Digestive impaction and yellow poo

chrismahon

chrismahon

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We have three Buff Orpington sisters, now nearly 5 years old. Each one has in turn has had a digestive impaction characterised by a full crop in the morning but not eating and very little poo. The first was Verity. Her problem appeared to be caused by a cherry stone jammed against worms in the gut -hadn't been wormed for 14 months! Her first poo of any note, after we got wormer into her, was slime and a very polished cherry stone. After a month of administering excess water as lubrication and to keep sour crop in check her crop cleared and she is now twice her weight and a picture of heath.

The second was Ollie. A confirmed feather eater who had spent a large part of her life fitted with a beak bit. Then she went into a moult and we had to remove the bit to allow preening. Of course she then ate feathers and that impacted her digestive system. Another month of treatment and they finally cleared and she is also fit and heathy and back to her original weight.

The third is Charity who has just finished her moult. Hers is a problem because we spotted it rather late and she has already lost a lot of weight. No idea what's in her huge crop but it is a very solid lump that refuses to shift, although water softens it slightly. She is certainly a candidate for surgical removal of it, under local anaesthetic of course, but that's something we can't afford and probably couldn't find a vet to do here. Appears to be a lot of grit and something else -feathers and leaves perhaps? She has been struggling with sour crop which we can't stop -terrible bad breath and very hot . The only way we have manage to control it is with loads of water, Avipro Avian, Epsom salts, half an aspirin and now in desperation she's been given a Rennie. That has once again turned her round and she's moving about again, talking and drinking. We keep hoping that whatever is obstructing her digestive system will clear and her crop will empty. What's very strange about her though is the colour of what little poo she does. Just a pool of bright yellow water, quite smelly, with bits of finely ground material in it. What is this bright yellow stuff? Anybody know or can guess?
 
Do you live in a sandstone area? Possibly a stone that's slowly being dissolved ?
 
Thanks for the reply BabyBantam. We are on chalk here, so that's not the coloration reason. It's not coloured in her crop, just when it gets to the other end. I wondered if there was an internal infection but from my experience that makes the poo's green?
 
Poor little girl! Washing the yellow poo off her bottom feathers this morning and noticed an area of small scabs. Close inspection with a magnifying glass confirmed my suspicions- Northern Fowl Mite. So we will have to check everyone in the vicinity of her coop armed with Frontline spray, which you can buy off the shelf here.

We are running out of time with her and options. So as a last resort decided to put her on a course of Baytril. 0.2mL twice a day for 7 days based on her reduced bodyweight now of just 2 Kg. At the same time she will go onto Avipro Avian at a concentration of one 6g scoop per 200mL water which is the regular dose. I have emailed the Vetark vet who advises AA can be used when on antibiotics to help avoid E.Coli or Salmonella invading the gut. Something else I've learned this week.
 
Rennies contain sugar and that can promote bad bacteria in the gut, so no more of those. Unfortunately we haven't got any Milk of Magnesia. After much debate yesterday evening and with Charity in obvious discomfort we decided to PTS this morning. Her mother Isabella had very bad cankers which we were unable to treat and, although we can't see any in Charity's mouth or throat, perhaps that's what she has in her crop? There are a lot of what feels like stones in there and perhaps the yellow poo is ground up and digested cankers -wish we had an X-ray!

BUT this morning she had poo'd a bit more overnight and seems in far less discomfort, so perhaps the yellow is some gut infection and the Baytril is working? We really don't want to despatch her. She has a lovely nature and now she has finished moulting is a very pretty hen. We lost Claude yesterday (my avatar) and two in two days is too much. But her welfare remains paramount so we are taking it hour by hour and continuing with the treatment.
 
I'm sorry chris, hard to lose one let alone two. Met my first tnn at the poultry show. Highly enquisitive and I rather liked their strange looks. Claude must be a big loss to you. Hope charity makes it
 
I was devastated to lose Claude BabyBantam. He was a real character and a particular favourite. He was nearly 4 years old and starting to slow down. Then he got severe hypothermia due mainly to a dramatic change in the weather I think. His underwing temperature was icy cold and it appeared his gut flora died as a result. We treated him for three weeks then it became apparent he had an underlying heart problem and I had to despatch him. His son is a truly magnificent example of the breed and will be taking over Claude's duties this week.

Charity is still with us. A lot brighter but getting tired easily. Her crop has reduced slightly and appears from the poo's to contain a large ball of leaves. The bright yellow poo might be a combination of leaf chlorophyl and puss from an infection at the crop exit. Her sour crop is improved but she does a lot of violent neck wrenching -presumably to shift her crop contents about. We are probably going to have to risk feeding her soon.
 
She's still with us BabyBantam. She gets her last dose of Baytril today. Yellow poos have completely gone so it was an infection but she still has a lump in her crop- although it is much smaller now, perhaps half the original size. Has bursts of energy moments, but then gets tired easily. We are feeding her balls of crushed rearer pellets to give her some energy but unfortunately yesterday evening her sour crop returned. She hasn't much strength left now and weighs seemingly nothing -just bones and feathers. Not looking good I'm afraid, but she still enjoys scratching about on the lawn and has settled down to being a house chicken.

We've moved a rearer unit into her old run in preparation for re-introducing her if she does recover fully.
 
Chris, where do you get the Baytril? I understand that it is a prescription antibiotic, so I'm wondering what is the best option for acquiring it is? Our hen who survived the fox attack a few years ago was prescribed it, but the local vet was not aware of how to treat chickens and I had to give them a list of antibiotics which could be used. Given that experience, I'm keen to avoid paying £29 for the prescription and another £20 for the Baytril itself, if possible, as I think that's rather outrageous for a week worth of medication for one chicken.
 
Our old vet in England let me have 30mL Baytril 10% oral for £27 on the understanding it was being used abroad and advised permanent egg withdrawal. I collected it from the surgery when I was over in August. Charity has used 4mL of it altogether, which is 0.1mL per Kg bodyweight twice a day for 7-10 days. The only other antibiotic we have used is Synulox, which is extremely expensive. Tylan seems to be only used on cases of Mycoplasma and I found a tub of the water additive in the medicine cabinet last week -no idea why we had it? We can get antibiotics mail order from Spain, which is what the local poultry breeder does.

We are wondering if Charity ate a Shield (aka 'stink') beetle? They have a very hard shell and it is the equivalent of swallowing a piece of glass, which would explain the infection and problems digesting. Very common here and find their way everywhere -the car door seals are full of them!
 
She's outside in the garden grubbing around as I type BabyBantam. We are hand feeding 70 x 8mm diameter rearer pellet balls a day now. Still has to learn all over again how to feed herself!
 
We're about 5 weeks down the line now and the lump in her crop is about half size. We are getting more food into her now, basically because there is more room for it. Her strength is increasing and so are the size of her poos. Strange thing the urinates content, which should be white, is pale yellow. Her crop is no longer going sour so what's left must be indigestible. This means either a tumour, canker or a slowly eroding lump of hardened puss. Hopefully it is the latter which may explain the yellow urinates. The weather is against us at the moment. We were hoping to start re-introduction so that perhaps peer pressure would restore the instinct to eat and drink, but it's too cold to put her out for long without energy reserves -another house chicken for a few months perhaps? She is very well behaved and gets on well with Bottom, even when she is in his 'coop'!
 
Can imagine your house full of chickens baking, hoovering and clucking around being homely in aprons and big silly slippers, with Bottom rocking in a chair and puffing on a pipe..... There is a children's book in there somewhere I'm sure :D I know my neices always ask after your house chooks whenever they see me :)
 
I can assure you the reality is very different to the book BB. Bottom still comes over to have his cuddle in the evening and gets very stroppy if I am a bit slow picking him up!

I think perhaps a film along the lines of 'Chicken Run' meets ' Little House on the Prairie'.

She has been staring into space for a day now. Took her off Avipro Avian in case there has been too much of it given? On reflection she appears the same as our neighbour's lone hen did after a month. Stopped talking completely and stood for long periods staring with pupils fully dilated. Checked her eyes they seem fine reacting to light. So it is perhaps another case of what I would call 'flock deprivation' -been on her own without other hens for too long.
 
That's interesting.
When I lost mildred Nancy went the opposite way. She was alone in the ark, but I kept her with me and free range when I was home. She completely latched onto me as her flock leader and in a matter of weeks was doing tricks for treats, hanging out in the kitchen and would have happily moved in if the muddy little monster hadn't left trails of muck everywhere she went. Hubby put foot down :D IM glad she did though, as it kept her alive for a lot longer when she got ill and allowed me to bathe and care for her giving her a lot of enjoyment.
Never saw this problem with staring at walls, but would need to look back on this forum to check how long she had been alone for?
 
We had one hen called Daffodil who loved being on her own BabyBantam. She had swollen feet so couldn't walk well and was bullied. When we separated her she immediately became head of her flock and used to make 'foody noises'. She went outside in the daytime into a secure rearing unit and at night slept in a cage in the dinning room which she would walk to and put herself in.

Charity has responded quickly to contact with the rest of the flock. After two meetings she is back at number 3 of 4 in the pecking order and very much more active. Now talking again, although she has always been very quiet anyway. We will continue feeding her but hope that peer pressure will get her eating again. The cock Basil called her over to the feeder but she didn't eat much. We think her eating problems started around the time we switched them off layers and onto rearers, so as a precaution we've switched back. Her sisters prefer rearers, but Basil prefers layers for some reason?
 
I remember Daffodil fondly - all your chooks are firmly imprinted on me. Glad about Charity, nice for her to be back in the flock ready for Father Christmas :D
 
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