Help, swollen purple comb watt

[andy1]

Help guys,

I have a few hens who's combs wattles and faces have turned purple. They look really lethargic and stopped laying. I new there was some gapeworm in the flock but this is different. What should I do?

 

[chooks4life]

That sounds very bad. How sure are you that it was gapeworm and not respiratory disease? Not that they couldn't have both at the same time.

It's the season for coryza here, not sure where you are but many chickens are suffering. Most people use artificial antibiotics for things like this, I don't so can't advise you there.

This has a symptom checker which can help bring you to the correct diagnosis:
Quote: This thread has, if you scroll down the page I link to, some info on a variety of diseases and treatments used for them:
Quote: This links to a collection of other threads which cover diseases which may show the common symptom of gasping:
Quote: If you don't have this one bookmarked, it's handy, might help elucidate what you're dealing with there:
Quote:
I think yours may need treatment for respiratory disease ASAP. But of course I'm not sure what's wrong, can't diagnose by face color change alone. Blue/purple wattles/face/comb could be deprivation of oxygen caused by fluid in the lungs, heart failure, toxicosis... Either way, it is serious. Just like a human turning blue.

What's their poops look like? That's something you will probably need to diagnose correctly. Any information you can note about them may help, may even be vital to correct diagnosis and treatment.

Have they eaten anything in the last few weeks that might be responsible? Anything toxic, moldy, any potential exposure to chemicals... Access to new areas, change in water or feed...

Different plants fruiting or flowering around your area? They will sometimes suddenly change their minds about something they thought wasn't edible before, and gorge, because plants change their biochemical makeup nonstop every day, all day... They change with the weather conditions i.e. overcast days, thunderstorms, sunlight exposure, temperatures, also due to insect/ fungal/ bacterial attacks, their own reproductive seasons as well as the external seasons of winter, summer, etc, even in the space of an hour a biochemically safe plant can become toxic and vice versa.

Feeds are fairly often contaminated with a variety of things including aflatoxins, even when they look and smell fine, so if you've brought in new feeds recently and they're sick, the feeds are automatically suspect, even if you've just bought in another batch of the same stuff you always buy.

Could even be due to exposure to a new chicken carrying something they have never been exposed to, even if that chicken looked perfectly healthy --- that's often the way it goes; or you going to a place with other chickens then coming back to your flock potentially carrying infective pathogens with you, on your clothes or shoes or your vehicle's tyres.

If you think it's toxicosis, general treatments for nonspecific toxicity include megadose of vitamin C (also useful for pathogens), activated carbon/charcoal, higher calcium supplementation (dolomite or calcium carbonate in the feed or offered free choice), etc.

I would start giving them all raw freshly minced garlic with every feed, it contains over 34 natural antibiotics which in hospital tests have defeated bacteria etc that the strongest artificial antibiotics couldn't, and when it's freshly crushed or cut it produces an enzyme interaction that results in Allicin, a very powerful antibiotic. Studies showed that using garlic alongside artificial antibiotics only made them more effective, so you can use both treatments alongside one another with an expected improvement of efficacy. I would be giving two cloves per hen per day myself, and given how serious their state sounds (not that I can see them, just going by what you describe) I would think a visit to a livestock produce store, or vet, to get some antibiotics, might be necessary.

Best wishes.

 

[Eggcessive]

Help guys,

I have a few hens who's combs wattles and faces have turned purple. They look really lethargic and stopped laying. I new there was some gapeworm in the flock but this is different. What should I do?

I agree with chooks4life in that more information is needed. Gapeworm is very rare, usually in tropical areas where the Surinam cockroach is present. Respiratory disease such as MG, coryza, and fowl cholera are much more common. Are their wattles swollen, or do they have thick nasal secretions, or swollen eyes or faces? Gapeworm is treated with fenbendazole 1/4 ml orally to each chicken daily for 3-5 days. Levamisole is used in some countries.

 

[andy1]

Hello, thank you both for such taking the time and helping me out.
Tonight I will take a fractal egg count and see if it's gapeworm, there poo seems normal. I actually gave them basic H Formula to solve the gape problem but I wonder if these hens had a too high dosage. That's why they turned purple. Th wattles are swollen but not massively. They also are very hot.
I have been reading about fowl cholera and it certainly seems to be the most likely respiratory cause. Is there a general drug I can add to there feed to sort this??
Thanks for the help I will read all the links sent to me Thank you.

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome, hope you find out what's wrong in time and are able to treat it.

If you look up the medication you used which you suspect possible overdose of, the manufacturer or Material Safety Data Sheet should be able to be found online and should provide you with the symptoms to expect from overdose, unless you were using it off-label.

I don't use artificial antibiotics or wormers, so can't offer advice there, but Eggcessive probably can.

This site might be helpful also, if it's gapeworm:
Quote:
If it's fowl cholera, this site recommends the following medication types for it, but doesn't mention dosage or anything else:
Quote:
Best wishes.

 

[Akrnaf2]

Read the information on this link especially the paragraph on avian flu!
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[chooks4life]

:S would certainly hope it's not that!

Symptoms could match a few things including avian flu. May be an idea to send a hen in for necropsy if they die, or be preemptive and send one in to be sacrificed for testing.

Best wishes.