Bloody diarrhoea

[mspencer]

We have a hen with diarrhoea with blood or blood clots.

We took her to the vet 3 weeks ago with these symptoms, as she became very unwell looking within ~48 hours. The vet was unsure of the cause and we treated her with daily anti-inflam and anti-biotic injections for 5 days. Remarkably, the problem cleared up and she perked up. Colour returned to her comb and she appeared well again.

However, I've noticed over the last couple of days that her comb has started getting pale again, though until this morning I could find no evidence of bloody diarrhoea.

I have made an appnt with the vet again.

In the meantime, I wonder whether anyone can suggest what might be wrong.

- We have another 2 birds who are in excellent health.
- She came to us as a young bird with, what we discovered was, mycoplasma. She is now 2.5 years old and, after a number of treatments for this in the first 12 months still has a gurgly chest. Does this condition ever affect the gut?
- Is it possible that fallen apples can upset their gut to this extent?
- We have cleaned out the hen house from top to bottom (after the last visit to the vet) and have also (as an additional precaution) treated the hen house for red mite

Any help appreciated

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, sounds to me like coccidosis (sorry about the spelling). It's a bacteria which is found in the gut anyway but if the bacteria numbers get too high the hen becomes unwell and syptoms are blood in poo. If you do a search on this you will find lots more information on and treatment. I have never had this problem myself so cannot be of much more help. I hope your hen gets better though, it is treated quite easily if it is cocci. Try to keep coop and run clean, cocci is picked up from the ground where there's a lot of poo lyigg around and is what causes the bacteria to build up in the gut. I wouldn't think myco would affect the gut like this, I too have myco and none of my chickens have had blood in the poo. Good luck and hopefully someone with more experience will be of more help

 

[hannah_gates]

hi.
at the moment i am treating one of my chicks with it.
follow this link http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4451
this is what i posted and have had a lot of help.
my chick is looking a lot better and it is clearing up.
please keep me updated and hope this helps
hannah x

 

[Anonymous]

It is possible for birds with mycoplasma to also pick up infectious bronchitis, which can lead to peritonitis and bloody droppings. I think it is worth having a droppings test, to see what antibiotic would be effective. Cocci doesn't harm adult birds.

 

[daniellesdogs]

my chicks had bloody runs i lost 2 but then some one told me they had coccidiosis, i used a blue stuff which was about £6/7 done all 22 chicks for 6 days with 1/4 bottle left and worked great.

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Mspencer. At the moment the only concern you have is that her comb is getting pale. It may be completely unrelated to her previous condition. Were it Summer I would suggest looking for red mites but you've done that anyway. Has she moulted yet? Most of ours seem to have underlying Coccidiosis which improves after they are wormed for some reason. Looks a bit alarming sometimes but they all seem healthy. Most of ours that are not laying have pale combs. Is she otherwise active and eating?

Apples are acidic and may aggrevate the gut. We have several birds 'going light' after eating cooking apples, partially because they eat too much and not enough food, but that's not the main reason I think. They are now being wormed with Flubenvet and are penned with no treats for 7 days -when was your hen last done?