ERnoleGuy
Songster
So I am a medical PA and I treat patients all day every day in emergency medicine, however I need some help with my most recent patient. I usually write in SBAR format so here goes. I'll try to keep it simple.
Situation: I have a "sick" pullet/hen. About 5 months old. Auracans Mix. She started displaying signs of illness 6 days ago now. Inability to ambulate would be my first observation.
Background: I have had backyard chickens for going on 9 years now. Anywhere between 6 and 16 at a time in a fully enclosed run with elevated coop. Run is sand/occasional hay and coop is large pine shavings with two elevated 2x4 roosts and 4 nest boxes in the back. On Layena Crumble plus fresh veggies, fruits, grass, etc. Regarding the "sick" pullet/hen. She is about 5 months old and from a batch of 11 pullets I got at the end of Feb 2018, of which some are starting to lay (who is and isn't however I have no idea).
Day 1: She was laying down a lot in the run. Would still hobble around to get to food and avoid being trampled. Got up into the coop that night.
Day 2: Still laying down and very unsteady gait. Seemed to favor laying on her left side. Couldn't get around at all and was being beat up. Moved her to isolation (dog crate) with food and water.
Day 3: Laying down always on her left side all day. Appeared paralyzed but could still scoot around and attempt to avoid danger. Eats and drinks almost instinctively when you place fresh food in front of her. Always falls back to her left side even if you lay her on her right side.
Assessment: No obvious signs of trauma. All bones fully intact. Range of motion good. No parasites (lice or mites) on body. Airway intact. Throat clear. No discharge or foul smell at nares. Mucous membranes moist and pink. Eyes clear. Pupils equally round and reactive to light accommodation. No sores on foot pads. Poop looks normal... no signs of worms or parasites, normal consistency (although perhaps a bit dry).
Day 4: I felt she wasn't eating or drinking enough (although she eats when you initially place feed in her eyesight) so I made some mash and hand fed/tube fed her about 50 ml slowly. I presented her with some cottage cheese and fresh shredded carrots. Had a few initial pecks then left it. She's not getting up or moving to poop and her vent feathers are covered in poop by the end of they day, of which I'm hand cleaning with paper towels and a sprayer. Appeared dehydrated so I administered subcutaneous fluids.
Day 4: No improvement, but also no decline either. More subcutaneous fluids because the water dish looked to be at exactly the same volume I left it.
Day 5: Same. Finally got some poultry vitamins. Made a gallon and filled her personal water dish. Made a mash of Layena, plain yogurt for probiotics, and freshly prepared vitamin water. Tube fed her about 40-50 ml. Cleaned her vent feathers. I closely examined her poop again. Still no signs of parasites but I noticed about 5-10 tiny, maybe 1mm diameter, spheres of what looked like red jello almost. They crush and smear when you press them. Not sure if they are like pieces of intestinal lining of what. She is super strong still and fights when I hand feed her. Both legs spring out strong. Bounces out of my lap like a tightly coiled spring and dang does that beak have some pressure.
This is where you come in. I need your help!!!
Recommendation: Not sure where to go from here. I've never had to cull a chicken (these are pets/layers for me and my family) although of course plenty have died over the years. Is this Marek's Disease? Isn't she a little old for this? And she's not getting worse at all. Something else random VIRAL? All of the other chickens seem very healthy and spoiled. Do I just continue supportive care and hope she gets better? Give her another week or two? Chicken sling to get her to use her legs? Only other thing I can think to do along with supportive care is perhaps a high dose Vitamin B Complex (oral or injection). I don't think she needs antibiotics but I do have Tylan 50 on hand.
My honest best guess is it is probably something viral that has affected her neurologically. I'll likely provide supportive care for another week to ten days and if she hasn't improved..... :-( :-( :-(
Thanks for everyone who took the time to read this and I look forward to your input. Any and all recommendations are so helpful.
-Steven
Situation: I have a "sick" pullet/hen. About 5 months old. Auracans Mix. She started displaying signs of illness 6 days ago now. Inability to ambulate would be my first observation.
Background: I have had backyard chickens for going on 9 years now. Anywhere between 6 and 16 at a time in a fully enclosed run with elevated coop. Run is sand/occasional hay and coop is large pine shavings with two elevated 2x4 roosts and 4 nest boxes in the back. On Layena Crumble plus fresh veggies, fruits, grass, etc. Regarding the "sick" pullet/hen. She is about 5 months old and from a batch of 11 pullets I got at the end of Feb 2018, of which some are starting to lay (who is and isn't however I have no idea).
Day 1: She was laying down a lot in the run. Would still hobble around to get to food and avoid being trampled. Got up into the coop that night.
Day 2: Still laying down and very unsteady gait. Seemed to favor laying on her left side. Couldn't get around at all and was being beat up. Moved her to isolation (dog crate) with food and water.
Day 3: Laying down always on her left side all day. Appeared paralyzed but could still scoot around and attempt to avoid danger. Eats and drinks almost instinctively when you place fresh food in front of her. Always falls back to her left side even if you lay her on her right side.
Assessment: No obvious signs of trauma. All bones fully intact. Range of motion good. No parasites (lice or mites) on body. Airway intact. Throat clear. No discharge or foul smell at nares. Mucous membranes moist and pink. Eyes clear. Pupils equally round and reactive to light accommodation. No sores on foot pads. Poop looks normal... no signs of worms or parasites, normal consistency (although perhaps a bit dry).
Day 4: I felt she wasn't eating or drinking enough (although she eats when you initially place feed in her eyesight) so I made some mash and hand fed/tube fed her about 50 ml slowly. I presented her with some cottage cheese and fresh shredded carrots. Had a few initial pecks then left it. She's not getting up or moving to poop and her vent feathers are covered in poop by the end of they day, of which I'm hand cleaning with paper towels and a sprayer. Appeared dehydrated so I administered subcutaneous fluids.
Day 4: No improvement, but also no decline either. More subcutaneous fluids because the water dish looked to be at exactly the same volume I left it.
Day 5: Same. Finally got some poultry vitamins. Made a gallon and filled her personal water dish. Made a mash of Layena, plain yogurt for probiotics, and freshly prepared vitamin water. Tube fed her about 40-50 ml. Cleaned her vent feathers. I closely examined her poop again. Still no signs of parasites but I noticed about 5-10 tiny, maybe 1mm diameter, spheres of what looked like red jello almost. They crush and smear when you press them. Not sure if they are like pieces of intestinal lining of what. She is super strong still and fights when I hand feed her. Both legs spring out strong. Bounces out of my lap like a tightly coiled spring and dang does that beak have some pressure.
This is where you come in. I need your help!!!
Recommendation: Not sure where to go from here. I've never had to cull a chicken (these are pets/layers for me and my family) although of course plenty have died over the years. Is this Marek's Disease? Isn't she a little old for this? And she's not getting worse at all. Something else random VIRAL? All of the other chickens seem very healthy and spoiled. Do I just continue supportive care and hope she gets better? Give her another week or two? Chicken sling to get her to use her legs? Only other thing I can think to do along with supportive care is perhaps a high dose Vitamin B Complex (oral or injection). I don't think she needs antibiotics but I do have Tylan 50 on hand.
My honest best guess is it is probably something viral that has affected her neurologically. I'll likely provide supportive care for another week to ten days and if she hasn't improved..... :-( :-( :-(
Thanks for everyone who took the time to read this and I look forward to your input. Any and all recommendations are so helpful.
-Steven
