Poo help please!

[Plum]

Motmot is between treatments for coccidiosis from the vet but has lost so much weight I don't know what to give her. Can't believe how much she has lost in a week. She is so light and her eyes are sunken, her breastbone sticks right out and she is very pale and shrivelled in comb and face. She's alertish but sits around tail sometimes up, sometimes down but she's not huddled.

 

I've been giving her warm pellets (growers), oats, mixed corn, Avipiro, mashed broccoli etc., but only picking at it. She's been drinking ok. Today I managed to get some lifeguard which has vit A and K in it to recover from the treatment which presumably thins the blood. She ate some catfood today but I'm worried its too rich.

 

She's got bright emerald green little splats of droppings no blood but no food going through, her abdomen is flacid and full feeling but not fluid like peritonitis.

 

So suggestions please on what to give her that she will be tempted with and digest. Guess when I have her on treatment on Sat and Sun I'll just give her dry food again then back to vet for another sample.

Edited August 11, 2010 by Guest

[Redwing]

hmm what made the vet think it was Coccidiosis?

[Egluntyne]

I wouldn't overtax her with too much variety, tbh. I think just the growers pellets, water and some avipro would be the best thing for the next few days.

[Plum]

Ok thanks Egluntyne, I'll stick to that.

Tasha its what the stool sample showed. The report said too numerous to count but I didn't see what type but will ask when I go back on Tuesday.

 

All the stuff says occurs in overcrowded poor conditions but their run is so clean and dry I can't understand it and it's species specific so can only come from other chickens. So options are Chatsworth, my friends ones I looked after for a day a couple of weeks ago and where my babies came from but there were no problems in their set up. She went off it only two days after they arrived and incubation is 3-5 days I think. Could I have carried it on my shoes. (don't worry I will keep away from your field and not put anyone at risk).

 

Perhaps I kept her too clean and she had no immunity so when exposed to some coccidia from elsewhere it hit her like a brick. Others are all fine. The hybrids are vaccinated so I suppose they are protected and I guess if it came from the babies place they will have immunity as they are fine and isolated from Motmot anyway.

[Redwing]

I'd guess it came in with the chicks, youngsters are more prone to it so there may have been a pen at the breeders with it

 

What a shame its hit her so hard

 

I'd stick with the growers pellets and lifeguard for now

 

If she isnt in the warm perhaps being her in so thats one less thing to sap her energy

 

A friend of mine swears by something she gets from her vets thats called Critical Care, its a liquid that needs to be tubed in to the hen but she says that once you have been shown by the vet how to do this its quite easy and she says that the formula has saved so many weak birds over the years - I'd not heard of it before (I'm guessing its a nutritional thing) maybe its worth asking the vet for?

 

My hens dont freerange over my field so you should be fine here

[Plum]

Thanks Tasha,

Presumably every flock has one variety of it that they gain immunity from. I wonder if she has carried it all her life. She passed some blood in droppings when I first got her but people had posted that that was normal in youngsters so I didn't worry then. Another time I would treat in case.

 

Will ask about critical care.

[Tutti Frutti]

Oh no Plum, I'm so sorry to read this Fingers crossed here for you both but I think it's good that she's not hunched and is drinking

[Chucky Mama]

Critical Care is very good. It is intended to be mixed with water and drunk or it can be tubes. As long as it is made up in the right dilution there is no reason why you couldn't use it to mix up small amounts of mash. As long as it goes in it will do the job. Not that many vets will hold it on the shelves though as most use Lectade - also quite good but it is for hydration whereas Oxbow Critical Care is for herbivores or carnivores that are off their natural diet. You can get Carnivore Care or Herbivore Care, it is suggested that a mixture of both is ideal for chickens but herbivore is fine if choosing just one. Good luck

[The Dogmother]

Sorry to hear this Plum, and thanks for directing me to it - I have been off and not on the forum a lot.

 

Sure sounds like Cocci to me - from what I know, there are different strains and they can remain dormant within most flocks, and only really rearing its head if a bird is poorly for another reason. The treatments suggested above are what I would follow, perhaps it might be worth trying some Nutridrops (I have some at home if you'd like me to post them up to you). If I remember rightly it can be cleared with industrial strength antibiotics (can't remember the name, but it's not Baytril or Tylan) but the long term prognosis often isn't good.

 

A friend's bird had it; it had never been right after a nasty dose of myco. The antibs worked against the cocci but it didn't thrive and she ended up culling it.

[Plum]

Thanks Tutti, Chucky Mama and Claret, the treatment she's been given is Baycox. Will just have to see how it turns out but in the meantime will try and do best for her.

 

She's quite bright tonight and ate her breakfast so will see but am going to give her a chance and hope she thrives if she can get rid of active infection. Wonder what else would be going on to lower her immunity. She has had a sebaceous cyst and enteritis a few weeks ago.

[Jools]

Certainly the enteritis could have been the straw that broke the camel's back. I don't know what the weather has been like where you are, but cocci oocysts thrive in warm, damp conditions - I've been getting through loads of Stalosan in my chick/grower pen this year as a result.

 

I lost one of my LF hens a month or so ago to what I'm assuming was Mareks. Before she developed the classic symptoms, I had a dropping sample analysed by Retfords as she was a little runny in that department. I was quite surprised when the results came back showing low level coccidiosis (no worms though!). I don't really know which one lowered her immune system first, the Mareks or the Cocci, but logically it makes sense that when a chicken is under the weather, it's quite likely she'll succomb to something else too.

 

Anyway, they confirmed that Herban is good for both protection against and treatment of cocci, so it might be worth putting her on that once she's finished the Baycox. Hope she pulls through for you.

[Plum]

Thanks Jools, that's a good idea I've heard it mentioned a few times on here. Is Orego-stim the same thing?

 

Sorry you lost your girl, seems to be quite a bit of Mareks around.

[Tutti Frutti]

How is she today, Plum? Fingers crossed here

[Plum]

Hi Tutti, not a lot different she's drinking so hope her meds will go down ok sat and sun. She's picking at food and poo is same. I've bought some ribena because its supposed to make the meds in water taste less bitter so they drink it.

 

Its only a vague symptom but I've noticed the feathers on the left side of her head are ruffled and her eye that side is almond shaped but on the right the feathers are smooth and her eye is round. How odd is that? Must have a dominant side, I know they use their eyes independently so guess one is just resting.

[coco]

I hope Motmot soon ges better. I took Flora to the vets tonight as he diagnosed Coccidiosis, she is passing very watery bloody droppings and is not eating. He said it could have been in the ground before I got her and her recent cold has lowered her immune system. Keep us posted.

[Plum]

Sorry to hear about Flora but she got treatment straight away, that's good.

I had to wait for the lab sample but guess it wasn't as easy to diagnose with her not having blood in droppings.

[Tutti Frutti]

On "the secret life of chickens", IIRC they said one eye is watching for danger, the other is for food... but I can't remember which one is which! Hope she picks up, really do

[scarlettohara]

Sorry to hear you have a poorly girl, fingers crossed for her

[Plum]

Thanks Scarlettohara, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

 

Tutti that must have been what I was thinking of.

 

Coco you may find this site interesting it gives quite a bit of information about the types of coccidiosis

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/

[coco]

Thanks Plum. apparently ACV is a good preventative, wish I'd known earlier, my other girls have it but I hadn't given it to the two new hens as I wasn't sure if I could give it with Baytril. She is quite bright in herself, there was a chicken at the vet that went in before me, she didn't come out, she had Peritonitis. Thew poor owner was in tears I felt so sorry for her.

[Plum]

How sad. Mine had ACV but that didnt work for her but will still use it in rotation with lifeguard and herban when she's better.

[hippy chick]

How is Motmot today

[Plum]

Thanks for asking. Pleased to report she has some solid poo overnight still bright green. She's started her next lot of treatment and is drinking it and she's picking at food.

 

Coco how is Flora?

Edited July 31, 2010 by Guest

[hippy chick]

That is good news, I'm glad she is on the mend

[coco]

Glad Motmot is feeling better.

Flora seems much brighter, she is her usual chatty self again and is drinking and eating a bit. She had some scrambled egg and yoghurt and ate that so hopefully she will be ok.

At least I seem to have found a vet that does poultry, I rang round about 7 or 8 last night to get the medication she needed as my vet couldn't get it till Monday and i wasn't sure she would make it till then.

Thanks for asking about her.