her weight and he thinks she has a liver infection (well spotted both of you) :) He's given her an injection and us Karidox to give her for 5 days. Also got Beryl's flora for afterwards.
Fingers crossed....
 
Just been home to wrestle a very lively girl into submission for her daily dose. She seems brighter already and wolfed down a huge chunk of warm mash straight after her dose (god it must taste bad).
Still got green poo in the ark, so will keep a good eye on it
:)
 
Did your vet give you some huge pills for her, like mine did? By the end of the week I was just getting the knack of shoving them down Marigold's throat, the trouble was that she was just getting the knack of wriggling her beak out of the way when I tried to hold her with one hand, open her beak with my other hand, and get the pill down her with my third hand ...... It did the trick, though, and at least when I dropped one I could see it and pick it up easily, not like a spilled liquid dose.
I'm glad Nancy's eating, obviously doing her good already.
 
No pills, just the Karidox. Hubby's helping me by holding her so I can syringe the goodies down her. Neither bird had much in their crop tonight when I got home, but holding the mash dish in front of them on their perches, managed to get them both to eat quite a bit as they settled to roost. Think it's more to do with them not coming downstairs due to the rain than feeling unwell though, as both wolfed down large chunks.
Just such a pain that its dark when I leave and return daily. No chance to keep an eye on them as I do at the weekend... Roll on winning the lottery!
 
Do they have any covered area in their run where you can leave their mash or other food for them to eat when they get up? If you have found something they like it's a pity if they can't get at it in daylight. I've found a lot of shelter can quite easily be improvised with a plastic tarpaulin to help provide cover and shelter from wind and rain.
Roll on summer - it's just amazing that in June they hardly are in bed before 10 p.m!
 
They have a plastic lid over half the run, so rain only comes in the sides and the actual ark has a plastic sheet on one side of it, so most of it is dry. Food and water are both in the dry, they just don't seem to like coming down in the rain and never have. I added it all last winter at ChrisM's suggestion against all the bad weather.
I had the ark under our glass veranda when the crazy rain and floods where going on which kept them totally dry, but they didn't seem to be happy on concrete either, even with lots of their hemp bedding on the ground. As soon as I put them back on the lawn, they jumped straight down and started eating grass.
They are fussy little things. I constantly wonder if its due to my care, or if they are just as fancy as think they are :D
 
Interesting day today. Hubby away tonight, so Nancy had a rude awakening at 6am this morning. Got dragged out of warm coop (-2 in garden), dropped in a box and dumped in the kitchen with radio, dog etc. Then got drugs shoved down her before being deposited back into the cold dark coop :(
Not seen them properly all week, other than to rush home for 5 mins at lunch to do the dirty, so need the weekend to hurry up so I can have a good look at behaviour and droppings...
Was feeling so much more positive than I was last weekend, then found a beautiful female chaffinch dead in the clematis this morning as I passed. Starting to think a business in wellies, scarves and 'wing warmers' might be a good idea :(
 
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