Chcikens are dying

[petem1999]

I tried to post this yesteday but it did not show up...

We are in San Antonio TX and we have a back yard flock of around 40 barred rock laying
hens, we have them seperated in 5 chicken tractors alnong with one rooster. They are moved every eveing onto fresh grass. They are fed Full O Pep layer crumbles
(non medicated). Over the last two weeks egg production has gone to virtually 0 eggs per day. Over the last 3 or 4 days we have lost 4 chickens (from three different tractors), before they die, they are lethargic with their head down this lasts for a day or
two and then they just die. Their wings are not droopy, feathers not ruffled. We have recently wormed twice for coccidiosis, did one treatment then waited 3 or 4 days and treated again. Last night when I got home two of the chickens were side by side with head down, I gave them vitamins by mouth along with water. Checked their craws which appeared
empty. One of them died while I was there the other was moved into
isolation. She lays with her head down and no interest in food or water. She died the next day. Also her comb and legs appear to be lighter in color. Her droppings are green and watery. No drool, no puffy face or eyes. Eyes are clear and brown, no grey.
The first one that died, I opened up and did a visual inspection, her heart appeard normal, her liver was a very dull red color with a dark line in it that went across the whole thing. Her gizzard looked very dry. The intestines appeared to be empty and there was a light cream colored liquid in the cavity. Neither of the birds seemed to be in any
respitory distress. We have kept chickens for around 8 years and have never had any problems.

A few weeks ago we had some new chicks from Austin added to our flock, they got mixed in with some recently hatched chicks, then they started showing signs of coccidiosis, ruffled feathers, wings down head down, and they started to die. Then it spread to other chicks and we lost around 60 chicks. So we treated our entire flock for cocci twice. The chicks were kept in a brooder and never had any contact with our adult birds. We treated them twice for cocci and were still losing chicks after the second treatment so we put down the remainder of the hatchlings. total loss of 70 chicks from out hatching and all of the chicks we had gotten from Austin.

We have noticed that the mosquitos have been unusually heavy this year and we have seen signs of fowl pox and are treating all of the birds that do not show signs of this.


Any one got any ideas?

 

[AnimalLover99]

mareks disease?

 

[Hannah159]

I tried to post this yesteday but it did not show up...

We are in San Antonio TX and we have a back yard flock of around 40 barred rock laying
hens, we have them seperated in 5 chicken tractors alnong with one rooster. They are moved every eveing onto fresh grass. They are fed Full O Pep layer crumbles
(non medicated). Over the last two weeks egg production has gone to virtually 0 eggs per day. Over the last 3 or 4 days we have lost 4 chickens (from three different tractors), before they die, they are lethargic with their head down this lasts for a day or
two and then they just die. Their wings are not droopy, feathers not ruffled. We have recently wormed twice for coccidiosis, did one treatment then waited 3 or 4 days and treated again. Last night when I got home two of the chickens were side by side with head down, I gave them vitamins by mouth along with water. Checked their craws which appeared
empty. One of them died while I was there the other was moved into
isolation. She lays with her head down and no interest in food or water. She died the next day. Also her comb and legs appear to be lighter in color. Her droppings are green and watery. No drool, no puffy face or eyes. Eyes are clear and brown, no grey.
The first one that died, I opened up and did a visual inspection, her heart appeard normal, her liver was a very dull red color with a dark line in it that went across the whole thing. Her gizzard looked very dry. The intestines appeared to be empty and there was a light cream colored liquid in the cavity. Neither of the birds seemed to be in any
respitory distress. We have kept chickens for around 8 years and have never had any problems.

A few weeks ago we had some new chicks from Austin added to our flock, they got mixed in with some recently hatched chicks, then they started showing signs of coccidiosis, ruffled feathers, wings down head down, and they started to die. Then it spread to other chicks and we lost around 60 chicks. So we treated our entire flock for cocci twice. The chicks were kept in a brooder and never had any contact with our adult birds. We treated them twice for cocci and were still losing chicks after the second treatment so we put down the remainder of the hatchlings. total loss of 70 chicks from out hatching and all of the chicks we had gotten from Austin.

We have noticed that the mosquitos have been unusually heavy this year and we have seen signs of fowl pox and are treating all of the birds that do not show signs of this.


Any one got any ideas?

I would send one of them to a state lab so they could figure out what is wrong. Some state labs are free and some aren't.

 

[Erica]

Hi petem1999,

It rings no bells with me (not Marek's anyway). Have you considered sending sick birds to a department lab for testing? I would suspect the coccidiosis losses are what they are and the adult birds are experiencing something different.

Some kinds of feed toxin can produce liver problems and would also produce unusual droppings and a head-down posture while the bird succumbs. Botulism is one example (do feathers come out easily if you pull one out of a sick or dead bird?). But also some mould toxins can (if in high enough amounts) cause severe symptoms.

I would be looking very closely at the feed, or even trying a new batch altogether. Since the birds are in different tractors it's unlikely they're all getting into something poisonous on the ground; more likely it's something they're all having at the same time, i.e. food or water.

You may be able to get the feed tested, if you want to be sure.

I hope you get to the bottom of this, I'm no expert but those are my thoughts.
regards
Erica

Edited to delete long quote.

 

[petem1999]

It does not appear to be mereks disease.

I went on line to justanswer.com and the vet replied to the question

This sounds like you have developed a bacterial enteritis. Try some oral antibiotics I would use a drug called LS50 which is available over the counter.

Once I got the entire problem entered she responded with

Definitely a bacterial enteritis. You can use an injectable drug called naxcel or excenel but you will have to get it from a local vet. If you want to stay OTC then get LS-50 or Sulmet to go in the water. Isolate all the sick chickens from the healthy ones.

So we have started them on LS50 and have started them on that. The key to this seemed to be the liver and the white liquid in the intestinal cavity looks to be from an infection. On the good side today none of the chickens are looking too bad and they laid 7 eggs...... none of which are going to be eaten