ginnungagap
In the Brooder
Hello!
About ten days ago I got a new group of five adult laying hens, and it's the first time I'm buying adult birds so I don't know what's common or not. I noticed at least one of them had watery dropping as soon as I let them inside the run, but I figured it was from not eating (they had spent half the day in a box being transported without any food)
The runny dropping didn't go away though, and now three of them have it. I'll call them 1, 2 and 3 since I haven't named them yet.
Hen 1 was the first one i noticed looking under the weather, her comb was the most pale and she spent most of her time puffed up and tired. She was still eating normally, and i noticed her droppings were watery. After a few days she got better, comb got more color to it. Her droppings are still runny, but she looks less sick now even though she still looks a bit "sleepy".
Hen 2 has gotten a lot more pale since two days back. She is molting (?) and feather pens have been growing out pretty fast. She is now the one exhibiting the most sickness behavior ad runny droppings, but she is still eating and drinking normally. Could the feather growth make her extra tired? I've never had a molting bird before.
Hen 3 has a bare bottom. She is not showing obvious signs, it's not until I sit down and watch them for a while I see her standing and dosing off with her feathers puffed up from time to time. She also has runny droppings.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Laying hybrid (Brown Lohman) about 9 months old.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Lethargy, puffed up feathers, looking tired with "sleepy" eyes, pale comb and wattles, watery droppings. Eating and drinking like normal, just a bit more tired than the others. None of them have layed a single egg yet, even the ones who aren't exhibiting sickness behavior. Is this normal after a move?
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
About a week.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Yes, three in total.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Hen 2 had a bare back when I got her and now there are feathers growing out. Hen 3 has a bare bottom, no signs of feathers growing out yet. I don't know if this is from overcrowding or molting.
All of them have scaly leg mites.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Stress from the move? Introduction to new soil bacteria/parasites? Picked something up from my resident birds? I have three chickens already.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Water and laying feed.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Runny and watery.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
ACV in the water
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Treating it myself. Where I live it's uncommon taking chickens to the vet. Diagnostics is made post-mortem, so you will have to send in a euthanized bird to see what illness it has so naturally this is a last resort for me. Of course I'll put them down if it doesn't get better, but I'm hoping someone more experienced than me can give me some input. The last thing I want is my girls to suffer, and yes I will treat the leg mites but I'm unsure if it's a good idea to do that now while they're already compromised?
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Pictures of the droppings. Looks like solid chunks in "water", I haven't seen any blood or anything else abnormal.
I can try to provide with better pictures of the hens if needed.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
A temporary quarantine home which is a box about 2.5x1x1 meter. Wood shavings about used as bedding.
Is this something stress-related from the move and something I can wait out? Mild case of cocci? I've had that before in birds living in the same quarantine area, but that was last june and I've scrubbed out the coop twice since then. Cocci is obviously present in the soil here, but it exists everywhere doesn't it?
Would I have to euthanize them so it doesn't spread? I'm keeping them quarantined from my resident chickens. I really, really don't want to do this, I've been so unlucky and lost a total of 12 chooks to predators, cocci and vent gleet before and I've only been keeping them for less than a year it's been a very frustrating so far.
Thanks for reading!
About ten days ago I got a new group of five adult laying hens, and it's the first time I'm buying adult birds so I don't know what's common or not. I noticed at least one of them had watery dropping as soon as I let them inside the run, but I figured it was from not eating (they had spent half the day in a box being transported without any food)
The runny dropping didn't go away though, and now three of them have it. I'll call them 1, 2 and 3 since I haven't named them yet.
Hen 1 was the first one i noticed looking under the weather, her comb was the most pale and she spent most of her time puffed up and tired. She was still eating normally, and i noticed her droppings were watery. After a few days she got better, comb got more color to it. Her droppings are still runny, but she looks less sick now even though she still looks a bit "sleepy".
Hen 2 has gotten a lot more pale since two days back. She is molting (?) and feather pens have been growing out pretty fast. She is now the one exhibiting the most sickness behavior ad runny droppings, but she is still eating and drinking normally. Could the feather growth make her extra tired? I've never had a molting bird before.
Hen 3 has a bare bottom. She is not showing obvious signs, it's not until I sit down and watch them for a while I see her standing and dosing off with her feathers puffed up from time to time. She also has runny droppings.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Laying hybrid (Brown Lohman) about 9 months old.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Lethargy, puffed up feathers, looking tired with "sleepy" eyes, pale comb and wattles, watery droppings. Eating and drinking like normal, just a bit more tired than the others. None of them have layed a single egg yet, even the ones who aren't exhibiting sickness behavior. Is this normal after a move?
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
About a week.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Yes, three in total.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Hen 2 had a bare back when I got her and now there are feathers growing out. Hen 3 has a bare bottom, no signs of feathers growing out yet. I don't know if this is from overcrowding or molting.
All of them have scaly leg mites.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Stress from the move? Introduction to new soil bacteria/parasites? Picked something up from my resident birds? I have three chickens already.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Water and laying feed.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Runny and watery.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
ACV in the water
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Treating it myself. Where I live it's uncommon taking chickens to the vet. Diagnostics is made post-mortem, so you will have to send in a euthanized bird to see what illness it has so naturally this is a last resort for me. Of course I'll put them down if it doesn't get better, but I'm hoping someone more experienced than me can give me some input. The last thing I want is my girls to suffer, and yes I will treat the leg mites but I'm unsure if it's a good idea to do that now while they're already compromised?
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Pictures of the droppings. Looks like solid chunks in "water", I haven't seen any blood or anything else abnormal.
I can try to provide with better pictures of the hens if needed.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
A temporary quarantine home which is a box about 2.5x1x1 meter. Wood shavings about used as bedding.
Is this something stress-related from the move and something I can wait out? Mild case of cocci? I've had that before in birds living in the same quarantine area, but that was last june and I've scrubbed out the coop twice since then. Cocci is obviously present in the soil here, but it exists everywhere doesn't it?
Would I have to euthanize them so it doesn't spread? I'm keeping them quarantined from my resident chickens. I really, really don't want to do this, I've been so unlucky and lost a total of 12 chooks to predators, cocci and vent gleet before and I've only been keeping them for less than a year it's been a very frustrating so far.
Thanks for reading!