MIChickandGuinea
Songster
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) White leghorn, 14.5 weeks old, looks like our other white leghorn, though a little more developed comb/wattle.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Rapidly progressing weakness, staggering, loss of balance, falling down, lying down. She seemed normal when I first let the ladies out to play in the yard, about 1 hour ago. I think she even flew around a little (but the leghorns look so much alike that I might have seen one bird fly twice) Then I saw her squat a couple times, but she returned to pecking and browsing. Then I started seeing her look drunk and staggering, sticking one wing out for balance ... It's just getting worse and worse. She CAN walk, but it's a funny drunken gait, and she's just looking really down.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? I was away from home for a couple of days, and the chicken keepers who looked after the ladies didn't notice anything off. And as I said, she seemed fine when I let her out an hour ago,
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? So far, no.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No - we looked her over very carefully, using a Marek's symptom list as a checklist, and only the balance/weakness symptom lined up. No strange-looking eyes or skin or injuries or coloration.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Nothing happened. I was outside standing right with them and they were all tootling around, flapping and flying a little, pecking and clucking, seeming happy.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. I feed them chicken grower/finisher (15% protein crumbles) right now, and fresh water from a nipple waterer (with 4 valves, and fresh water daily). They were allowed to peck the rind of a cantaloupe yesterday. When I released the girls to the yard just now, the staggering one was pecking at grass and weeds in between the staggers.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. I don't see anything that looks different. I have 8 pullets in that coop/pen, so there's a lot of poop.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? None - I just caught her and looked her over carefully (saw nothing obvious), and have been watching her. Checked to make sure there was nothing strange in the coop, or off about the water or food. All seems normal.
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? I will have to do what I can for her at home. We won't be able to take her to a vet (I don't know if we have any chicken vets around here, anyway ... but also, it's July 4th, and we can't manage the Animal Emergency clinic's fees).
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use They have a commercially made elevated coop with a very large pen extension (Coop is 3' x 3' of elevated, enclosed house with an additional 15" x 3' nesting box, plus a 3'x6' pen, with a 8' x 12' covered extension pen). They are currently sleeping on hay, because we just mowed hay a couple weeks ago and we have a lot of hay. The hay was just completely cleared out and the coop swept 4 days ago. It looks dry and clean and free of bugs.
Additional info: It's warmer today than it's been lately (~85 degrees, so not outrageously hot) , but not the hottest weather the ladies have experienced. Nobody has started to lay any eggs yet (they are all 14.5 weeks old). They are almost always in their coop/pen except for when we are home and can supervise some outdoor play time for them. They haven't been out for 3 days because I was away. Their pen is on sand, and they have ample access to both sunny yard and shade. Occasional treats include crushed Cheerios cereal, dry oats, melon rinds, or veggie peelings. I don't know for sure if they were vaccinated for Marek's, but I was under the impression that they were because they came from a large regional hatchery to a farm store, and what I can read from the hatchery's web site seems to indicate that they routinely vaccinate birds for commercial sale. I am not including a photo, because the bird looks completely unremarkable - like any juvenile white leghorn.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Rapidly progressing weakness, staggering, loss of balance, falling down, lying down. She seemed normal when I first let the ladies out to play in the yard, about 1 hour ago. I think she even flew around a little (but the leghorns look so much alike that I might have seen one bird fly twice) Then I saw her squat a couple times, but she returned to pecking and browsing. Then I started seeing her look drunk and staggering, sticking one wing out for balance ... It's just getting worse and worse. She CAN walk, but it's a funny drunken gait, and she's just looking really down.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? I was away from home for a couple of days, and the chicken keepers who looked after the ladies didn't notice anything off. And as I said, she seemed fine when I let her out an hour ago,
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? So far, no.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No - we looked her over very carefully, using a Marek's symptom list as a checklist, and only the balance/weakness symptom lined up. No strange-looking eyes or skin or injuries or coloration.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Nothing happened. I was outside standing right with them and they were all tootling around, flapping and flying a little, pecking and clucking, seeming happy.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. I feed them chicken grower/finisher (15% protein crumbles) right now, and fresh water from a nipple waterer (with 4 valves, and fresh water daily). They were allowed to peck the rind of a cantaloupe yesterday. When I released the girls to the yard just now, the staggering one was pecking at grass and weeds in between the staggers.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. I don't see anything that looks different. I have 8 pullets in that coop/pen, so there's a lot of poop.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? None - I just caught her and looked her over carefully (saw nothing obvious), and have been watching her. Checked to make sure there was nothing strange in the coop, or off about the water or food. All seems normal.
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? I will have to do what I can for her at home. We won't be able to take her to a vet (I don't know if we have any chicken vets around here, anyway ... but also, it's July 4th, and we can't manage the Animal Emergency clinic's fees).
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use They have a commercially made elevated coop with a very large pen extension (Coop is 3' x 3' of elevated, enclosed house with an additional 15" x 3' nesting box, plus a 3'x6' pen, with a 8' x 12' covered extension pen). They are currently sleeping on hay, because we just mowed hay a couple weeks ago and we have a lot of hay. The hay was just completely cleared out and the coop swept 4 days ago. It looks dry and clean and free of bugs.
Additional info: It's warmer today than it's been lately (~85 degrees, so not outrageously hot) , but not the hottest weather the ladies have experienced. Nobody has started to lay any eggs yet (they are all 14.5 weeks old). They are almost always in their coop/pen except for when we are home and can supervise some outdoor play time for them. They haven't been out for 3 days because I was away. Their pen is on sand, and they have ample access to both sunny yard and shade. Occasional treats include crushed Cheerios cereal, dry oats, melon rinds, or veggie peelings. I don't know for sure if they were vaccinated for Marek's, but I was under the impression that they were because they came from a large regional hatchery to a farm store, and what I can read from the hatchery's web site seems to indicate that they routinely vaccinate birds for commercial sale. I am not including a photo, because the bird looks completely unremarkable - like any juvenile white leghorn.
