HELP SICK CHICKENS

[Lau Lau]

Hey Y'all. I lost a chicken two weeks ago, she was fine in the monring, even laid egg and was found dead in coop at dust. She had been gone for a while. I notice another bird yesterday or the day before walking around like she was in a daze, kinda slow, didn't run from me. Yesterday hubby found her in laying box, thought she was dead, head tucked but she was alive. We put her up but she only made it about 100 yards out of the coop today and laid down to die. What is going on?!?!? What do I need to do to save the herd?!?! I am so upset! PLease anyone??

UPDATED: The temps here are fairly normal and hot, I have three water dishes out and refill them mid day. The first chicken that passed was 3 yrs old, the other one did pass and it was 6 months old. Yesterday and today are very hot though.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I see in other threads you had a chicken get into rat poison. Is it possible these ones did?

 

[swimmerchick]

Sounds slightly like cocksidiousis. I suggest feeding chilli flakes to ALL of your other chickens, or if there really looking not well feed them a chilli pepper whole, or cut it into bits if they won't eat it and shove it down! If this doesn't seem to work for them, try farming antibiotics in there water, make sure it says its ok for chickens on the label though. You could also try spraying "Konk Pro" Commercial bug killer under there wings and near vent if they have bugs. Bugs will make it harder for them to recover or to prevent decease. The chilli flakes will only prevent cocksi (if thats what they have). Check for sighs of blood in poo as well, that is a sure sign of the decease. Hope this helps! Good luck with your birds!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I've never heard of chili flakes for cocci, I've heard of Corid though.

 

[subhanalah]

It sounds like it could be a few things.

Heat stress, perhaps wetting their food to increase hydration (or fermenting the feed if you worry about spoilage http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/ )

OR

Maybe worms or mites.
How does their poo look? Are they scratching or dustbathing more than usual?

How hot is hot?

I'm inclined against cocci since they are older birds, but it is always a possibility the heat stress caused them to be weak against it.
Can you get a vet to do a fecal flotation test to look for eggs/worms/cocci? Or even if you have a microscope yourself, it's pretty easy to see when something is off.

 

[swimmerchick]

Chilli flakes for cocci is one of the best old farmer tricks i know! It works fabulously for preventing the decease! I usually feed it to my 2 week old chicks for a month
What it does is it burns the bugs in the stomach of cause they can't handle the heat! I highly suggest feeding them to your chickens regularly. Its what i do and i haven't had a chicken with cocci for 8 years!

 

[swimmerchick]

Usually a vet is not the best idea unless they SPECIALIZE in poultry deceases. I have had many vets killing my chickens instead of making them better...

 

[subhanalah]

Chilli flakes for cocci is one of the best old farmer tricks i know! It works fabulously for preventing the decease! I usually feed it to my 2 week old chicks for a month
What it does is it burns the bugs in the stomach of cause they can't handle the heat! I highly suggest feeding them to your chickens regularly. Its what i do and i haven't had a chicken with cocci for 8 years!

Usually a vet is not the best idea unless they SPECIALIZE in poultry deceases. I have had many vets killing my chickens instead of making them better...

anyone with eyes and a microscope can look at poop and if there's a problem, will see it.

If they can look at dog or cat poo for worms/eggs/parasites, they can find it in chicken poop. If they don't specialize in exotics, just ask for the fecal test, they have books with the different things in it for poultry, even if they didn't go to school for it. Diagnosing the problem correctly is the first step in proper treatment. If the animal has worms, treating for cocci won't do a thing, vice versa.

If the poop is clear, then it's likely due to heat or poisoning.