AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hi Guys. I have a 3 year old Isa Brown that has not been eating much and has had watery poos for about a week now. I know those symptoms are fairly vague and could be anything, but I would like to hear other people's thoughts. Firstly, I do understand that 3 years is a fairly good innings for an Isa Brown, and in fact she could have something terminal such as cancer, but I would at least like to try everything that I can before coming to that conclusion. Secondly, we are in a rural town and our vet doesn't 'do' chickens. They will give me meds, such as Baytril, etc. but admit that don't really know much about chickens. So..... About a week ago she started to have watery poos and very little matter in them, indicating she wasn't eating. She will get about free ranging, but not as vigourously as usual. She will not touch her layer mash at all. She will eat the rickets diet which I offer to her before she goes to bed, but she won't eat a lot of it. Otherwise I let her just go about her day. Her crop feels really soft with no gritty feeling to it. Just mushy feeling. Not ballooned at all like sour crop. It did feel a little gassy about 3 days ago so I started her on Baytril. She has had sour crop twice before and vet recommended Baytril and it has always done the trick. So my questions are: I have been putting ACV in water while giving Baytril. Can they be given at the same time? Is it possible that a chicken of this age could have cocci? It has been about 3 months since they were wormed. Can I worm them at the same time as giving baytril, or should I wait? Any other suggestions? Should I just keep feeding the rickets diet? I have also started giving her a little bit of polyaid in the morning as well. The mushy crop is empty in the morning. Any advice appreciated.

Hi Lady Jane.

Without a diagnosis, any treatment suggestion is nothing more than an educated guess.

That said, you can use the baytril and ACV at the same time, and you can worm her also.

Just remember that if she does recover that you need to make sure you don't eat her eggs for a period. Your vet should advise you for how long.

Any supportive feeding will help. Polyaid is a good starter but you'll need to change to something more solid. Try tempting her with worms, corn, tinned tuna, rickets diet- whatever she will eat.

Good luck with her.

i probably wouldnt be worried about the mushy crop it just means(usually) that they have had something soft to eat. at least, its that way my chickens:) hope she gets better soon!!

Thanks for the advice guys. She made a full recovery!

Yay!!!!!!! glad she made a full recovery!!!