edited: RIP sweet Patsy, Ameraucana with puffed up chest/head

[srfjeld]

I just returned from a 3 day weekend and that's how I found my 14 wk old Ameraucana. And, she is more sleepy than usual. Seemed that there were some long thin white strands in the stool.
She likes to be held and when I was holding her she hid her head in my chest and started trilling... almost like a purr. It was cute to me, but I'm not sure it's not a respiratory thing. She was just getting over cocci when I left but I didn't do the 10 days on the Sulmet... I went about 5. Should I have finished it up? Should I put her back on it? All the girls are drinking electrolytes right now.
Oh, and my boyfriend was here with them, feeding, watering, and free ranging them.
Any ideas?

 

[srfjeld]

Forgot that she's on medicated food now and there's no blood so it can't be cocci. I brought her into the house so she'll be a little warmer and can get some rest. Had another stool and it was normal... brown and pellety. Just lethargic and feathers puffed up but still eating and drinking (small amounts). I'll just keep an eye on her.

 

[starlogva]

My hens trill when they're happy, so it sounds like she's glad you're home.

The standard Sulmet treatment appears to be 2 days at full dose, followed by 4 days at half dose. That's how I treated mine and all recovered. If you google images of chicken coccidiosis, you'll see the characteristic posture of cocci, which is hunched with fluffed feathers. It also causes lethargy, loss of appetite, pale comb. It can also cause mucous in the feces. The absence of blood in the feces doesn't mean it's not cocci.

I'm not an expert, but it sounds like she still has cocci. The medicated feed won't treat it - it's just a preventative.

I defer to the experts here, but I would put her through a full treatment.

Good luck!

 

[srfjeld]

Just went in to check on her and noticed she's breathing a little heavier and she had a string of mucus coming out of beak. What's that all about?

 

[srfjeld]

Lost her yesterday. I got her to the vet just in time for him to say she looked as if she was preparing to die. She didn't respond to anything. I held her in her last moments and she opened one eye and that eye was blood red. Vet said her blood pressure may have been so high she ruptured a blood vessel.

Why does this keep happening. She was my favorite girl. She loved when I held her... the others act like I'm trying to kill them when I pick them up... unless they saw that she was on me. Such a sweet girl. I'm letting the remaining 3 free range right now and it's just not the same. I think they've just about gotten the fact that she won't be coming back. She was the leader and yesterday they chirped their little heads off. It was so sad.

 

[starlogva]

I'm so sorry about Patsy. I lost a super-sweet girl last year and it was really hard. I have a sick one right now and I haven't yet determined what's wrong with her. Don't have a chicken vet here. Hope your other girls are ok.

 

[juliawitt]

Just curious, what advice did the vet give you? I have one SLW that has her breast looking enlarged. She is more lethargic than the others and her comb is rather pale. Everyone's poop looks all right. A little watery, but that could be heat stress. So, I thought I would ask what your vet said was the reason for your hens death and what preventative measures he suggested.