Fine to lethargic to seizure then death..advice??

[Bianca09]

Ok so here goes. Two weeks ago my husband and I came home one night to our male guinea fowl laying dead near our coop. He was completely fine all throughout the day. We checked him all over and saw that he had some yellow/greenish liquid from his mouth. We didn't know what happened to him and just maybe figured he had over exhausted himself in the heat. We were deeply saddened but didn't think we needed to worry. Today marking the two week mark I went out to check on the birds and noticed our female guinea fowl (we only had two adults) just laying there in the run with her head dropped down on the ground.(she had been fine all morning but had not layed an egg that I knew of since her mate died) I tried to give her some sugar water out of a syringe but she wouldn't take it. About 45 minutes had passed and she was laying on her side almost gasping for air. I wrapped her in a towel and held her. Not even 2 minutes later she turned her neck around started almost having what appeared to be a seizure and vomited some yellowish/greenish stuff then almost immediately died. Then only symptoms were around her beak was really red and kind've swollen and She had a white watery poop (I just noticed this as she was laying there). After seeing what happened to her I'm convinced the same thing happened to my male 2 weeks ago. I have been trying to do research and be as clear as possible but I just don't know what this could be. Should I be concerned for the rest of my flock (chickens and ducks?) Any information or advice is really appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[chickenmadness7]

The two possibilities that come to mind are either heat stroke or poisoning. I'm so sorry for your.loss.

 

[Bianca09]

Thank you for your reply! We live in Maine and the weather isn't as extremely hot as other states but we have had a lot of 90 degree and humid weather lately. She had been in our run for the past 4 days with our two keets. Which is completely covered by shade. I noticed she had been drinking plenty of water prior to her just laying there. I appreciate your reply! I definitely wanted to make sure that I didn't have some sort of disease going through my coop or anything like that.Trying to prevent any other losses!

 

[chickenmadness7]

Sadly, now that you've had two die, you cannot rule out disease until you figure out the exact cause.

 

[Bianca09]

Yeah that is where I'm stuck. I've been doing a ton of research. All our original flick has just turned one year last month so I'm still learning with them. Have never has any issues with them until now. I have been reading about Newcastle disease but I'm trying not to freak myself out. I just didn't know if anybody else had gone through anything like this before. My guinea fowl were perfectly healthy and normal up until they both died. I don't know for sure what happened to my male( other then the yellowish liquid we found next to him) but witnessing my poor female gasping for air turning her neck back and having a seizure and vomiting yellowish liquid was just heartbreaking. We buried both birds. I will continue my research and try to find a vet who knows more about chickens and get to the bottom of this. Having two die in 2 weeks just isn't normal.

 

[June2013]

I use my county extension department quiet often. They usually have someone who has a poultry background or can guide you to someone. I'm in Northwest Arkansas which is the poultry capital of the US. My extension agent has been invaluable with newbie insecurities. I downloaded an extensive description of bird problems, I'll see if I can find it. Sorry for the loss.

 

[Bianca09]

As far as an "update" goes my in laws had 2 guineas from the same hatch where we got ours. They had 2 females. Almost a week since our female has passed they lost one. stumped by what has happened ruling out disease and thinking we just got a bad batch of birds.. If that makes sense. They all just hit the year old mark. Calling the place where we got them in the morning seeing if anyone else had reported the same thing happening. Or if we could have done anything different. Thanks to everyone who has replied!

 

[chickenmadness7]

Thanks for the update. I'm so sorry this happened.

 

[Huixpi Tonantzin]

you mentioned new castle disease.. i'm wondering how your other guinea fowl fared after this. Five years later, these symptoms are eerily similar to HPAI Bird Flu H5N1 which is getting VERY prevalent. we just had a 2 day old guinea chick pass away in our hands the very same way without the vomit. they were weak, lethargic, could barely walk or sit properly, and started gasping for air until the seizure happened.

We're sending their body to UC Davis for proper necropsy to ensure this isn't Bird Flu, because we found this one and another passed chick at the same location in Ripon, CA today. Tractor Supply hasn't established a medical protocol for possible bird flu cases, so we took them to ensure no one else gets sick (if this isn't just malnutrition).

 

[R2elk]

you mentioned new castle disease.. i'm wondering how your other guinea fowl fared after this. Five years later, these symptoms are eerily similar to HPAI Bird Flu H5N1 which is getting VERY prevalent. we just had a 2 day old guinea chick pass away in our hands the very same way without the vomit. they were weak, lethargic, could barely walk or sit properly, and started gasping for air until the seizure happened.

We're sending their body to UC Davis for proper necropsy to ensure this isn't Bird Flu, because we found this one and another passed chick at the same location in Ripon, CA today. Tractor Supply hasn't established a medical protocol for possible bird flu cases, so we took them to ensure no one else gets sick (if this isn't just malnutrition).

This thread is from 2014. The OP has not been on BYC since 2015.