[Gladys]

Hello,
Ive had chickens for  years and now have a hen Maisie with a constantly pooey vent. This is the picture. Most of the time the poo is chalky yellow. I took her to the vet who said it was distress caused by a recent outbreak of lice. The lice were sorted as soon as they were spotted and the other chooks have been OK. But the yellow poo persists. Im trying Flubenvet (4th day no sign of improvement or any worms in poo)as Ive always relied on VermX but have read on this site that yellow poo can be sign of worms. Please can someone help with any ideas? Many thanks  

[Aunt Sally]

welcome to the forums Gladys

Can you tell us a little bit more about the hen please.

I would guess from your picture that the hen is not eating as much as normal.  The large amount of urates could show that she is breaking down her muscle rather than getting energy from her food.  The poo looks rather mucousy too.  Try offering her some live yogurt each day and see if she improves. 

Continue with the flubenvet for the 7 days.  How are you administering it ?  If as the makers say you are mixing it with their pellets and this girl is not eating enough she won't be getting a full dose so it would be a good idea to give her a small pinch of flubenvet each day on a treat. 

If she doesn't get better or seems to be getting worse go back to the vet and ask for some baytril for her.  The mucous could sugest a bacterial infection.

Let us know how she gets on and I'll add your lovely picture to the Poo Gallery when we are certain what her problem was.

[Gladys]

Hi Aunt Sally,
Many thanks for your help.
Yes I have added the Flubenvet to the food, but like you say she may not be eating much. Im not sure what she is eating from the feeder as we have 3 others. She does eat treats when you take them in, although Im limiting treats so they eat as much of their pellets as possible. Are the urates the yellow bit?
I will offer her some live yoghurt and a pinch of the Flubenvet. I will let you know how she gets on!

[Gladys]

Hi Aunt Sally et al,
As you can see the problem poo persists. I tried the yoghurt and the worming powder. No improvement and no worms seen in anyone's poo. My nurse sister has suggested that in humans light yellow poo is a sign of liver problems or infection (?). She is eating well and doesnt seem to be losing weight. She is slower off the mark though and seems to be taking it easier than the rest in sprints to see me at the gate. Im taking her to the vet tomorrow. There isnt any mucous in the poo. Best wishes, I'll keep you updated! Glad

[Aunt Sally]

Mucky girl 

I'd  take her to the vets for some baytril if I were you.

[Gladys]

Well it doesnt look like good news. The vet examined her and felt a lumpy hard liver which prob indicates cancer. Just in case its an infection, we have antibiotics for her. Otherwise its keeping a look out and when she stops eating or looks like she's suffering, then its a final trip back to the vet...........so very sad. 

[hillfooter]

Hi Gladys,

Sorry to hear about your Maisie.  Ordinarily I wouldn't be too concerned about the odd unusual droppings especially during such wet and foul weather however this does look a bit more serious and especially as your vet can feel tumours on her liver.  The urinates are the white liquid bits and these droppings aren't suggestive of worms which tend to cause foamy yellow droppings.

Did your vet mention Lymphoid Leukosis which you might try to google for more information? It is a cancer like disease producing tumours on several organs though mostly the liver and is caused by a virus which typically strikes hens just as come into lay or from 5 months onwards.  It's sometimes refered to as big liver disease due to the enlarged liver and abdomen generally and has no treatment and will be fatal.  I'm affraid that if it is LL you should for the sake of the rest of your birds cull her as soon as possible and have a good clean up and disinfect as thoroughly as possible.  LL is passed through contact and mainly vertically from an infected parent bird.  Don't hatch any eggs.  It isn't as virulent as many other contact diseases so you just could be lucky with your others but act quickly if indeed your vet is confident of the diagnosis.

Best of luck
HF

[Aunt Sally]

Sorry Gladys - bad news 

[Gladys]

Thanks Aunt Sally.

[Gladys]

Thank you very much HF for your advice. 

Ive printed off the info and will pop it into the vets now and will await his call.

He did mention that chickens can be susceptible to intestinal cancers and asked if Maisie was vaccinated at birth..which she was. But Im wondering if LL is covered by this vaccine. So Ive put that in the letter and will let you know what he says and what we do next.

Many thanks indeed, Gladys

[hillfooter]

Hello Gladys,

Unfortunately I don't think there's a vaccine for LL and indeed it can be spread by flock vaccination if the same needle is used and or it's not sterilised between vaccinations.

If you've started a course of antibiotics I'd give them 7 days to show some results unless the vet is sure about the diagnosis and a lumpy liver.  The normal way to confirm a flock diagnosis would be by post mortem and the presence of many large soft shiny white or grey tumours on liver spleen and cloacal bursa which is a particular distinguishing feature between LL and Mareks disease.  Not a particularly useful piece of info when you are trying to save a single bird which I'm affraid is the major difficulty when dealing with difficult diagnosis on hobbists birds.  If you were a commercial poultry keeper sacrifising an individual to help diagnose and treat a flock is normal practise.  Here your vet has to rely on the progression and symptoms with no flock history or postmortem findings to help.

If you could isolate her while you see if the a/bs are having any effect that would be OK.  The good news is that the virus which causes LL doesn't live long off a chx body so a good clean up and disinfection should protect your other birds.

Best wishes
HF

[Gladys]

Many thanks HF for the extra info. I still havent heard from the vet but its been Easter. No improvement as yet on the antibiotics. I'll post here as soon as I hear anything. Gladys

[Gladys]

I took Maisie back to the vets on Wed and he said she actually felt more lumpy. So she was put to sleep rather than wait for her to suffer but also to prevent the spread of anything. So it looks like the yellow was the sign of a failing liver and blocked bile duct.

Many thanks for all your help Aunty Sally and HF, Glad

[hillfooter]

Sorry to hear this but you gave her your best shot and many wouldn't have.  I have just had to cull two of my oldest birds one of whom was 10 and the other 4.   Every chicken keeper needs to deal with the less happy side of poultry keeping as well as the good and when there's no cure and the prognosis is deterioration into suffering it's best it's done quickly.  You did the right thing.

HF

[Aunt Sally]

I absolutly agree with Hillfooter.  We have a duty of care wich includes not allowing them to suffer