Hi.
I'm in need of some help, as recently one of my three overly loved chooks has started acting rather strange.
Early last week Audrey; our mystery breed chicken, fell ill in what we initially thought was a severe case of worms. My sisters and I first noticed she was a bit lethargic and not as interested in food as she'd previously been. Searching through her poop as "good chicken doctors" do, we found a larger roundworm and a heap of smaller ones in different specimens of faeces. Having had chickens with worms before- we quickly treated their water with Piperzine. Before she fell ill, their water was regularly treated with ACV as a prevention.
Not noticing any more worms in her poop, her symptoms continued. Still worrying, we got our mum to examine her vent area and found a coin sized clump of maggots; which in our few years of chicken handling- we had never seen before. Whilst mum treated her (using cotton-buds to remove all visible maggots and applying antiseptic cream and betadine to her sore and slightly scabbed, red bum) we did some typical exploring via this wonderful website and found it was a bad case of fly-strike. We cleared out the coop and changed over all hay and wood-chips to prevent any more infestations. We were unsure whether the maggots made their way inside of Audrey, but from her good results over the next few days; we suspected not. Her vent healed and cleared up and she was more hungry for her feed.
A few days on she was still lazing around- and sitting herself around random spots in the garden. When re-filling their feeders, she would come running over for food as if there was nothing wrong. She was happily drinking like normal (if not even excessive amounts of water) but her poop was either runny or smallish and green; which made us question whether she was still eating as much when we weren't around.
Over these recent three days (which have been quite hot, between 30-40 degrees Celsius) we've noticed Audrey's symptoms have been worsening slightly each day. Her crest has gone pale-r and flops over completely. Her appetite isn't the same and we are having to monitor everything she eats ensuring she is feeding. She still seems very interested in her favourites such as corn and tomatoes. We have also been treating her feet for scaly mites along with our other two adventurous hens, soaking their feet in a cup of oil and ACV to drown whatever mites are there.
She's been quite reluctant to walk much, but we don't think it's her feet that are bothering her. She occasionally stands still, tucking her head in and drops her tail while her friends scratch around. She is still very aware and will sprint away like normal when approached by something she is scared of; even sometimes losing her symptoms altogether for minutes or so.
Whatever she has isn't contagious- as she has been kept with Molly and Peggy who she rely's on for company and they seem totally normal.
Sorry for the extra long post, but please help us out as we love her very much and could not bare to lose any more chickens.
x Molly
x Peggy
xxxxxx Audrey
I'm in need of some help, as recently one of my three overly loved chooks has started acting rather strange.
Early last week Audrey; our mystery breed chicken, fell ill in what we initially thought was a severe case of worms. My sisters and I first noticed she was a bit lethargic and not as interested in food as she'd previously been. Searching through her poop as "good chicken doctors" do, we found a larger roundworm and a heap of smaller ones in different specimens of faeces. Having had chickens with worms before- we quickly treated their water with Piperzine. Before she fell ill, their water was regularly treated with ACV as a prevention.
Not noticing any more worms in her poop, her symptoms continued. Still worrying, we got our mum to examine her vent area and found a coin sized clump of maggots; which in our few years of chicken handling- we had never seen before. Whilst mum treated her (using cotton-buds to remove all visible maggots and applying antiseptic cream and betadine to her sore and slightly scabbed, red bum) we did some typical exploring via this wonderful website and found it was a bad case of fly-strike. We cleared out the coop and changed over all hay and wood-chips to prevent any more infestations. We were unsure whether the maggots made their way inside of Audrey, but from her good results over the next few days; we suspected not. Her vent healed and cleared up and she was more hungry for her feed.
A few days on she was still lazing around- and sitting herself around random spots in the garden. When re-filling their feeders, she would come running over for food as if there was nothing wrong. She was happily drinking like normal (if not even excessive amounts of water) but her poop was either runny or smallish and green; which made us question whether she was still eating as much when we weren't around.
Over these recent three days (which have been quite hot, between 30-40 degrees Celsius) we've noticed Audrey's symptoms have been worsening slightly each day. Her crest has gone pale-r and flops over completely. Her appetite isn't the same and we are having to monitor everything she eats ensuring she is feeding. She still seems very interested in her favourites such as corn and tomatoes. We have also been treating her feet for scaly mites along with our other two adventurous hens, soaking their feet in a cup of oil and ACV to drown whatever mites are there.
She's been quite reluctant to walk much, but we don't think it's her feet that are bothering her. She occasionally stands still, tucking her head in and drops her tail while her friends scratch around. She is still very aware and will sprint away like normal when approached by something she is scared of; even sometimes losing her symptoms altogether for minutes or so.
Whatever she has isn't contagious- as she has been kept with Molly and Peggy who she rely's on for company and they seem totally normal.
Sorry for the extra long post, but please help us out as we love her very much and could not bare to lose any more chickens.
