!!HELP!! One Hen and 2 baby chicks unwell.

[Redmond Henry]

Bare with me, IM a complete noob when it comes to chickens.

It's broody season here at my residence and we have several hens sitting or roaming around our property. I woke up this morning and i found a her laying on the ground with most of her little ones dead. She was completely off of them so i'm assuming they died of cold. I collected the baby chicks and her before examining them. The chicks are very clumsy and they are having trouble walking and she is completely immobilised.

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
The person We brought them off(years ago) told us they are jungle fouls however they have an exact replica of the Welsummer breed. Age unknown, weight (feels quite light however all our chickens are underweight).

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
She has here eyes closed, she wont move and her head/neck droops to the floor. Slow breathing. the chicks are real cumpsy and they have there eyes closed as well.However they still move when I put them back down.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Unknown (since 2 hours ago)

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
No

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No signs, however when i put her down after examining her leg she stumbles. I dont know if this means she has a broken leg and she is suffering from shock because I don't know what to look for.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
We live on a 5 acre block so we let them run around all day long. They know how to forage for food themselves and they always have for over 5 years. They have always been underweight but they never starved. We do often call them with our call and feed them all half a loaf of bread. There is around 12 chickens. It is yard cause sometimes some of them could be out somewhere nesting instead of coming to eat.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
I have placed bread in front of her and the chicks, (THEY LOVE BREAD!). They didnt eat any of it and i have a small plastic containers lid with water around the edges so the baby chicks don't get caught and drown.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
While holding her she pooped/pissed on me, it was running but there was glomp of poo that came with it.

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I have set them up in a large plastic container. I have a lamp however during the day it gets quite hot with over 40 degrees centigrade (104f for all you Americans out there)
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilising the bird til you can get to a vet?
I am 15(low funds), there is no vet in my town and the nearest one is over 220 kilomteres away (136 miles)

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
No picture sadly

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

She is in a large container with her 2 chicks, 1 lamp outside the plastic container. The lamp is off at the moment because it is already 89 Fahrenheit at 7:42am in the morning.

My father is away on a working trip and a few weeks ago I had to cull a chicken who had a scalped head/neck. It was really hard as we had a close bond because I earned it for cleaning up someones yard ages ago. It was just a chick when i got it and it used to come to me all the time! So without saying, I WILL NOT BE CULLING THESE ONES!

 

[Redmond Henry]

Hello All, I have to go to work in 24 minutes, I wont be back for 8 hours. I hope they all make it through the day!

 

[micstrachan]

So sorry you did not get help before you had to get to work and that you hen and chicks are not well. I am wondering if they got into something poysonous or if the mom got injured, possibly protecting her chicks. If they are still alive when you get home, please give them some sort of electrolytes with vitamins in their water. I think there is a homemade recipe involving baking soda and sugar online. They need something more nutricious than bread, too. What’s in their bin to eat right now? Do you have any chick feed at all? Do you have any eggs you can scramble? Can you check the mother’s crop for impaction? I assume she isn’t laying if she’s broody? What color was her poop? Do you have access to Corrid if she has coccidosis. Plsase let us know when you get home if everyone is still alive and we will do our best to help you help them. Sadly, I don’y think it is looking goid for mama hen and I sincerely hope she pulls through. If not, you will need to step in and care for the chicks.

 

[Redmond Henry]

Hey, the mother is still alive. 1 chick has passed, and the other chick is exhibiting the same symptoms of the mother. I fear she will not make it through the next few hours.

Her poop smells foul and is a mustard colour. I have scrambled eggs and neither of them have eaten. they are both sprawled out still in the same position they where this morning. the mother isn't reacting to my touch anymore and is just accepting it.

When I look at the Symptoms of Coccidiosis, it really does describe the condition of them quite well. Maybe the family suffered from Coccidiosis from the chicks eating the mothers poop. I don't know, because of the nature of our yard where they are essentially wild birds which we call our pets we don't have much of an idea of what they are doing.

 

[Redmond Henry]

In this photo you can see her (iv'e put her in a large plastic container.) she has been in this position all day. She had over old clothes under her but it was obstructing the electrolyte water and her eggs. if you look closely you can see the remaining chick under her right wing. She is wight. Our hens had 2 leghorns chickens introduced 4 years ago and that has caused some of our hens to have white chicks because of crossbreeding.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Putting your location in your profile is always helpful.

104F or 40C is too hot for mom and babies. Since she is not doing well and not able to take care of them, you may want to separte the babies to thier own brooder and give one spot of warmth that is around 90-95F (30-32C). For mom she needs only about 75-80F (23-26C).

If you can give them a commercial chick starter feed (mom and babies) that would be good. If you don't have that you can offer some chopped egg, a little oatmeal made into a wet porridge. Poultry vitamins (nutri-drops/nutri-drench) in the water would be good too.

The extending of the neck is concerning. My first thought since she free ranges for most of her nutrition along with getting a little bread here and there is she is either suffering nutritionally or she may have ingested something dead/rotten and has Botulism. You may need to try to flush her system - or at least tube fluids into her to see if you can get her hydrated. http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700526/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal Look up go team tube feeding for instructions on tubing/syringing fluids.

 

[Redmond Henry]

Our chickens live outside all the time and they sleep in the trees, they always have they have lived through this season of extreme heat forever. I don't have my heat lamp during the day as it is would make it much too warm. I will get onto syringing fluids as soon as the store opens in an hour and 40 minutes.

 

[Redmond Henry]

Our chickens live outside all the time and they sleep in the trees, they always have they have lived through this season of extreme heat forever. I don't have my heat lamp during the day as it is would make it much too warm. I will get onto syringing fluids as soon as the store opens in an hour and 40 minutes. [/QUOTE

I live in DERBY, WA, Australia

Its in the Northern Australian Region known as the Kimberley

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I think it's going to be difficult to find real help without a vet. You have a dozen older chickens of unknown origins running loose on a large tract of land with no real care or observation and their only feed is the occasional half-loaf of bread (not very good for chickens)... Almost anything could be wrong. Could be anything from a virus, bacteria, parasites, bad food to an internal injury, egg binding, poison.... Frankly, what you've described is a risky/unhealthy situation for chickens to be in.

The best you may be able to do is start treating the symptoms. Electrolytes and vitamins in the water, try giving a calcium supplement (a tums ground into a bit of water) through syringe, some good feed (no more bread). The chicks need a high protein food (18% is best) to grow up strong and healthy. Scrambled eggs chopped into bits is a great idea, but a commercial start n grow type of feed mixed with a little warm water is best.

Take pictures of the poop that the hen and chicks are producing if any and post them. It could help ID the problem.