Help! 2 Deaths in My Much-Loved Flock With A 3rd Now Sick.

[Jillio]

Guys, I appreciate your comments so much! Update on my rooster. He is in our bedroom now, he is still just staring with pupils dilated and doesn’t move when someone comes near him, which is very unlike him. Of course, his eyes are mostly closed, but when they are open, their pupils are dilated and he just stares. He is standing hunched over and when he poops it’s just a terrible yellow liquid. I’ve had a lot of chicken issues, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We are trying to figure out if it could be something like blue green algae toxicity, or some toxic weed that we don’t know of in their yard, botulism, etc. I looked into the symptoms of botulism, and it doesn’t sound the same as what we’re experiencing. Even the symptoms of blue green algae poisoning didn’t seem quite the same. We’re just not sure at this moment I just don’t wanna lose my birds. If Romeo passes away, I will definitely have to get a necropsy!

 

[Lor]

Sure hope you can figure the issue out soon and that Romeo pulls through.

 

[Jillio]

 

[Jillio]

Hey guys! Wanted to give an update though it’s sad. We lost Romeo this morning. Got fecal back and its E. coli and another bacteria.

This must sound ridiculous, but live in a very rural area and had just expanded our chicken yard to where it now enclosed the septic tank area (though we tried covering the area with pallets). Our septic badly floods and overflows when there is lots of rain, as it is broken and several thousand bucks to fix. We have had more rain than normal lately. Tons!

Next door we also have neighbors with a literal river of poop that has been running into the woods for years. And my hens have been over there several times

Now that we know what the issue is, we are taking steps to better cover the septic area, to treat the standing water, and also to start everybody on antibiotics (or oregano as a natural antibiotic) right away. It’s all happened so fast and now I know what action to take. So sad we lost birds before we figured it out. Appreciate all your input so much!

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry for your loss. I hope that you can keep from losing more.

 

[Jillio]

Thank you so much.

 

[Tahai]

Thanks for letting us know the final answer.