After searching the forums for hours for symptoms similar to what my Easter Egger has, I am beyond confused. These symptoms seem pretty common with sick birds, but I have yet to read about a bird that has a combination of all of these (or lack of symptoms), yet still eats and drinks normally. I am just going to list her symptoms, what I have done so far, and see what you think.
Watery Poop - 75 percent of the ones I see her drop are almost purely water with green colored feed mixed in
Runny Nose - Its not constant, but sometimes I see her sneeze and some clear liquid comes out, sometimes she has a little clear moisture around her nose, and other times it is bone dry.
Lethargy - I have 3 pullets total, and the other two are almost always on the move, jump around, fly across the yard, do regular chicken things, but not the EE. She will move to a new area with the other two when they move, but once there, she often just closes her eyes and hangs out. If the other two fly 10 feet to a new part of the yard, she will call to them and slowly walk over to where they are. There are plenty of times when she moves about completely normally, but most of the time she acts pretty sluggish.
Vision Problems - If the other two leave the area two quickly (mainly when they fly 10 feet to a new spot), she opens her eyes, looks around and squawks to them, but cant seem to find them until the reply to her squawks by moving closer to her. If I hold my hand out with a meal worm on it, she knows that i am trying to give her a treat, but she just positions her head over my hand and moves her head around looking for what I am trying to give her. She has also had a hard time jumping down off of things (wooden deck thats about 10 inches above the grass, landscaping blocks, just about anything more than 6 inches off of the ground). Originally I thought perhaps she had an injury that makes it painful to jump, but after watching her voluntarily fly 4 feet into the air on several occasions, handling her without protest, and seeing her actions when she is at the edge of the elevated area, it really just seems like she has a hard time judging height. She walks up to the edge, and looks down where she wants to go, but shuffles back and forth and moves her head all around eyeing the ground before finally taking a leap of faith. I have seen one TINY bubble in the corner of her eye a few days ago, but nothing since then. Any illnesses out there that affect vision or depth perception?
Odd colored feathers - I might be crazy, but a few of her newer feathers seem to have some lighter blotches on them, and the newest feathers around her vent (been checking it everyday, several times a day, and its always squeeky clean) seem to be coming in almost pure white (they arent completely out of the opaque tube yet so it i cant see the whole feather yet).
I think thats about it for symptoms. She is 4 months old as of yesterday, eats and drinks normally, although sometimes I wonder if she drinks too much, any illnesses that cause extreme thirst? Her crop seems normal, sometimes full, sometimes empty, no sour smell from mouth when i massage her crop. No rotten smell, or any smell for that matter, coming from anywhere on her body. They are on Purina Start and Grow (medicated), but I plan on switching them to Layena slowly over the next few days. Pine shaving bedding. Searched them all head to tail for mites, fleas, bugs, but not a trace of anything. She has normal coloration in her face, their faces just started turning red over the past few weeks, but hers isnt any lighter or darker than the other two. They get to roam around in my yard a few hours a day, so they do eat a good bit of grass, bugs, and whatever else they find out there. I have seen grass in her watery poops, but not a whole bunch. They have access to a oyster shell/grit combination, but none of them have showed much interest, they seem to get what grit they want out of the garden beds.
When this all first started, i originally suspected worms (worms stealing nutrition = low energy), so I administered Wazine, and was going to follow up with Ivermectin (I have since read your posts about the ineffectiveness of Ivermectin, so I wont be using that), but before I could treat with Ivermectin, Cocci was suggested as a prime suspect based on pictures of her poop, so I treated with Corrid (never once saw any blood in her poop). She seemed to get a little better after the Corrid, but not much, and went right back to lethargic in no time. So here I am, almost a month later, with no clue as to what is wrong with her. The other two show NONE of these symptoms.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured the more detail I give, the better chance I have of getting her diagnosed. Any help would be extremely helpful. Thanks!
Dan
Watery Poop - 75 percent of the ones I see her drop are almost purely water with green colored feed mixed in
Runny Nose - Its not constant, but sometimes I see her sneeze and some clear liquid comes out, sometimes she has a little clear moisture around her nose, and other times it is bone dry.
Lethargy - I have 3 pullets total, and the other two are almost always on the move, jump around, fly across the yard, do regular chicken things, but not the EE. She will move to a new area with the other two when they move, but once there, she often just closes her eyes and hangs out. If the other two fly 10 feet to a new part of the yard, she will call to them and slowly walk over to where they are. There are plenty of times when she moves about completely normally, but most of the time she acts pretty sluggish.
Vision Problems - If the other two leave the area two quickly (mainly when they fly 10 feet to a new spot), she opens her eyes, looks around and squawks to them, but cant seem to find them until the reply to her squawks by moving closer to her. If I hold my hand out with a meal worm on it, she knows that i am trying to give her a treat, but she just positions her head over my hand and moves her head around looking for what I am trying to give her. She has also had a hard time jumping down off of things (wooden deck thats about 10 inches above the grass, landscaping blocks, just about anything more than 6 inches off of the ground). Originally I thought perhaps she had an injury that makes it painful to jump, but after watching her voluntarily fly 4 feet into the air on several occasions, handling her without protest, and seeing her actions when she is at the edge of the elevated area, it really just seems like she has a hard time judging height. She walks up to the edge, and looks down where she wants to go, but shuffles back and forth and moves her head all around eyeing the ground before finally taking a leap of faith. I have seen one TINY bubble in the corner of her eye a few days ago, but nothing since then. Any illnesses out there that affect vision or depth perception?
Odd colored feathers - I might be crazy, but a few of her newer feathers seem to have some lighter blotches on them, and the newest feathers around her vent (been checking it everyday, several times a day, and its always squeeky clean) seem to be coming in almost pure white (they arent completely out of the opaque tube yet so it i cant see the whole feather yet).
I think thats about it for symptoms. She is 4 months old as of yesterday, eats and drinks normally, although sometimes I wonder if she drinks too much, any illnesses that cause extreme thirst? Her crop seems normal, sometimes full, sometimes empty, no sour smell from mouth when i massage her crop. No rotten smell, or any smell for that matter, coming from anywhere on her body. They are on Purina Start and Grow (medicated), but I plan on switching them to Layena slowly over the next few days. Pine shaving bedding. Searched them all head to tail for mites, fleas, bugs, but not a trace of anything. She has normal coloration in her face, their faces just started turning red over the past few weeks, but hers isnt any lighter or darker than the other two. They get to roam around in my yard a few hours a day, so they do eat a good bit of grass, bugs, and whatever else they find out there. I have seen grass in her watery poops, but not a whole bunch. They have access to a oyster shell/grit combination, but none of them have showed much interest, they seem to get what grit they want out of the garden beds.
When this all first started, i originally suspected worms (worms stealing nutrition = low energy), so I administered Wazine, and was going to follow up with Ivermectin (I have since read your posts about the ineffectiveness of Ivermectin, so I wont be using that), but before I could treat with Ivermectin, Cocci was suggested as a prime suspect based on pictures of her poop, so I treated with Corrid (never once saw any blood in her poop). She seemed to get a little better after the Corrid, but not much, and went right back to lethargic in no time. So here I am, almost a month later, with no clue as to what is wrong with her. The other two show NONE of these symptoms.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured the more detail I give, the better chance I have of getting her diagnosed. Any help would be extremely helpful. Thanks!
Dan
