Hen is fine last night, down today??

[Wyorp Rock]

Still hanging in there, comb has a little more color than yesterday and she is fighting a little when it comes to feeding/IV. We don't want to get our hopes up but she's definitely not worse, if anything a tiny bit better. She is trying to move her head today, which is an improvment, considering she looked like she was comatose yesterday. We'll keep up the meds and feeding as long as she doesn't give up on us. Thanks for all the input everyone, it's reassuring to see others care about chickens as much as we do.

I'm glad to hear she is still fighting.

I hope she pulls through.

 

[christwodog]

Check up at vet's today, she's slowly improving but not out of the woods yet. She is trying to hold her head up more, and grabs my fingers with her toes now. She tried to stand at the vet's but didn't quite make it. We are to continue what we are doing with the tube feeding and ringer's solution and penicillin. If she doesnt' try to walk by the weekend, it may not be a good outcome. But we are still hopeful and working hard to get her better. On a sad note, Buttercup came down with the same symptoms yesterday morning, I called the vet and she said to start the charcoal flush right away and tube feed and water. I did that yesterday, and fed her again this morning, but she died in my husband's arms early this am. I think she had a heart attack, it was out of nowhere, very sudden. But she definitely was affected by whatever got Kalani. We are racking our brains to figure out if it really was raccoon related or something else.

 

[AuntJamie]

That's a terrible shame. Have you combed thru every place they have access to?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Check up at vet's today, she's slowly improving but not out of the woods yet. She is trying to hold her head up more, and grabs my fingers with her toes now. She tried to stand at the vet's but didn't quite make it. We are to continue what we are doing with the tube feeding and ringer's solution and penicillin. If she doesnt' try to walk by the weekend, it may not be a good outcome. But we are still hopeful and working hard to get her better. On a sad note, Buttercup came down with the same symptoms yesterday morning, I called the vet and she said to start the charcoal flush right away and tube feed and water. I did that yesterday, and fed her again this morning, but she died in my husband's arms early this am. I think she had a heart attack, it was out of nowhere, very sudden. But she definitely was affected by whatever got Kalani. We are racking our brains to figure out if it really was raccoon related or something else.

I'm glad to hear Kalani is still with you, but I'm so sorry about Buttercup

I'll be honest, I don't know how long these bacteria/toxin(s) from Raccoon feces remain in the soil - even when poop is gone/broken down - so it may be in the soil.

If you "free range" - let them out into the yard to explore, then you may want to consider keeping them penned in their run for the time being until you can determine how they contracted it. Chickens eat soil, poop and all kinds of things, so you may want to look around at their favorite spots to see if you find anything.

Just my thoughts here : Also something else to investigate is if you have any rodent problem mice/rats or even squirrels, I believe some cross over bacterias can be carried by them as well. I know the vet told you the name of what she found - if you can find that out it may be helpful in tracking it down.
A quick search shows squirrel, rat/mice and raccoon all seem carry Leptospirosis.
https://www.crittercontrol.com/services/squirrels/diseases-squirrels-can-transmit-to-humans.html
http://www.orkin.com/rodents/rats/rat-borne-diseases/
http://www.orkin.com/wildlife/raccoon/raccoon-feces/

 

[christwodog]

Yes we have been scouring the yard to see what we can find, which is nothing. We don't really have a rat/mouse problem but we are in an agricultural area, so you know they are around, plus squirrels,etc. We let them free range unless we are at work, but they don't go everywhere - it's like they have their "chicken zones" and they don't stray from those. But we are searching...Our property backs up to a commecial plant nursery, so we are going to ask them if they have sprayed any pesticides recently. The chickens don't go to that area ever, I think it's too open, not enough shrubs to hide in. However, it is a possibility. Meanwhile, Kalani is making progress slowly, thank goodness.

 

[christwodog]

She is better today!! Eating her favorite thing, spaghetti! And drinking a little on her own. I will put her outside in the chicken playpen for awhile tomorrow and let her see the other chickens, she's walking now and roosting all by herself! So thankful she is recovering

 

[AuntJamie]

Oh, good deal!

Maybe she didn't get as much of it.

 

[christwodog]

She's back with the flock today, vet said she was good to go. Still watching her closely, but she seems perfectly fine. Just wish we knew what she got into.

 

[AuntJamie]

Good deal!