Ancona

[COChickens1]

Hi everyone,


I’m hoping someone can offer some insight into what might be going on with my chicken, who seems to be in declining health.


In early September, she started looking rough — she was losing a lot of feathers for a few weeks. She’s since feathered back out, but her comb remains very small, she’s lethargic, and not eating much. Around that time (in September), I treated her with Valbazen, repeated the dose after 10 days, and followed the directions carefully.


I’ve attached a photo of her droppings — there appear to be white strands in them that almost look like parasites, but I couldn’t find any similar pictures online. The attached photos are dated so you can see her progression over time.


She’s still moving around fine but seems sluggish, especially now that temperatures are hovering around freezing. Interestingly, the other hens have been huddling around her more often, which is unusual since she’s usually more of a loner.


Breed: Ancona
Age: 2.5 years old


Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Crazy Chicken Keeper]

@Wyorp Rock

 

[Eggcessive]

Had she been laying eggs with hard shells regularly before she started molting? Can you look her over for mites or lice on her skin? Is she eating? Her poop is pretty green which is a sign of not eating enough. I would offer her 2 ml of Poultry NutriDrench daily, and give her some mushy wet chicken feed plus a little scrambled egg.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi everyone,


I’m hoping someone can offer some insight into what might be going on with my chicken, who seems to be in declining health.


In early September, she started looking rough — she was losing a lot of feathers for a few weeks. She’s since feathered back out, but her comb remains very small, she’s lethargic, and not eating much. Around that time (in September), I treated her with Valbazen, repeated the dose after 10 days, and followed the directions carefully.


I’ve attached a photo of her droppings — there appear to be white strands in them that almost look like parasites, but I couldn’t find any similar pictures online. The attached photos are dated so you can see her progression over time.


She’s still moving around fine but seems sluggish, especially now that temperatures are hovering around freezing. Interestingly, the other hens have been huddling around her more often, which is unusual since she’s usually more of a loner.


Breed: Ancona
Age: 2.5 years old


Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Can you take a sample of her poop to your vet and have a fecal float performed?

I agree, I'd try vitamins to see if those help.

Have you seen any lice/mites on her?
Her facial tissue looks like it has a yellowish tint to it, maybe she is Jaundiced.

 

[COChickens1]

She hasn’t been eating much lately. I’ve checked her multiple times for lice, mites, or any external parasites, and haven’t found anything concerning. I had been giving her vitamins before, so I’ll start that again. Her eggs were always great — hard-shelled and almost daily.


When I looked her over the other day, I noticed her skin appeared yellow, which makes me wonder about a possible liver issue. None of the other hens are showing any signs of distress, so I don’t think it’s environmental or toxin-related.


I’ll isolate her and keep her on vitamins to see if that helps. I’ll update everyone if she improves or declines.


For context, I did have another hen pass about three months ago — a few weeks before this one started going downhill. That hen experienced some paralysis; I isolated and treated her daily, but she eventually lost the ability to walk, though she continued eating normally. The cause of her decline wasn’t clear.


I currently have 20 hens and have been keeping chickens for about three years. This year, I’ve lost three — one to heat stress (likely with an underlying issue), one to reproductive problems, and one to paralysis. The latter two had to be euthanized. I know losses are part of keeping chickens, but these two unexplained illnesses have been really stressful and discouraging.

 

[COChickens1]

Hello again, I have my lathargic chicken in the house and this morning this was under where she slept. It looks like feather particles. Could this just be due to her molting? Any other vitamins or minerals I should be giving her.

Oh and yes, she has never had a problem with her eggs. She was frequent and the shells were hard.

Thanks again!

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be feather shafts and dander since she probably has not been dust bathing and grooming. Have you had her outside with the others some with supervised visits? That might keep her interested in life. But she does seem to be failing. Liver issues are common with reproductive disorders, cancer, fatty liver disease, and water belly. How old is she? How old was the hen who was paralyzed? Was Mareks disease suspected, or did it seem more like another disease? If you lose her, I would have your state vet to do a necropsy, where they also take tissue for cultures and testing. It would be interesting to find out what was wrong. Here is a list of state poultry vets to contact if you want a necropsy:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...3SbeGzaduWCGGQnBm4vOm40X7FhUmAWEexyDXIVRk1be_

 

[COChickens1]

She has been outside but doesn’t seem interested in doing much. She is 2.5 years old, the same age as the paralyzed hen. I did have a necropsy on one of hens who had reproductive issues. The vet that performed the necropsy said there were no sign of Mareks or any other illness. That hen was 5 months old but had spent months with the rest of the flock including the paralyzed hen.