Here we go again!

rick

rick

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I think Teabag may be on the way out this time. She has gone off her food and water and has been passing clear watery poop with yellow yokey bits in it for 3 days. Its my day off tomorrow and we are going to see the vet. Her crop doesn’t seem to be as empty as I would expect as she has eaten very little, if anything since Monday. I dripped water on her beak and she took a couple of drops. She isn’t completely out of it surprisingly but is obviously very lethargic and seems to have forgotten what food is for (including off limits delicacies) :(
My chicken vet has moved practice too :( :(

I’ve had similar symptoms and the discharge before from Betty the CLB but it only lasted a couple of days and she would eat special treats when fluffed up that gave her a pick up. Blaze and Brownie too but in that case the main worry was continuous, obvious fresh yoke and white without the shell. I suspect that this yoke like grey/yellow stuff without the rest of the egg is when it passes into the intestine but there seems to be very little anywhere on the web that defines the condition (peritonitis is the most frequent suggestion but that infection happens in the upper reproductive tract?) - which is surprising as it isn’t completely uncommon around here!

Chickens eh!

I am worming the rest of the flock just in case but I don’t think its to blame this time (Spring is a risky time I think.)
 
She's gone. PTS. Her comb was turning blue this morning and she had a very high internal temperature. I've asked for a full investigation to try to find out why.
Blaze is the boss now. Gah!
 
Thanks Marigold. She was the brightest of our first three hens from egg industry chicks. I know she had a good run getting to 3 years old and if it wasn’t this then it would probably been something else before too long. I'll miss her boldness and crafty antics.

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... I've just spoken to the vet. She found peritonitis in her oviduct and a build up of eggs in her abdomen which is where the yellow/gray stuff in thin watery fluid was coming from. Infection and adhesions in her intestine so there was no way it was going to end up otherwise. She just got off on the wrong foot with laying this spring and unfortunately it was too severe to recover from. I think it was when she stopped accepting any kind of food or water (coupled with the discharge) that the writing was on the wall. The vet has been a star!
 
Sorry to hear your news Rick. The telltale sign with peritonitis is normally the prominent keel bone.
 
Thanks Dinosaw. She was getting lighter by the day just by the impression picking her up. Do you think the peritonitis would have been under way some time before she showed any more obvious signs? - one leading to the other, but being alerted a week earlier may have made a difference. These brown hybrids have never had a text book correct keel, always a degree of sharpness. I should probably weigh them more often. My CLB is plumper, I always thought notably plump but I guess its just in comparison to the others and actually more true to general form.
 
So sorry Rick

I know how these little brown girls and their cute ways get under your skin, my family will always remember my Sally and her amazing intelligence and cheek.
 
Yes, by the time you notice, it is normally already well under way.
 
Hi Rick.
Sorry to hear about Teabag- it sounds as though she'd had a better life than many of her breed, but they still leave a hen-shaped hole in your life, don't they?
 
Thanks Valerie and Icemaiden, that's a very good way of putting it but I suppose its inevitable that keeping hens for several years will result in hen shaped Swiss cheese! It was so sudden - she was running around the garden and kicking soil out from under the fence last week.
 
Sorry to hear about Teabag, Rick. You gave her a happy time and she'd thank you if she could.
 
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