poorly chicken, greenish poop - what to do?

[nmayhew]

hi,

one of our 5 light sussex looked very down in the dumps last week, hanging around on her own, very slow to move, almost sleeping standing up when all the others were very active

she had a dirty bum and, always having been clean before, we took her to the vet last saturday morning

the vet felt some inflammation but said it was not an egg, and asked if her poo was a greeny colour (at the time i hadn't noticed as we just whisked her straight to the vet as soon as she loOked poorly)

anyway, she gave us an antibiotic (sorry i forgot the name) which we syringed into her mouth for 5 days

after 2 or 3 days Poppy (for that is her name!) looked much better, and she is now skipping around with the rest of them

however, having just let her out for her free ranging in the garden, i notice her poo is still very liquid (some semi-solid, the rest runny) and it is indeed a greeny colour
my mrs says it is a grey brown - it looks sandy brown / green to me so who knows??

anyway, should i go back to the vets and ask for another treatment of antibiotics / whatever it was that she gave her you think?

many thanks

Nick

[Suechooks]

If the hen is better in herself and the poop is getting better you could try a small amount of live plain yoghurt just to help rebalance her gut flora. Don't give too much at once or she'll get the runs! Either that or a probiotic - I use Avipro plus. If she's well she probably doesn't need more antibiotics. Monitor her and if you're still not happy then take her back to the vet.

[nmayhew]

thank you Sue

will get some aviproplus tomorrow for her

many thanks

Nick

[motherhen]

What is her normal diet and has she got hold of anything that could have upset her, if they are free ranging then you do not have the same control on their diet as birds that are confined, can she get at compost or over expose to something high in protein. It can be worm infestation also. I usually usethe yoghurt it will not hurt if not over done do not mix to much or it will sour, I mix a little with a small amount of their normal ration in a sepeate bowl so you can keep it fresh. Do you feed scraps (treats!!)

[petyanca]

nmayhew, could you look up the name of the antibiotic ?

I have a chicken with similar symptoms. Thanks.

[RichmondHens]

It was probably Baytril, most vets prescribe this. It's a broad spectrum antibiotic. However if you have a poorly hen that you don't know how or what to treat for then a vet diagnosis is always the best. You can consider a few things before taking her to the vet however, eg does she need worming, could she have eaten something likely to make her "loose" eg a lot of cabbage or fruit? Runny poo can be caused by all sorts of things and by eliminating the obvious you could save yourself a vet bill!

[petal]

same as above- if you have not wormed her using flubenvet (absolutely not herbal alternatives) then do so for peace of mind. Antibiotics give me the runs too.

[petyanca]

Poor thing has died early next morning, I'll deworm my other hens. I'm in US so I'll use Safeguard.

[petal]

sorry to hear that- i expect safeguard is same sort of thing as flubenvet- good luck and i hope the rest are ok.