Poor Sick Chicken! Please help!

[ColoradoLyssah]

Hi, thank you for responding!
She doesn't have any blood in her stools definitely. It's a real mystery. She pooped this morning after none yesterday and is on her way to the vet right now. She still looks the same though, and we're still really worried about her.

 

[ColoradoLyssah]

Sorry you lost your girls. Did you ever figure out what it was?

 

[jessica5113]

Sorry you lost your girls. Did you ever figure out what it was? 

I lost mine to cocci. The only difference was the bloody awful smelling stools. Has the vet said what he/she thinks is wrong with your girl? I sure hope she can be saved and make it through this. Poor baby. Its amazing how you get attached to your feather babies

 

[ColoradoLyssah]

She died today. Very sad. The vet suspected either a blocked gizzard or cocci. We're going to test the feces of the other birds in our flock just in case.

 

[ColoradoLyssah]

Thanks to both of you. Our vet gave us a jam jar of antibiotics so we're good to go there if we need to treat all. They get tested today, fingers crossed.
The worst part of it all, is that the ground is frozen solid. My handle is ColoradoLyssah, but right now we're living in Alaska. I had to put her funeral box in the freezer to keep until May. If it wasn't a pet (we only had 8 chickens total, and we worked hard to transfer them from Colorado to Alaska), I'd laugh about it.

 

[ColoradoLyssah]

@sunflour Actually this year it hasn't been that bad...comparatively. We've had hardly any snow and the temperatures have been mostly 25-40! That's unheard of up here. My friends back in Colorado complain because it's been colder and snowier for them!

Thanks for understanding. Even though they're essentially farm animals and we use them for eggs, we're animal people and they're also our pets. People couldn't believe we went to the expense of hauling them all the way up here through Canada, but our view is that you make an investment and a commitment to an animal, and you stick by it.

@enola The vet gave us Albon. Is that a good choice? I know it may not treat all strains of cocci. We're limited on vet support up here. This one is a traveling vet that goes all around the state and is the only person the regular vets recommend as having experience with chickens.

 

[ColoradoLyssah]

oh ok lol duh! Boy that was a blonde moment if I've ever had one!!

I just thought with her passing there was a specific reason why she had to be kept In the freezer.

It's ok. We tried and tried to dig a hole, and it wasn't happening unfortunately. It makes me wonder what they did in the old days when someone would die in the middle of winter and funeral homes weren't an option. I probably don't want to know.

 

[enola]

Albon should work.

When I was a young adult, my dog died. The ground was frozen. So I built a fire on the ground, let it burn to coals, scraped the coals away, dug as far as I could, repeat many, many times. When done, we covered the grave with large rocks. That was 50+ years ago..... The rocks are still visible in the pasture......

 

[sunflour]

It's ok. We tried and tried to dig a hole, and it wasn't happening unfortunately. It makes me wonder what they did in the old days when someone would die in the middle of winter and funeral homes weren't an option. I probably don't want to know.

Gee, never thought of that...probably don't want to know

We have had only a few really cold days this year but down to low 20's, hard to believe y'all haven't had colder weather. And I thought it snowed up there year-round

Thanks for the tip on Albon - it is a sulfa drug for veterinarian use - could be useful to know for the future. Sure hope you don't need it now.