Hi everyone. I am new to this forum. My husband and I have been raising chickens for almost 2 years. We've never had any issue other than egg bound and I always resolve the issue with epsom salt in a water bath.
Last week one of our chickens was in the coop in the morning and didn't want to get out.
After she came out she was hiding under The Coop and didn't want to eat or drink.
I brought her inside the house thinking that she was eggbound and put her in a warm bath like I've done before.
After a few minutes she started feeling very lethargic. I thought that it was probably the Epsom salt that made her very relaxed.l
In ess than an hour she started convulsing and she passed.
She didn't have any mites. I checked her body for injuries and she didn't have any.
Her vent was clear.
Today it happened very similar with another chicken.
It's been a little hot today so I thought that she was dehydrated. I took her inside the house and made her comfortable in a little crate.
I also prepared a little bath with a little bit of Epsom salt.
I used a syringe to hydrate her on the side of her beak and I noticed that she drank.
The moment I removed her from the Epsom salt water bath she also started feeling lethargic.
She pooped, and then she didn't want to stand up.
I put her on my lap and she seemed to be very comfortable.
But she was also very sleepy.
I kept her inside the house in a crate and comfortable while I attended to the garden.
When I came back to the house an hour later she was dead.
I'm concerned because it's the second chicken that has the same symptoms.
There was no blood in the poop and she had no mites.
On this one I noticed a little bloody mark close to her vent. It was not blood coming out; it looked like her skin had some form of blood mark, as if a vein had been swollen.
Lately I have been living their feeders under the coop at night I know there are mice in our homestead, so I don't know if a mice went into their feeders and contaminated their food?
I have no idea.
Thank you for your inputs
Last week one of our chickens was in the coop in the morning and didn't want to get out.
After she came out she was hiding under The Coop and didn't want to eat or drink.
I brought her inside the house thinking that she was eggbound and put her in a warm bath like I've done before.
After a few minutes she started feeling very lethargic. I thought that it was probably the Epsom salt that made her very relaxed.l
In ess than an hour she started convulsing and she passed.
She didn't have any mites. I checked her body for injuries and she didn't have any.
Her vent was clear.
Today it happened very similar with another chicken.
It's been a little hot today so I thought that she was dehydrated. I took her inside the house and made her comfortable in a little crate.
I also prepared a little bath with a little bit of Epsom salt.
I used a syringe to hydrate her on the side of her beak and I noticed that she drank.
The moment I removed her from the Epsom salt water bath she also started feeling lethargic.
She pooped, and then she didn't want to stand up.
I put her on my lap and she seemed to be very comfortable.
But she was also very sleepy.
I kept her inside the house in a crate and comfortable while I attended to the garden.
When I came back to the house an hour later she was dead.
I'm concerned because it's the second chicken that has the same symptoms.
There was no blood in the poop and she had no mites.
On this one I noticed a little bloody mark close to her vent. It was not blood coming out; it looked like her skin had some form of blood mark, as if a vein had been swollen.
Lately I have been living their feeders under the coop at night I know there are mice in our homestead, so I don't know if a mice went into their feeders and contaminated their food?
I have no idea.
Thank you for your inputs
Did you see any other symptoms such as unusual coloring in combs or wattles, any signs of congestion (wheezing, runny nose or sneezing), anything else unusual with either of them? When they are out in the yard do they have access to a compost pile? Moldy/rotten food scraps in compost piles can be harmful to chickens. You may want to make sure the food in the feeders is not moldy or damp and if it is clean the feeders, then replace the feed in them. Also store feeders where it's dry overnight. Can't be sure without a biopsy/tests but to me it sounds like they may have eaten something they shouldn't have considering the info you've given and the quickness from symptoms to death. I'm really sad for you that that happened.
