Emergency!! chicken almost dead, not moving

[FolkSonginC]

Alright, so not too cold, hypothermia is ruled out, unless he is wet at all. Is he?

Not at all, and the coop he had been sleeping in had a good amount of ventilation. Plus not humid at all. He has a small scab on his comb so maybe he was getting pecked at, but could two small hens cause this?

 

[Weeg]

I am not that experienced in this. @KaleIAm @thepick4uchicks don't know if any of you can help?

 

[Weeg]

Not at all, and the coop he had been sleeping in had a good amount of ventilation. Plus not humid at all. He has a small scab on his comb so maybe he was getting pecked at, but could two small hens cause this?

I don't think so. I doubt it was pecking, plus he would be much more beat up if it was all because of that.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The only thing I can think of is that he'd recently started spending time with my two little hens. Their coop has two compartments, and he previously lived with my silkie roo. But because my two roos had constant contact with the two little hens through the wire. I let them both out to interact, there were a few initial pecks but they seemed fine. Then Poe put himself away with the hens, instead of my silkie, so I just let them stay together. I hadn't seen them picking on him, but maybe that could be it? They're not much bigger than him, but could a hard peck have caused this? They'd been together for about a week prior to this and he was fine. Only other change is that they've been eating pellets, rather than crumble, because I ran out temporarily.

I think he just had a seizure or something, he stretched his neck out really far and stood up then fell over on his back and flapped around a bit. I layed him back down but he's still stretched out. One of his eyes is also open quite wide. He just had another seizure while I was typing.

He just had another huge seizure and shit everywhere, then he was squawking and kind of crying. I feel so terrible, he must be in so much pain. He's breathing really heavily, is there anything I can do?

I'm sorry about your rooster

How old is he?
When you can, get some photos of him and the poop too - what color is the poop?

I'm sorry it doesn't sound very good. Had you tried to give him fluids and then he had the seizures?

You are doing what you can for now. Try to keep him quiet and let him warm up, but not too hot. When he's calm, look him over for any injuries or wounds that may be hidden under his feathers.

What breed is he?

 

[FolkSonginC]

I'm sorry about your rooster

How old is he?
When you can, get some photos of him and the poop too - what color is the poop?

I'm sorry it doesn't sound very good. Had you tried to give him fluids and then he had the seizures?

You are doing what you can for now. Try to keep him quiet and let him warm up, but not too hot. When he's calm, look him over for any injuries or wounds that may be hidden under his feathers.

What breed is he?

I think around 8 months old. charging my phone right now, already cleaned up the poop but it was kind of liquidy and a little green. I tried dipping his beak in water, then was going to use a dropper but he started having seizures before I could. Should I still try? I'm not optimistic, but I'm really worried that whatever he has could kill my other chickens

 

[azygous]

It's possible this chicken has genetic issues affecting his heart. I had a rooster long ago that would have such seizures. In a human, we would suspect congenital defective heart valves, pumping insufficient oxygen to the organs.

Other things can cause these symptoms, though. This summer, a poisonous caterpillar dropped from the trees at the feet of two of my young chicks. They had just pecked at it when I came up to them. One chick was nearly unconscious and the other was acting lethargic. That night, the first chick went into convulsions, nearly dying. I had been trying to save them with poison antidotes. Nothing worked, and both chicks had to be euthanized.

Insecticides can do this. Paint thinner can do this. I know because I've had chickens die from being exposed to both.

Convulsions are painful. They seize up the muscles, and leave them very sore. I'm sorry to say that I can't think of any way to correct this boy's unfortunate affliction. There are worse things than death. I do not believe this would be contagious to your other chickens.

 

[Weeg]

Insecticides can do this. Paint thinner can do this. I know because I've had chickens die from being exposed to both.

This gets me thinking, you didn't use any permethrin around the coop, or on the chickens did you? And if you did, did you use Durvet? Duvet brand permethrin contains gasoline, which is toxic.

 

[FolkSonginC]

It's possible this chicken has genetic issues affecting his heart. I had a rooster long ago that would have such seizures. In a human, we would suspect congenital defective heart valves, pumping insufficient oxygen to the organs.

Other things can cause these symptoms, though. This summer, a poisonous caterpillar dropped from the trees at the feet of two of my young chicks. They had just pecked at it when I came up to them. One chick was nearly unconscious and the other was acting lethargic. That night, the first chick went into convulsions, nearly dying. I had been trying to save them with poison antidotes. Nothing worked, and both chicks had to be euthanized.

Insecticides can do this. Paint thinner can do this. I know because I've had chickens die from being exposed to both.

Convulsions are painful. They seize up the muscles, and leave them very sore. I'm sorry to say that I can't think of any way to correct this boy's unfortunate affliction. There are worse things than death. I do not believe this would be contagious to your other chickens.

It's good to hear it's probably not contagious. He just died, and I feel terrible but I'm glad he's not suffering anymore and it was relatively quick, it only lasted about half an hour. No paint thinner or insecticides or anything like that on the property. He was from tractor supply, so who knows what his genetic background was.

 

[DaisyG2317]

It's good to hear it's probably not contagious. He just died, and I feel terrible but I'm glad he's not suffering anymore and it was relatively quick, it only lasted about half an hour. No paint thinner or insecticides or anything like that on the property. He was from tractor supply, so who knows what his genetic background was.

I'm sorry about your rooster. You kept him comfortable in his last hours.

 

[FolkSonginC]

This gets me thinking, you didn't use any permethrin around the coop, or on the chickens did you? And if you did, did you use Durvet? Duvet brand permethrin contains gasoline, which is toxic.

Nope, no permethrin. Thank you all for trying to help. He seemed to be struggling to breath at the end, and his comb looked a bit purple.