- Feb 12, 2012
- 140
- 1
- 89
to start off, we had 3 chickens around Sept 5th get symptoms of rye neck. We gave PolyViSol and they all recovered in 1 or 2 days. I don't think that is related to what I have going on now, but I wanted to add it in case it is.
About 7 days ago I found a dead chicken when I opened up the barn. I didn't notice any others looking sick. The next day, again there was a dead chicken. This time I stayed down in the barn for a while really observing them. (BIRD 1) I finally saw one bird that looked off balance. I put her in a pen by herself, and that night she could still roost. Next night she was on the ground, and could no longer walk. I brought her in the house. At first she was alert, and eating. She stopped eating, and we have been tube feeding her, with no improvement. If you lift her up to look at her, I don't think she can move her left leg at all. and I dont' know how to describe what her head does. It kinda outstreatches, almost involintary. And sometimes she'll throw it back to her left side, but it seems she does that when she is trying to get up and can't move. I also noticed that when she takes in a breath she will open her mouth, and it closes when she breaths out. Poop keeps getting stuck in her backside. I would say it is on the solid to soft side. Maybe a bit runny, but it's hard to tell.
(BIRD 2)At the same time I noticed my Ameraucana's wings were drooping, and she really wasn't walking around, so I brought her in also. She is def. underweight. You can feel a lot of her breast bone. Her comb seems pale. She is NOT having any balance issues. One weird thing about her is, she won't eat out of her bowl of food. If I put it in my hand she'll eat it, or she'll scratch the ground and eat any that have fallen to the bottom of her box. Poop was runnish, but is now solid. She has improved energy wise, all other symptoms still the same
A day later I found 2 roosters that are kept in the pen next to the others with balance issues. (BIRD 3)The one just kinda high steps when it walks, with no other signs of illness. Has not gotten any worse. (BIRD 4)The other one after I found it quickly went to walking on the bottom half of it's legs. It could still walk on it's feet, but only did so if he felt the need to move quickly. I also noticed that he also opens his mouth when breathing in and closes when breathing out. This bird has maybe gotten a tad bit worse.
(BIRD 5) The next day another bird showed the signs of doing high stepping when it walked. It has remained the same.
It's been 4 days since seeing any more birds with any symptoms. I don't see any bugs on them. I havn't seen any signs of worms, but not sure if I would see them. As for Mareks, I dont' see any changes to the eye, the feather follicle looks normal from what I can tell, and they don't have one leg going forward and one going back, but I don't know how long that takes to develope. Just the one chicken has the left leg that seems dead. Any Idea what I battling over here?????
I have around 65 chickens of various ages. So it is just a few out of a bunch ( at least for now uugghh) All the sick ones are feed Purina Chick Starter, as they have not started to lay yet. They are 4 to 5 months old.
About 7 days ago I found a dead chicken when I opened up the barn. I didn't notice any others looking sick. The next day, again there was a dead chicken. This time I stayed down in the barn for a while really observing them. (BIRD 1) I finally saw one bird that looked off balance. I put her in a pen by herself, and that night she could still roost. Next night she was on the ground, and could no longer walk. I brought her in the house. At first she was alert, and eating. She stopped eating, and we have been tube feeding her, with no improvement. If you lift her up to look at her, I don't think she can move her left leg at all. and I dont' know how to describe what her head does. It kinda outstreatches, almost involintary. And sometimes she'll throw it back to her left side, but it seems she does that when she is trying to get up and can't move. I also noticed that when she takes in a breath she will open her mouth, and it closes when she breaths out. Poop keeps getting stuck in her backside. I would say it is on the solid to soft side. Maybe a bit runny, but it's hard to tell.
(BIRD 2)At the same time I noticed my Ameraucana's wings were drooping, and she really wasn't walking around, so I brought her in also. She is def. underweight. You can feel a lot of her breast bone. Her comb seems pale. She is NOT having any balance issues. One weird thing about her is, she won't eat out of her bowl of food. If I put it in my hand she'll eat it, or she'll scratch the ground and eat any that have fallen to the bottom of her box. Poop was runnish, but is now solid. She has improved energy wise, all other symptoms still the same
A day later I found 2 roosters that are kept in the pen next to the others with balance issues. (BIRD 3)The one just kinda high steps when it walks, with no other signs of illness. Has not gotten any worse. (BIRD 4)The other one after I found it quickly went to walking on the bottom half of it's legs. It could still walk on it's feet, but only did so if he felt the need to move quickly. I also noticed that he also opens his mouth when breathing in and closes when breathing out. This bird has maybe gotten a tad bit worse.
(BIRD 5) The next day another bird showed the signs of doing high stepping when it walked. It has remained the same.
It's been 4 days since seeing any more birds with any symptoms. I don't see any bugs on them. I havn't seen any signs of worms, but not sure if I would see them. As for Mareks, I dont' see any changes to the eye, the feather follicle looks normal from what I can tell, and they don't have one leg going forward and one going back, but I don't know how long that takes to develope. Just the one chicken has the left leg that seems dead. Any Idea what I battling over here?????
I have around 65 chickens of various ages. So it is just a few out of a bunch ( at least for now uugghh) All the sick ones are feed Purina Chick Starter, as they have not started to lay yet. They are 4 to 5 months old.