Gradual Coop Death

[AnserMater]

We've lost our third bird today.
About a week ago, our 6-month buff orp. became sedate and unusually affectionate. Upon inspection, she had scabs along her right side which went directly into the thoracic cavity. What's worse, one had appeared over her shoulder joint, and what appeared to be an intramusuclar infection had begun in her bicep. The muscle seemed necrotic, and she eventually had to be put down.
A quick dissection afterward revealed a green, algae-seeming material encasing her liver. This struck me as being part of the gallbladder, until I cut open the infected bicep. The same viscous material, algae green, was growing from the wound.

The day after, another bird got woozy. She was quarantined, given food and drink, but still went the next day. Her liver seemed un touched.

Today, I found another girl dead among the flock. No infection, but I'm done cutting.

We live in Florida but they're well-hydrated birds. Feed store was out of grower teen feed so they're all on layer food for now.

If anyone has any insight, please let me know. There are some dear birds in the flock and I'd like to see as few of them go as I can.

 

[TeamChaos]

Did all of the hens have scabs that indicated some kind of puncture wound/ trauma? I'm so sorry for your losses.

 

[bunzsudz]

Sounds like it could be fowl pox. I live in FL and I have seen some pretty devastating cases of it, with large necrotic cankers like that. And, it can and does spread to internal organs of affected birds. And of course, it is really contagious to other birds, domestic and wild.

As in the case of all serious poultry diseases, it is best to cull affected birds. And this is the time of year for fowl pox to be a big issue in FL. Also, if you feed or water any wild birds or squirrels on your property, stop doing it until next Spring. It will help keep whatever it is from spreading to wild birds populations, who will in turn spread it back to your poultry (have seen this happen many times. I worked with local Ag agents years ago in dealing with domestic fowl pox outbreaks in our area that were compounded by wild birds. This was before we had fowl pox vaccines available to us. But it is still a serious concern among un-vaccinated birds in the South).

Sorry about all your troubles hon. Hope it works out well in the future for you. Let us know what you find out about all this. It might be something we could all need to understand more about.