Bird not eating with very full crop

The Avipro Plus turns out to be the wrong stuff Chickenfan. It is now only a prebiotic (food for probiotics) and vitamin supplement. They have repackaged the range and just updated the web site. Now the stuff has arrived we can see from the labelling we should have ordered Avipro Avian. That can't be bought in France so it's being delivered to UK for me to collect next week.

In the meantime we are mixing it with 100mL of probiotic yoghurt and giving the poorly birds a 10mL shot each.
 
Thanks for this. Its a very sad day for me as I having to put Grace to sleep. She continued to drink water continuously and now she has badly lost her balance. I think she probably has kidney failure as I had another bird similar that showed kidney failure on PM but I guess there is a chance it could be Mareks or a tumour somewhere.
 
I think she may have simply run out of energy Chickenfan. That's what happened to one of ours. She just couldn't keep going any longer and fell over and was unable to stand again. Sorry for your loss. Perhaps your other hen was just badly dehydrated, which damaged the kidneys.
 
Oh dear, I hope I haven't made a mistake if she could have just run out of energy. She was my favourite hen. She still seemed to be bright and to have plenty of energy, but lost her balance completely and was staggering around. She was eating a little and pecking around. BHWT vet was surprised at this happening as she was so bright after the op and in good health. If their kidneys go wrong they stagger around because of urea poisoning.

Avipro plus is the right stuff for poultry according to the online shop I ordered it from. Actually have just rung the local vet and she hasn't been put to sleep yet, so maybe I'll keep her a bit longer. Just don't want her to suffer if she has kidney failure.
 
Grace is bright and at home again thanks to you, Chris. It has occurred to me that she may just be too low on minerals and magnesium - that makes them stagger around - so I'm giving her multi-minerals which have magnesium, some vitamins and human electrolytes whilst I wait for Avian Avipro to arrive. Not sure what to feed her to reduce the loss of fluids but have got some Kolin suggested by BHWT vet. I'm very grateful to you Chris.
 
She is eating quite well now after the vitamins and minerals and the diarrhea and excessive drinking seem to have stopped. She looks bright but her balance is still terrible if she gets up and is distressing to see. I remain very worried about Mareks, especially as odd-coloured eyes in another bird could be a sign of Mareks. But it seems vitamin and mineral deficiencies can also cause staggering. I think perhaps Marigold is right. If a bird becomes ill, it may be better to dispatch it, and that way, one better looks after the health of one's flock. As well as Tim Daniels' useful article on this site, I've found another useful article on Mareks www.backyardchickens.com › Member Pages The Great Big Giant Mareks which explains how crop problems can be related to Mareks.
 
Here is that link on Marek's again 'The Great Big Giant Marek's Disease FAQ'
 
Certain ours isn't Mareks Chickenfan because I know what caused the impactions in both of our successes and they are both absolutely fine now. In fact Verity, the first, has fully feathered up and is a lovely looking bird indeed. Ollie's digesting appears perfect and she is eating and drinking on her own and has resumed her moult and isn't eating feathers any more so must have had some deficiency induced by the moult. We gave her some Nettex Nutri-drops. But I would have expected Grace to recover quite quickly after eating and getting the necessary electrolytes. Perhaps she will be better this morning?

I can see that culling is a better way of controlling this potential problem, but in our case that would have been a terrible mistake.
 
I'm glad to hear you have had success with your birds, Chris, and that they made a complete recovery. Grace is bright in herself this morning and has a full crop, but has her sense of balance is hopeless and she has diarrhea again. She is now on Baytril from BHWT. I guess it could be an inner ear infection, but I remain v worried about her.
 
Funnily enough, as my mind wandered during chopping wood it did occur to me the imbalance may be due to ear mites, or as you say an ear infection. Of course the Baytril will wreck the gut flora so 48 hours after the last dose she needs some probiotic. I do hope she gets better Chickenfan -you have put so much effort into her. Just culling immediately is the easy solution, so well done to you for making the effort.
 
That's kind of you to think about Grace, Chris. I have now managed to speak on the phone with the Specialist Poultry Vet I rate very highly that lives some distance away. He says it is common for there to be severe disruption of the gut after crop impaction and that she may have enteritis (which Baytril will help). He thinks as there was a cause for her crop impaction this is good and less likely to indicate Mareks. However she won't be absorbing water properly so her kidneys could be affected (which causes imbalance). I am to syringe multivitamins into her. The other cause of imbalance is metabolic due to excess acid in the blood. He thinks I'm doing the right things and should wait 3-4 days to see if Baytril works. If she does have Mareks, she would be infectious, but he thinks my young birds would have already acquired some immunity, and it is less likely to transfer in adult birds.
They drink a lot when they have impacted crop because they are hungry.

Re my bird with one pale iris, this could be glaucoma. If it is Mareks, the pupils of her eyes would be different sizes and the pupil would be jaggedy.
 
What would you feed her on which might be more digestable? Boiled rice?
 
That's very starchy and I'm not sure about it for a sick bird, although they do like it because we used to treat ours to leftovers. We grind rearer pellets, soften them with water and roll into small balls which we pop into the beak.

So it doesn't sound much like Mareks at all then Chickenfan- good news indeed.
 
Grace deteriorated a lot yesterday, becoming more wobbly and lethargic. She ate much better on ground up food mixed with water once I started this. I gave her ground wheat/corn to keep the protein down, Avipro, and she has had lots of apple because quercitin in apples is good for the kidney. She also liked aloe vera juice. She has remained quiet today, a bit less wobbly after the new diet, but I don't feel we are winning the battle. I am taking her off the antibiotics (which haven't stopped the diarrhea) in case this is what has made her worse. I guess she has a serious problem or kidney failure so will be pts tomorrow.
 
The antibiotics wreck the gut flora preventing her from taking in nourishment Chickenfan, so unless she has sufficient internal energy to keep going through that treatment she won't survive it anyway. I'm sure Grace appreciates you are doing your best and I'm not sure the diarrhoea is an issue really. It may be that she is drinking a huge amount and has a kidney problem? Our little hybrid Daffodil went like that
 
She is a little better this morning, but she is not eating except apples. I'm pretty sure she must have a lot of kidney damage and perhaps something else going on. She has been slightly quieter in the last couple of months. I doubt I'll get her better and don't want to see her unwell much longer. She is on avipro now, but I feel I've run out of ideas.
 
She is a bit brighter today and is eating a little. I made a vet appt for 5.15pm for pts, but will see if she improves. She still has diarrhea, but her balance seems a bit better.
 
Thank you so much Chris! I still have Grace. Trying not to raise my hopes but she is more alert. I am now putting 'Respite' in her water. Its a multivitamin and herbal for respiratory infection, but has quite a lot of B vitamins.
 
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