CityChick
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hen with "the runs"I have a two year old Rhode Island Red that has had "the runs" for a few weeks. Poo is very runny, explosive, and grey in colour 
She has not laid any eggs this year. I had another RIR I got from the same breeder, at the same time, which I have had to have pts (swollen belly, no eggs this year and obviously not well). On PM she had a tumour. Not sure if the 2 are related (the other hen did not have the runs).
This hen does not have any other symptoms, eats and drinks okay and appears otherwise well (although she maybe a bit on the thin side?)
She has been to the vets who gave her the thumbs up health wise, suggested worming her, and bringing in a "sample" to analyse if the problem persisted.
I also tried several days with slippery elm bark in their food (I have used this to treat my GSD with a "dodgy tummy" before).
But this hen still has the runs 
I took a sample in to the vets, but the chicken vet who has seen her before was off on hols....
Another vet said there was "nothing obvious" wrong from the sample. My vet is back on Tuesday...
My other 3 chickens are fine and have been laying.
Any ideas or suggestions?
I did wonder if antibiotics would help? Could it be some sort of digestive system infection? If so, is Baytril good for digestive infections? (Its the antibiotic I've been given before from the vets after a blocked crop in another hen was cut open).
Thanks,
Lisa
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Lloyd
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How freely does she forage, Lisa?...Too much snails or slugs will cause this.
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Treacodactyl
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What did you use to worm her and did she get enough? When I worm our hens the amount of Flubenvet for a weeks course for three hens is tiny. If I mix this in with their food there's a good chance one may not get the full dose. I'd suggest trying to treat the one hen on her own by dipping a favourite treat into her days allocation for the course.
During hot weather our hens drink a fair bit and this can make their droppings runny. Ours also eat plenty of slugs and snails but it doesn't affect their droppings at all. There is a much greater risk of them picking up worms from the slugs and snails and that's why you should worm free ranging hens more frequently that house birds.
Have you tried writing in to Country Smallholding? They have a poultry expert vet who may be able to help.
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wizz
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Babs - our 2 yr old White sussex and head of the flock - has come down with the runs over the past week, but has been a bit "runny" over her whole life so we didn't get unduly worried. But things have taken a turn for the worse over the weekend. Now not moving or eating and wheezing - had to be put up stairs into roost. She seems to be breathing her last this morning (comb going blue, floppy and not drinking spontanously). I've brought her inside as she's taking water from a syringe but I'm not hopeful...
wizz
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Gertie
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Hi CityChick - Being relatively new to hen keeping I was surprised at how many different shades and textures of poo a hen can produce.
My hubby thought I had flipped completely when I started reading and talking about chicken poo 24/7! 
As your vet says there is nothing wrong with the sample (no worms, etc.) - not vent gleet - what about trying a probiotic to see if that makes a difference. Could it be that the natural bacteria living in the gut needs a little assistance. It will not do any harm and you can try a natural live yogurt or Ascotts (www.ascotts.biz) sell a probiotic powder called Magic.
Wizz - sorry to hear about your hen, do you have a vet you could telephone for advice. At least you are getting some water into her to keep her hydrated. Fingers crossed 
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Treacodactyl
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| Gertie wrote: | | It will not do any harm and you can try a natural live yogurt or Ascotts (www.ascotts.biz) sell a probiotic powder called Magic. |
That's a good point. I've used live yoghurt with our hens and they enjoy it. I can't say scientifically if it works but worth a try and it should cheer them up.
Has the problem hen been eating anything strange? Lettuce could give her the runs.
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wizz
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Fraid Babs died soon after i posted - obviously not unexpected and to be honest a bit of a relief as at least it stopped any suffering.
Citychick hop your RIR recovers soon
wizz
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Gertie
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Wizz -
I am really sorry to hear about Babs. 
As you say at least she did not linger on and suffer. Sometimes nature can be very cruel but at the end of the day you did your best for her.
Hope you have lots of happy memories of her.
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CityChick
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Aw Wizz, sad to hear yours didn't make it
Thanks to all for the ideas and suggestions...
Mine get a small bowl of yogurt as a treat about 3 times a week (especially since I now make it at home - yummy!!) Lara (the hen with the runs) is quite bossy, so I'm sure she gets at least her fair share  Does anyone think if I gave it to her once, or even twice daily, a bit like a medicine, that would help get rid of her runs?
Interesting idea about the worming. I do use flubenvet, so maybe she didn't get enough? Although the vet that looked at the sample I took in did say she couldn't see anything obvious in the sample - I would have thought worms would be shed in the droppings? But she wasn't the "chicken friendly" vet...
Given Lara isn't laying at the mo (hasn't since last autumn) I won't have to worry about giving her a higher dose and egg withdrawl etc... If my vet can't suggest anything better tomorrow, its spagetti with a good dusting of flubenvet for Lara then!!
And finally, AFAIK, she hasn't had access to anything she's not eaten before, so I can't put it down to excess treats (given or scrounged!)
I'll let you know if the vet comes back with anything useful tomorrow.
Thanks again!
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Treacodactyl
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| CityChick wrote: | | Mine get a small bowl of yogurt as a treat about 3 times a week (especially since I now make it at home - yummy!!) |
Would it be worth cutting this out for Lara for a week or so to see if she may be having a reaction to the yoghurt?
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Jessevieve
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Have you tried using Diatom? It seems to kill most parasites and after my hens had a dose (include with their food for a week) their poo looked a lot healthier. 
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CityChick
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Well....... my Vet is stumped. She can think of other diseases that would cause chronic diarrhea, but she would expect other symptoms too ie Lara to appear ill in some other way aswell and she doesn't (apart from not laying at all).
Nothing was found in the poop sample I took in last week (no worms, no oocysts from coccidosis) but apparantly....
If you are going to take a sample of chicken poo to the vets for testing for internal parasites it is best to collect samples from 3 consecutive days. Worms etc apparently don't shed every day, hence the 3 day collection requirement to improve the chances of finding something. And this is, I am told, okay, as long as you store it in the fridge each day!!!!!!!!!!
So the plan is to worm Lara again, incase she didn't get the full dose of Flubenvet last time from her feed. Double dose this time, stick it to her fav titbits and handfeed them to her so I know for sure she's got a full dose (or the vet said another way was to mix it with a little water and give it by syringe).
If there is still no improvement after 7 days on Flubenvet I'm back on poo collection patrol for 3 days and then its off to the vets (but maybe I'll take the sample into the vets each day and they can store it in THEIR fridge) 
So the good news is Lara is no worse (although no better), the bad news is I'm still having to do a lot of shed cleaning duty
I did ask the vet why only one chicken was likely to be showing symptoms. She suggested that it could be due to the health of that individual chicken ie she was run down and something had taken hold. The others were more healthy and therefore were able to fend it off.
Oh, the other thing my vet suggested was some bird specific probiotics.... but they didn't have any in stock. I have now got something called "Guardian Angel" from the Bird Care Co which has probiotics in it (as well as lots of vitamins and minerals) so I'll give that to Lara too, and avoid the yogurt for now.
Thanks for the mention of the diatom. I have heard of it and it sounds great. But I haven't used it because I haven't been able to get a definite answer as to whether or not it would carry on working on the compost heap when the chicken poo goes there ie would it kill beneficial little creepy crawlies that would be good in the soil and garden?
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