Depressed chicken?

[tamtbell]

Okay did the paper towel test, no dice. No red residue. We did notice as of this morning a lot of very loose feces, and her rear end is all pasted up with feces. She's very lethargic and doesn't want to hang out with others. I've been going through the chicken checker link that someone up here provided and the only thing that looked at all it had similar issues was necrotic enteritis. Would it be possible that only she, the oldest one would suffer from it but the others wouldn't?
Oh her feet do look a bit scaled up so I think we'll do the garlic juice and vasoline as well there.

 

[tamtbell]

Thanks all. Okay I've ordered corid and permathrin.

 

[aart]

Okay did the paper towel test, no dice. No red residue. We did notice as of this morning a lot of very loose feces, and her rear end is all pasted up with feces. She's very lethargic and doesn't want to hang out with others. I've been going through the chicken checker link that someone up here provided and the only thing that looked at all it had similar issues was necrotic enteritis. Would it be possible that only she, the oldest one would suffer from it but the others wouldn't?
Oh her feet do look a bit scaled up so I think we'll do the garlic juice and vasoline as well there.

Did you part the feathers and look at the skin for other crawlies?
Only one type of mite lives off the bird, other mites and lice live on the bird.

Clean her butt off, by trimming off feathers and/or giving her a bath.
Loose poops can be caused by many things, so don't jump to conclusions, very hard to diagnose without lab testing.
Start with the corid, might as well treat the whole flock, then wait and see.
Yes, it could be something that is only affecting the one bird, or she is not as robust overall and is reacting worse then the others.

No need to season the birds legs/feet, plain vaseline will work on scaly leg mites, or mix some permethrin dust into the vaseline.

 

[tamtbell]

How do I give them a bath? Is there something I can do to help while I'm waiting for the corid and what not to arrive? Here in Alaska it'll take about a week to have that on hand.

 

[aart]

How do I give them a bath? Is there something I can do to help while I'm waiting for the corid and what not to arrive? Here in Alaska it'll take about a week to have that on hand.

Easier to trim the feathers off about 1/2" from skin than a bath, IMO.
Tho with a wet poop paste might be 6 of 1, half dozen of the other.
For a bath basically just get a bin/tote/dishpan and fill it with about 3-4" of water, put them in it and hold them down, they usually calm down pretty quick-some seem to enjoy it, and start working the poops off. If she does have bugs, you may see them floating. Might need to change water for a rinse. Wrap her in a towel to help dry. Some go with a blow dryer. Not a pleasant task, to say the least, but good to get that off and take a look, poopy butt feathers can invite fly strike.

 

[tamtbell]

okay, so gave poor Kara a bath. Cute thing is while she didn't like the water, she seemed a bit more invigorated after it. She has her eyes open and is walking around like a cat with wet paws. LOL I managed to get most of the crusted poo/feces off her bum and then just trimmed her feathers some there. Oh and no wormies. In the water or around her bum.

 

[tamtbell]

oh and thank you for all the help!!

 

[tamtbell]

okay after all that is said and done, Kara died today. Now, that all being said, the other 6 younger chickens are still healthy and spry. In fact the other two teenagers jumped on a perch when I came in and visited/checked them out and excitedly began talking to me. Looking through the run, I do not see any loose poops so Kara seemed to be the only one affected. I had started her on corid as of Friday in case it was coccidiosis, but she steadily went downhill. I have reached out to all my chicken friends in the area as well as the family we got Kara from and they have never had problems with coccidiosis so I don't exactly know what got her. Her symptoms were: diarrhea; lethargic; seemingly depressed; near the end would not take food or water, we had to force feed her with a syringe water laced with corid. We got Kara on the evening of the 19th of June, by June 29th she started showing signs of being "depressed". Obviously she had gotten whatever it is she got shortly before that.
Other than bringing her to a vet I do not know what else I could have done. Middle of the week we also started with acv but didn't have time to make firewater (note to self, make firewater for both the fam and the chickens)
So out of all of this, both hubby and my feeling about this; people say chickens are super easy, easiest to take care of; and supposedly far easier than rabbits. Big fat nope. We've had rabbits for over two years now and other than weaning enteritis we've never had any issues with them, no health concerns at all other than one doe that seems to have issues giving birth.

 

[aart]

we had to force feed her with a syringe water laced with corid.

Did you tube feed her or just squirt it in her mouth?

She may have been carrying what ever killed her before she got to your place, or she was susceptible(not 'immune' thru exposure) to something at your place and the moving stress gave it the chance to take over.

ACV has negligible efficacy as far as 'disease fighting'.

It really hard to say what it was, other than opening her up and finding something obvious, or sending her for a necrospy with pathology/histology testing, you'll never know.

Sorry for your loss.
It's hard with chickens as they often don't show any symptoms until it's almost over.
Not sure if rabbits are the same.

 

[tamtbell]

Rabbits typically show pretty fast. Between their fur, their muscle tone, their activity level. Plus the diseases that hit them are not as expansive. They do have the tendency to also catch coccidiosis but I do know up here (far north) coccidiosis doesn't typically happen as much here. As for feeding Kara, we kept squirting in her mouth several times a day watching for her to swallow. I was afraid to do more because I was afraid I would hurt more than help.
Its all good I guess, learning process. Just frustrating and sad. Feel bad for the poor girl, wished I could have helped more.