HELP!! One of my girls is sick!

[wrybread]

This is my first (wonderful) experience with chickens and now one of them is sick.

She's a 15 week old EE and over the past couple of days has just gone downhill.

Day 1 - Didn't make a bee-line for breakfast. Didn't eat or drink much when she got there.
Day 2 - Operating in slow motion. Ambled over to breakfast and hardly ate or drank at all. Didn't stay close to the other three throughout the day. At some point began dropping way more feathers than normal. Her eyes seemed heavy-lidded, a bit.
Day 3 (today) - Didn't leave the coop with the other three for breakfast this morning. I had to pick her up and carry her over to the feed, which is unusual in itself as she never lets me get near her normally. (Too skittish) Today her balance is way off and she almost looks drunk when she walks.

I haven't been able to tell what her poops are like, but haven't noticed that anything around the yard looks diarrhea-ish. Her vent doesn't look dirty. Her eyes aren't dull. She has absolutely no respiratory distress.

I haven't been able to find any website where you can type in symptoms to find a disease and haven't had the time to click on every disease out there.

I don't even know of any good vets around here (Stafford, Va), much less one that knows about chickens.

Do these symptoms sound familiar to any of you? I'm so worried about her but don't know what to do and now I have to go to work. I can't even think about what I might find when I come home tonight. (gulp)

I don't know anyone with chickens so you guys are my only hope. Any help or advice would be HUGELY appreciated.

By the way, she's been solidly white with a couple of black spots but in the last two weeks or so her feathers have slowly been turning a dull brownish. Could that possibly be related?

Thanks,
Anne

 

[PunkinPeep]

It's kind of hard to say, but the first thing i would personally check is her crop.

I would feel of it right now to see if it has anything in it. Then i would isolate her and withdraw food (but give water) for about 12 hours and then feel her crop again. If it was full in the beginning and did not shrink or did not shrink much, then you have a crop problem, and you can go from there. Also, note whether her breath smells bad.

 

[chicmom]

Do they free range? Could she have gotten into something poisonous, or eaten a poisonous plant?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Someone (unfortunately I forget who) had posted this website on this message board, and I had bookmarked it. You might find it helpful:

http://www.colchesterpoultryclub.com/health.htm

It has some symptoms and diagnoses on it.

 

[wrybread]

Thanks for that website -- it also mentions her crop might be the problem. I'll check it out when I get home.

And yes, they do free range, so I've thought about her possibly eating something poisonous. Which in the future, what? Just try not to worry? Acckkk!

If it's crop, then that won't be so bad, right?

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
Most of the time, issues with the crop can be remedied, yes.

 

[chkn]

Is her bottom swollen? Is she walking like a slow motion cross country skier?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
You are welcome!

 

[wrybread]

I checked her crop when I got home and it seemed fine. But she was so weak she could hardly move. We tried to make her as comfortable as possible because we suspected she wouldn't make it through the night. She didn't.

This was the night she died.

She seemed peaceful.

Poor Dolly. She was a very sweet girl.

 

[stoo]

so sorry
I was just checking the post to see if I could help.