Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Luvachicken]

I really don't know what to do about Queenie.

She is still producing water in her poo and actually there isn't always much poo itself.

When I last took her back to the vets with watery poo he said she was fine.

The Beryl's formula doesn't seem to have worked and was very expensive too.

 

She is definitely being a chicken - eating, drinking and pottering around.

I wipe her bottom most days but she is definitely cleaner than she was, so is not having her baths every day anymore.

I weigh her every other day mostly, sometimes daily, and she hasn't lost weight particularly, she currently weighs 850g.

 

I need to worm them soon but was holding off because I thought her poo looked better but I think someone else must have done it, so now I don't know when to do it

 

The Dogmother suggested some Oregostim. Do any of you think it would help ?

Can you suggest any else I could do for her ?

I am being impatient for the Beryl's bacteria to work ? It was a good couple of weeks ago I gave it to them.

 

I don't mind if she has watery poo for ever more but really want to make her ok.

[mollyripkim]

I really feel for you, know how worried I get about them all the time. I guess if Queenie seems happy and doing chickeny things then there shouldn't be too much to worry about. Maybe she is run down from her illness and also as it's been so hot they will all be drinking more and doing more watery poos.

I do use origstim, just coming to the end of a bottle and will definitely get some more, I think their poo is drier on it and less smelly.

[Luvachicken]

Thanks mollyripkim, I will order some oregostim from omlet today.

Plus a treat or two for the girls and one for me

[Beantree]

You're right Luvachicken. The Beryl's should have worked by now. My last post on a previous thread explained my thoughts. Watery poo with little or no poo content says 'digestive restriction' to me and that could be for similar complex reasons as our hen, if you haven't wormed for a long time. In our case it was 14 months!!

[Luvachicken]

Mine get wormed every three months with Flubenvet.

I was meant to do it again on Wednesday but decided to wait for a couple of weeks instead until Queenie's poo seemed a bit better.

Do you think it would be better to worm now instead ?

[Beantree]

Every three months is pretty frequent Luvachicken, so I would discount worms from the equation unless they are confined to a run and could quite easily pick eggs up immediately after worming. But it will be no good giving her coated pellets to eat. You will have to give it orally as an Olive Oil mix.

 

I've had another look at the X-rays and I still think there is rather a lot of 'stuff' in her gizzard, which looks rather large to me. Any idea what could be in there? It is possible that the stuff can't get out because of worms lower down. But that's a bit of a wild guess. Worked for us though.

 

My experience of any digestive impactions says plenty of water with no hard solids. Massaging of the crop regularly and plenty of moving around. We are giving our hen small balls of crushed rearer pellets dropped down her throat and 50mL of water at least per day. We are keeping her crop medium full and quite sloshy. She is now pooing part digested feathers!!!

 

Update:- Last poo from our hen was a cherry stone and a lot of undigested grain, so it appears that her gizzard isn't grinding stuff up so she needs grit. That got me thinking about Queenie's gizzard. Looks like it is crammed full of pieces of seashell. What grit does she get?

[Luvachicken]

Thanks Beantree, they have 2 different pots of grit - one is quite fine and the other is bigger.

They were having eggshell too but I no longer give them that since reading your other post about it.

 

Do you think it would be a good idea to give Queenie just water and soft stuff then ?

Would I have to keep her separated from the others so she can't eat the normal pellets ?

 

I thought as time went on it would be easier keeping chickens but now I'm not so sure

[Lavenders_Blue]

Is Queenie a bantie or big girl? 850g doesn't sound like much for a big girl. Mine are all 1.5 - 2kg. I'm just wondering if she is a big girl, she may have been underweight for quite some time.

 

(If she is a bantie then you will probably want to ignore this!)

 

Hope you can manage to find out what is ailing Queenie.

[Beantree]

Hi Luvachicken. The X-rays could be showing eggshell or seashell, but based on my experience the gizzard has far more in it than I have ever encountered. It must be hard stuff to show up on the X-ray. I'm not so bothered about the pellets as long as she has plenty of water to soften them. We give ours soft balls of ground pellets. What she doesn't need is any grain or grit. Essentially she needs just water and nutrients.

 

Two things are clear. Queenie is still ill and the vet can't see a problem. The Beryl's was still necessary after antibiotics, so now she has the best chance to digest what little food goes through.

 

I read food should take just 15 seconds to pass through the gizzard. How they established that I don't know?

 

Our sick hen's mother went in a similar manner. After her partial gizzard impaction (assumed damson stones) it took a month to clear and she was almost at the point of exhaustion and weighed 'nothing'. The second time (4 years later) the impaction was almost total and the crop went sour. In clearing the crop the digestion blocked completely and despite massages and movement it wouldn't clear. Her daughter is on a fine line between exhaustion and moving about. If she doesn't move about the blockage can't clear, but she hasn't much energy left. In her case corn is going through but poos are still thin and watery, so there is still some obstruction and a general loss of appetite. Wish we had an X-ray. I'll be asking at the vets next week.

[Luvachicken]

Is Queenie a bantie or big girl? 850g doesn't sound like much for a big girl. Mine are all 1.5 - 2kg. I'm just wondering if she is a big girl, she may have been underweight for quite some time.

 

(If she is a bantie then you will probably want to ignore this!)

 

Hope you can manage to find out what is ailing Queenie.

 

Thanks for caring Lavenders Blue.

Queenie is only a little pekin bantam. I think at her heaviest she weighed 900g so she actually hasn't lost a lot of weight.

 

Beantree, should I take all the grit away for now ?

Do you think I should take her back to the vets and ask for another xray to compare the difference and then he might be able to suggest something different ?

[Beantree]

I would certainly take all the grit away. A second X-ray might be an idea, but it would be worth asking the vet what their opinion is. In the scheme of things Queenie's weight loss is minimal. Our first hen went from over 3 Kg to about half that. Our second is about the same.

[Luvachicken]

I have taken all the grit away Beantree.

 

I went to wipe Queenies bottom feathers earlier and she is the cleanest I have seen her for a while.

I popped her back in and watched for a while.

She did a watery poo but it was only a small one.

And one of them has done poo that looks the colour of sandy clay, not one of the usual poos so I am ever hopeful that Queenie could be on the mend, fingers crossed.

[Luvachicken]

Oh dear, I just asked Hubby what he thought about taking Queenie to the vets for another xray and he said what would be the point, plus the fact of more money.

And then depending what the xray showed, then some kind of operation would need more money.

 

Do any of you think she is suffering ?

I guess I've kind of answered this myself because she really is still being a chicken and if she was suffering then she wouldn't be doing that, but then again I ask myself 'what do I know?'

 

Feeling a bit sad and lost right now

[mullethunter]

I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I generally think with animals I've kept (many and varied from stick insects to horses and much in between) if they're behaving like you'd expect and they seem themselves then they're probably feeling ok. I think you'll know if Queenie's feeling poorly and sorry for herself and if she does get like that you'll probably find it easier to make the right decision. Hopefully that won't happen though and she'll come around

[Luvachicken]

Thanks mullethunter,

You are right in what you say, hubby has now said I can do want I like but that it's still a waste of money

[Beantree]

I don't want to get your hopes up Luvachicken, but our hen did a sandy poo this morning, for about the third time, and she's got a full normal crop for the first time in nearly a month. So she's eating and drinking normally. Hold off on the grit and grain for Queenie though.

 

The X-ray would tell you if it was time to let go. But I'm not sure how long it takes to break up eggshell or seashell and I bet the vet does't know either. So perhaps an X-ray would be a waste? Just keep on the water and nutrients and hope, as we are.

[Luvachicken]

That's reassuring Beantree, thank you.

I will stick with the water and pellets for now.

Queenie has a very full crop tonight too

In fact all of them do.

This was how I noticed she was poorly in the first place because hers was so small.

Fingers crossed for all poorly chickens to get well soon and hope that trips to the vets are sometime in the future not now

[Lavenders_Blue]

I hope little Queenie makes it. Beantree's post suggests there might be hope for her - fingers crossed! What I would say is that personally I wouldn't choose to put a hen through an operation. That's not advice, I'm just saying that's what my choice would be. Hens generally aren't the most robust of creatures, and I don't know what the success rate for surgery is, but I would stick my neck out and say I don't reckon it's high. I think all the time she is happy then just keep her going, but when she starts to suffer (you will know when that is) then you have to decide what you want to do. With any luck she will perk up and you won't have to decide anything!

[Luvachicken]

Thank you Lavenders Blue