Sick Chicken.. not sure what's wrong. Possible Botulism! Anyone have Experience with this?

[QuackerJackFarms]

I noticed 3 days ago she was sitting alone with her feathers all poofed up. Like when they are staying warm. Thought that was a little odd, but she seemed okay otherwise. Kept my eye on her and the next morning I noticed she was sitting in the corner of the pen and wouldn't move. I seperated her and found that her foot was bothering her. She would stand on one leg but not put her foot down.

Now is day 3. She will only eat bread soaked in Nutridrench/Vinegar. She won't touch her feed. She is laying on her side. I don't notice any worms or lice or anything. And I can't find anything wrong with her foot. She is falling fast.

Any ideas? No one else in the coop is showing signs of anything wrong.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Let me add, I'm making her scrambled eggs right now to see if she'll eat that.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Nevermind. She just died.

 

[bj taylor]

how very crummy. i hadn't seen your post before. not that i would have been any help. i'm so new to chickens & haven't had to deal w/ illness yet. really sorry you lost her.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Thanks BJ.. but I'm a complete idiot. She was alive this morning. I swear she was dead last night. Went to remove her from her cage and she had her eyes open. I'm so dumb I swear.


I think it's botulism. Paralisis.. would explain why she couldn't use one leg, then the other, then her feathers.. now her neck.

Anyone?

 

[JulieNKC]

No idea, but hoping someone will come along soon to help.

 

[dawg53]

Why do you suspect botulism? Did she drink contaminated water carrying the bacterial toxin/eat a carcass of rodent or something? Here's a link:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism

 

[JulieNKC]

Did you ever get your camera working? Do her eyes look normal?

 

[dawg53]

After some research, there are several possibilities: Marek's disease, egg binding, possibly worms. You never mentioned her age. If she's a pullet, I'd suspect cocci. Not all cocci present themselves with blood in feces.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Why do you suspect botulism? Did she drink contaminated water carrying the bacterial toxin/eat a carcass of rodent or something? Here's a link:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism

I suspected it after reading a couple websites on chicken illness.

• Nervous signs, weakness, progressive flaccid paralysis of legs, wings then neck, then sudden death.
• Affected broilers tend to settle with eyes closed when not disturbed.

She started by limping. I thought something was wrong with her foot. The next day she lost use of her legs. The next day she couldn't move her wings. Then today she can't lift her head up. Oh and white poo was a symptom on another website. She has that too. But ya know.. it's all just a guess. I'll probably never know exactly what's wrong with her.