Chicken Dead No signs of Illness??

[BellaBlue]

Hi, I'm new to the site and came home to check on my chickens today. All of the chickens do not show any signs of being sick. I found two 2 month old chicks dead in one pen and in another I found another one 4 months old just laying there looking very droopy with a messy poo behind. She slowly died in my arms. Before today no one showed any signs of sickness. I bought all of these birds at a show this past weekend in MA and out of 5 chickens 3 are dead!! One of the two left is 4 months old and had alot of poo on their behind too. Other than that there are no signs of sickness. I was told from the seller that they had the flock tested by their state dept of ag. They showed me cleared paperwork and the two older birds had the bands on their legs. They also told me all birds were wormed 1 week prior with Wazine. I put these chickens in a separate place with no other chickens in with them. Why did they die on me and what do I do about this on left that has a messy bottom and is showing no other signs of illness. I have antibiotic yellow powder to mix with water. I do not know the name but, someone gave it to me and said it was for chickens. Do I give this to the birds left? T-U

 

[Kittymomma]

Sorry you lost some birds!

If you could copy/past the questions from this link it would help a lot. You have some of the info. in your post already, but there are a few more questions to answer and it's easier to sort thru in the question/answer format. With the ages and stress of moving I wonder about possibly cocci...as far as the antibiotic goes you should wait on that until your sure (or reasonably so) that antibiotics will help. Chances are that they won't and you'll just be breeding resistence into your flock.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3569

You mentioned messy poo/backsides, but weren't very specific. I put the link to the poo page below--it has lots of pictures

and show some of the wide variety of normal poo as well as what it looks like when a chook has some specific illnesses.

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[BellaBlue]

Thank you I will try to answer these best I can.

1) What type of bird , age and weight. Pullets 2-4 months mixed breeds large fowl
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Normal but, right before they were found dead they had messy bottoms with caked poop
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? less than 4 hours
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? So far out of 5, 3 dead, one starting to show messy bottom, and the other is normal.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Just purchased them on Sunday
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. yes, yes
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. very runny light tanish brown
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? electrolights in water due to diarreah
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Need to treat myself no vet around
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. No pictures
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Fluffy Pine Shavings in the coop and Dirt, grass, and weeds outside in pen.

 

[PioneerPrincess]

Howdy and

!

It sounds like it could be Marek's. We had a cockeral who didn't show symptoms of illness until within 12 hours of passing.
If I were you, I would probably clean/ keep clean the bottom so that the chicken doesn't get constipated.
The antibiotic powder you have could be Tetracycline (Duramycine). I don't know enough about chicken illnesses to say whether this would be fine to give your other chicken. I would probably do as Kittymomma said.

I hope this helps some!
Pioneer Chicken

 

[BellaBlue]

What is Mareks exactly? I've seen on hatcheries they offer the vaccine and ppl talk about it but, how do I find out more to see if that is what they have?

 

[BellaBlue]

I checked out the Poo chart and the poo look simalar to Ceacal Poo. What does that mean now that I know? I think the Anitbiotics start with a Te... Will that help with Mareks or Cocci?

 

[PioneerPrincess]

Here is a link that BYC put out on Marek's. There is also information on other chicken diseases if you go to the top where it says Disease List:

http://www.organicvet.co.uk/Poultryweb/disease/marek/marek1.htm

Pioneer Chicken

 

[BellaBlue]

Quote:
Thank you everyone. I lost another one last night

If it is mareks it sounds like there is nothing I can do but, sit back and pray the other one doesn't die two.

If anyone else has other suggestions I am eager to hear from them.

 

[Kittymomma]

I still don't have a clue. Whenever I'm not sure what I'm dealing with I always fall back on giving the best supportive care that I can--Isolate in warm dry place, keep food/water available 24/7 and push fluids when possible if they're not drinking on their own, offer high-value treats like scrambled eggs or even good quality wet kitten food. The cat food will likely have too much sodium in it to make it a good long term choice, but I've had good luck using it as a jump start when even scrambled eggs won't get them to eat--Tuna or other canned fish can also work well.

It might be worthwhile for you to send one of your birds in for a necropsy. Many states offer them free or at very low cost so check with the local agg extension office and/or colleges. I know you already had these guys in quarintine (good for you, too many people skip this!) but hopefully you are taking care of your existing flock before the new ones and being carefull about wearing the same shoes/cloths back and forth between the two. So sorry you're having to go thru this!

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Oh, BellaBlue, I'm so sorry; you are going through a very bad time right now. I looked at the symptoms and I sure don't know for certain what's going on, but it doesn't sound like Mereks to me. Mereks manifests in the nervous system and from what I gather from your description of your hens, their intestines are affected. Have you looked up the signs and treatment for coccidiosis? I'm so not sure that I spelled that right, but it's close. The pens where your sick birds are, have they housed poultry before?
Again, I'm so sorry that you are losing your birds. I think that most of us have gone through a period of great loss with our birds and I personally know how incredibly defeating it can feel.