My favorite hen, a 9-month old blue Ameraucauna hadn't been feeling well (hiding in corners) or eating much even when give scrambled eggs and meal worms. I isolated her, added a heat lamp, and added supplemenal tube feeding.
I did a fecal float (my first) and saw Capillaria/Trichuris eggs (anyone know how to tell these apart?), possibly sporulated eimaeria, and some round and oval worm eggs (ascarids, probably). I wormed her (Valbazen) and started Corid.
Her weight loss slowed but otherwise she showed no improvement. Her poop was green, fluffy and wet - sorry no photos. I was afraid she might have Marek's - she occasionally shook her head and her aim wasn't good. After 3 weeks, I culled her and did a necropsy.
She had healthy pectoral muscles, visceral fat and food in her gut. Her liver was tan with red margins and friable. There were hard nodules on the surface of her proventriculus, ileum, and ceca. I thought, O no! Marek's - but her brachial and sciatic nerve plexi looked fine. Her ceca were hard and full of caseous yuck.
Upper arrows show nodules, lower arrow label says "not a worm, tissue scrap" I didn't see any worms.
Now I'm thinking perhaps histomoniasis with the tan liver and the cecal cores, although her liver doesn't have the surface lesions typical of blackhead.
I'm hoping those more experienced will weigh in.
This is the 15th year I've raised chickens in this coop. I've lost the occasional one or two birds a year, and never seen anything like this despite them eating earthworms and having a wren trying to nest in the coop.
If this is histomoniasis, how do I protect my peafowl, living at the other end of the yard?
I did a fecal float (my first) and saw Capillaria/Trichuris eggs (anyone know how to tell these apart?), possibly sporulated eimaeria, and some round and oval worm eggs (ascarids, probably). I wormed her (Valbazen) and started Corid.
Her weight loss slowed but otherwise she showed no improvement. Her poop was green, fluffy and wet - sorry no photos. I was afraid she might have Marek's - she occasionally shook her head and her aim wasn't good. After 3 weeks, I culled her and did a necropsy.
She had healthy pectoral muscles, visceral fat and food in her gut. Her liver was tan with red margins and friable. There were hard nodules on the surface of her proventriculus, ileum, and ceca. I thought, O no! Marek's - but her brachial and sciatic nerve plexi looked fine. Her ceca were hard and full of caseous yuck.
Upper arrows show nodules, lower arrow label says "not a worm, tissue scrap" I didn't see any worms.
Now I'm thinking perhaps histomoniasis with the tan liver and the cecal cores, although her liver doesn't have the surface lesions typical of blackhead.
I'm hoping those more experienced will weigh in.
This is the 15th year I've raised chickens in this coop. I've lost the occasional one or two birds a year, and never seen anything like this despite them eating earthworms and having a wren trying to nest in the coop.
If this is histomoniasis, how do I protect my peafowl, living at the other end of the yard?