Chicken suddenly sick(Is this bird flu??)

[ChickenCanoe]

OK, that's not a grain mix but rather chicken feed. It sounds good and they likely add all the micronutrients, vitamins, minerals (the nutri-balancer) and fats chickens are known to need.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

....... I feed her a grain mix I get from my local coop. It's a non gmo mix of corn, soy, limestone and something else I can not think of right now. I have a flock of 22 birds and have not added any new ones lately. Because I have such a large flock it's hard for me to know who is laying and who is not. I have not wormed my chickens every. Not really sure what to use but I do however put a small amount of raw apple cider vinager in their water. Do you think she has worms? Someone in my coop has diarrhea.

Every free range chicken eventually has worms. The proper question is what type of worm is she infected with and how severe is her infection. Biannual deworming is good poultry husbandry.

I don't see any animal protein in your food. It is absolutely necessary for good chicken health.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...

I don't see any animal protein in your food. It is absolutely necessary for good chicken health.

That's a good point. Hopefully the mill making the feed knows enough to add the amino acids missing in vegetative sources. But maybe not.

 

[Hidden Chick]

So here is the update. I contacted my vet and begged him to help me out with this chicken as I did not have enough experience to help her myself, and he did. I have her and my whole flock on a de-wormer. I am going to contact the farmer who mixes this feed and see if he is adding amio acids, I am going to guess he does as I have had my flock on this feed for over three years and have had very little health issues and everyone comments on how healthy my birds look, but better safe than sorry. I am so thankful to all of you on BYC as I would be lost without your knowledge, support and infomation.

 

[Hidden Chick]

Okay guys here is my update. My original sick chicken snapped out of her funk and was back active with the flock after the worming. Yesterday I notice she was kinda back in her funk, not being as active and kinda laying low but not nearly as bad as she was before. This morning I went out to clean and let the girls out and she seemed better but my little bantam is not her self today. She has stopped talking to her baby chick and just seems not quite as spunky and wanting to lay low. I looked her over and did not see any signs of mites or diahyra. Has anybody out there experienced this sort of behavior? I feel something is wrong in the coop but can not figure out what to do. We are going to power wash the coop for fall cleaning tonight because I am worried even though I clean dailey. Could mice be doing something? The coop is next to a field and try as I might I can not keep the mice out and obviously poison is not an option.

 

[canaday413]

I'm curious how things turned out with your flock. Something out of nowhere has hit ours and we have no idea what to do or look for. We had one pass away yesterday and today one of the others is starting down that path.

 

[Hidden Chick]

Hi there,

Well I am sorry to hear you lost your chicken, I lost one two this last weekend. So from what I can put togeather it sounds like my cooped got Coccidiosis. This is a Parasitic disease they get from free ranging. I read up on this and it sounded like what was happening to my chickens. Of course I really don't know for sure, but I am treating my whole flock for this as I did not treat them with medicated chick feed when they were younger. If you think this is what you are dealing with, please feel free to contact me and I will share with you what I found out to help you with your chicks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Normally, chickens become resistant to coccidia after some exposure and adults rarely have an issue with it. I've only had to treat one flock of adults in many years.

 

[Hidden Chick]

Kinda makes you wish someone like Vet would help so you don't have to guess.

 

[Hidden Chick]

I thought it was kinda odd it was strange too but when I went to the local farm supply store they said that here in the Midwest we have had so much rain non stop that goats and chickens were having all kinds of issues that they normally do not have. My bird that died got super lethargic and puffed up all her feather didn't even hold her wings up. She still ate and drank. She also was not able to balance very well. This was not the orginal bird that this post was about, it was my Batamn. I started treating them for this in there water. 4 days ago as I don't want to take any chances. The original bird which is a road island is doing great now. But she also started doing better before I started treating them. I am watching them very closely now for any other signs.