Going downhill fast

BabyBantam

BabyBantam

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Mildred's sick, falling asleep on her feet, staring at nothing and not eating. No mite, or lice as iVe just ivermectin'd them and flubenvet a few weeks ago for worms. Tried her crop this morning, a bit soft and squashy, but not swollen nor any smell from her mouth. No hard lumps either (see feather pecking string) so think that may have ruled out sour and impacted crop. Her comb is red and so are wattles, but face is pale.
I've massaged her crop, just in case and just poured the start of an antibiotic course down her - Karidox, mainly as its in the cupboard. She only laid 4 tiny poos last night, all of a greenish colour, but solid.
Anyone any advise or can think of anything I've missed?
:(
 
How old is Mildred, and which breed? When did she last lay, and what was the shell like? How long has she been like this? Is her abdomen sort f soft and swollen? I'm just wondering if she could be eggbound, or even be developing egg peritonitis. Poor girl.
 
Pekin bantam approx three years old. Last egg less than a week ago, all good on the shell front. Shes a fantastic layer for a pekin and never had any issues. She doesn't seem swollen or bloated at all, if anything a little thin. She's gallantly eaten a big pile of soaked mealworms coated in mash in the last hour, but have the horrible feeling she's on her way out.
 
Well shes not very old, and at least she's had a good nourishing meal. Perhaps just make her comfortable tonight and see how she is tomorrow? If she feels like more treats for breakfast, you could try some scrambled or hardboiled egg? Sometimes they do just sort of pull round overnight, don't they? A bit like me, when I've had one of my really bad migraines, I look as if I'm on the way out for a few hours as well and then perk up.
Green poos may indicate a gut infection, do you think?
Do let us know what happens, I hope she will make it.
 
So do I, nancy will be on her own if I loose Mildred. Nancy had a gut infection, hense i have antibiotics in the cupboard. least they are the right sort if she does need them. Fingers crossed...
 
She's alive, bright green watery poo, weak but alert and eaten some more mash and worms. It's not over yet, but we're fighting :)
 
Glad to hear that. How much of the antibiotic have you got left? Will the vet give you a repeat prescription to make it up to the full course, do you think, if she makes it through the next 24 hours? By tomorrow it should begin to kick in, perhaps.
 
I've got enough for a full 5 day course, so no need for the vet at the mo - thank god they where generous. She's eaten half a full sized boiled egg today and laid more green poo which is good. She seems a bit more alert and is 'speaking' to me again. Still falling asleep a lot but in the sun so shes happy. Felling a little more confident and thanks for responding :)
 
I'm sorry, but got another question.
Mildred went to bed with a pretty full and 'normal feeling' crop last night - mainly boiled egg and a bit of mash & mealworms. She's laid another small pile of very green watery poo overnight, but this morning her crop still feels partially full and is soft and squishy. She doesn't have a foul smell coming from her crop though and seems alert and slightly better :)
Is this normal if she has a digestion issue and it's due to her food not digesting, or am I missing something. I'm still focusing slightly on the feather eating aspect of things (due to chris's comments about her poo and the feather pecking) but nothing seems hard or lumpy in her crop and not sure what partly digested feathers would feel like? I've massaged her crop for about 5 mins and this seems to make her open and close her beak as if bile is rising if that makes sense?
 
Well, one way to find out if it needs draining is to give it a try. There's a video on YouTube you might like to watch (or not, as the case might be) see http://youtu.be/fkiVnHWK_p4
It does look as if she has a digestive disorder of some kind, but in the absence of a vets opinion on her, I wouldn't like to suggest anything more.
What volume of food do you think she ate yesterday, in relation to her normal intake? Pellets would swell in the crop I expect, more so than what she took yesterday, so it may be that lack of bulk is contributing to her small watery poos, though there is probably an infection there as well. Would she eat a mash which was mainly pellets plus a few mealworms and perhaps some corn?
Any signs that the antibiotic is working yet?
 
back at work today, but she seemed alert this morning and fought the syringe, so think shes stronger. her volume of food is well down (less than half). Neither of them will touch pellets, so they get mash mixed with water to make it easier to eat in clumps. she just wasnt interested in any sort of food, mash, corn or worms, only the egg. I've got another 1/2 egg to feed her when I go home at lunch, so will check what crops like then.
I've looked at the video clip - thank you, her crop is nowhere near that large and not sure I'm confident enough to do this. Will give it a go though.
 
I am sorry to hear that your pekin is very poorly. I have to say that at this juncture, unless you have a clear diagnosis, then steer clear of antibiotics and certainly do not attempt emptying her crop, that can cause all sorts of problems and is usually unnecessary.

In ill birds it is not unusual to see green droppings, dark greenish droppings are due to the amount of bile being excreted. It sounds like she has lost a bit of weight, which is probably why the droppings are green. Another reason is some sort of liver/gut pathology. The digestive tract in a poorly bird will slow down naturally if there is some underlying issue, obstruction due to an underlying problem, fluid or disease of some sort.

If she has been laying normally then then problem is unlikely to be linked to her reproductive tract, however without a detailed exam it is hard to tell.
 
Hi foxy :) spoken to vet on phone who confirmed I'm using the right sort of drug for luminous green poo / gut infection and he did advise that vets are no longer recommending any sort of manual draining of crops - so happily not going to try. Came home today from work to find her alert and calling to me to let her out, then wolfed down more egg and some mealworms and is now happily sunbathing.
I understand that rash and random use of drugs is not the best thing to do and would not have started if I was not sure that she would have died at the weekend without trying something (and having enough for a full course). I would either have lost her, or saved her.
I know it's early days, but got my fingers crossed and promised to talk to vet again once antibiotics course is over. Having lost 4 birds to things I can't control, damned if I'm losing Mildred to something I can save her from.
 
I'm glad to learn that crop drainage is not now recommended - (but would like to know what should be done if you have a bird which has an obviously fluid-filled crop?)
These things always happen at weekends, don't they? I expect most of us would have done the same as you, faced with a sick hen who had similar symptoms to a previous one, given no vet on call and some spare medicine. Anyway, great that it seems to be working and the vet has now confirmed that it was an appropriate treatment. When you get back to talk to the vet, maybe you can ask what might be causing these problems, since its not just one hen affected. I expect your feed is all in date and not damp at all? Anything else they might have been eating that they shouldn't, do you think? Any problems with the water supply, or the drinker? Any unusual stress? Just brainstorming the usual suspects!
 
Ive been wondering too. Clean drink dish and food dishes daily, always fresh mash too that's kept in a bin with sealed lid on veranda. Only thing that might be an issue would be the mash that I mix with water in the morning doing something horrible over the course of the day, or that they pick up spillage I can't get out of the grass. They free range all the time, but I garden organically and they mainly head for the dogs bowl when they want a drink. Might be flowerpot saucers, but not got many of them? They've been great all over the winter, with Nancy's infection the only blip to mar a perfectly serene existence.
You are right though, always at a weekend, usually when I've no money for vet and definitely when I least expect it. Whatever decision you make, it's always difficult and my girls are 100 percent pets that are part of the family - I don't eat eggs :D
I will ask the vet and let you know.
 
Our vet gave us a big syringe with a tube to feed into the crop Marigold. Very easy to do, but only resorted to it once. Found a water only diet for 24 or 48 hours with plenty of massaging clears it well and chopped onions seems to help a lot.

We've done the same BB -put Botty on Baytril when it seemed we would lose him. He pulled through then had carbon monoxide poisoning! We don't let feed get wet at all as it seems to go off in a very short time.
 
Difficult to know what to do on the food front, they have always flatly refused to eat any sort of pellet and had problems with body weight when feeding dry mash. Little beggars nothing but trouble :)
Mildred much better, no longer sleeping on her feet and fighting strongly as soon as she realises she has to be caught for her dose. Poo was still wet, but much darker green this morning and eating corn which she wasnt. Hopefully she'll be fine, but keeping my eye on the resident sparrow hawk anyway ;)
 
Mildred is off antibiotics and roaming the garden, thin, still not eating to full potential but happy to be here and I'm happy to have her.
As foxy says, there may be an underlying disease issue which I can't fix, but poo colour is back to normal and she's been sunbathing again today. Beryl's tonic going in tomorrow, then it's up to luck and good fortune...
 
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