HELP! What is wrong? Droopy wing, beak down, Pictures..

[Germaine_11.20]

This is an excellent thread. I wanted to bookmark it for future! Thanks Kathy and all those who gave such wonderful advice

 

[seminolewind]

Thru all the reading I did last year I found that botulism and Marek's can have some of the same symptoms, but with botulism they get better and with Mareks they don't. So I'm guessing botulism as well. I'm glad she got better.

 

[Terri O]

My chickens must have a tolerance for gross things...they get into the worst stuff on the farm and dont ever seem to be any worse for wear...can this be possible? I mean their very favorite food is maggots on something dead! Gross I know but they sure keep the flies down! Now I am reconsidering....but does any one know if they can develop a tolerance? Thanks! Terri O

 

[fl_deb]

Terri OYou beat me to the question

I was wondering the same thing because my chickens free range in garden, compost bin area and back yard and when I found a trash can I had put some of their used litter into "moving" with maggots I dumped it out and they have spent days scratching and eating the larva up.


So the real question is...am I a bad chicken mommy?

They have been fine so far; but am I just lucky?

I feel like so confused because if they were in the wild wouldn't they be eating this same stuff? Even if we say letting them scratch through the dead leaves and such is okay, how do we know that they will not find a dead animal, lizzard or mice for example, nevermind the earthworms they find?

Somehow, I cannot imagine them not being allowed to free range, they hate it when I do not let them out to play, but then I guess these are the risks we are taking literally with their lives at stake???

I guess I need to keep reading all the post to learn and decide wheather my girls will end up being cage free or not.

 

[ZooMummzy]

I am so happy I found this thread and the detailed information on flushing and feeding. I think my rooster has botulism and I sadly think I have lost 3 other hens - 1 on the way out now

- from this same thing. I have one that has recovered though she is still not up to par yet - slowly getting her leg strength back. Their symptoms just did not add up to Marek's or FC. I noticed this rooster has feathers missing around his neck area and when pulling on some of the other ones, they break off or come out easily. The photos of the hen on the first page are what really nailed it for me. My little guy looked just like that yesterday out in the run and now today, his toes are curled more and his head is droopy. I am going to go out and get all the items needed for flushing and start right away. I am just sick over this. We have had such a wet spring and trying to keep the puddles at bay in the run has been a full time chore. I shoo them away and fill in the holes but can they get botulism from drinking this water that accumulates? Could mice bring it in? I have caught my chickens catching mice and I know they eat them.

 

[Atlas LaHaye]

Like other people on here, I found my rooster yetserday, and I am really sure after seeing some pictures that he has botulism, he can walk, he is not eating but he will drink if I had water him with a spoon and his neck is arched under him.

Should I do the Molasses treatment, and then the Epsom Salt? I am little new to treating chickens.

 

[ZooMummzy]

I really don't have a yes or no answer for you. I did the Epsom salt flush on mine, but he died within hours. I don't know if that is what did him in or the cocci they found in the necropsy. I did read that the flush is very hard on their systems so it could have killed him. I'm sorry you are going through this. I have three dead chickens this morning - 2 adults and 1 chick. They were my weakest ones so I'm sure I didn't find and treat the cocci soon enough for them. I hope your rooster will be ok.

 

[akcourtney]

Hi all. I have been reading everyones post's on this thread and I am also new to the chicken parenting thing. We have 25 now and raised them from 2-4 days old. They are almost 4 months old and we too have suffered the same issues with a couple of our flock. We have seen success with a steady regiment of tetrocyclene in their water and fresh crumble daily. They also get the odd cucumber half (fresh) and I powdered them with D-EARTH to kill off any mites. I also added some D-EARTH powder to their hospital pen and their crumble. It all seems to be working. I hope this helps.

 

[speckledhen]

We have seen success with a steady regiment of tetrocyclene in their water

Every day? No one needs to put antibiotics in the water of healthy birds. I'd encourage you to remove that and just give fresh, clean water. You should never, ever give antibiotics except for injuries or reproductive type infections. Antibiotics won't cure Mareks or botulism. All the antibiotic usage among chicken keepers really bothers me; it's usually a waste of money and time and will kill good gut bacteria as well.

akcourtney, welcome to BYC. I used to live in Gwinnett County and my son lives in Grayson. Know it well.​

 

[Mrs. BJ Hensley Jr.]

I had a problem with botchulism and chickens recently. something got into my quail pen and killed all but 2 quail (killed 24!). I called my cousin, a trapper, who said leave the remains for a night or 2 and he would set traps to catch the colprits. well it worked. We cought a Mink and a possom. but by then, they had already started to rot and the chickens got near where the larvae and ate some. I thought no big deal right? wrong! i had never heard of chickens getting sick from eating maggots so i didnt think anything of it other than the aaaaaweful smell when i removed the quail corpses! YUCK! I noticed a chicken gettin droopy and hanging its neck, not eating or drinking, not socializing and so on. right away we separated it, force fed it water and soon after we medicated it with a broad spectrum shot of 1/2cc. again, i had never heard of botchulism and i couldnt afford a vet bill, and i didnt want it to suffer thats the only reason we medicated it; i avoid it whenever possible otherwise. Well, it survived. I was told because we cought it within the first 24 hours and took necessary precautions that is the only reason it lived at all. unfortonately there was another incident soon after. 2 weeks later one night we got rain so bad it flooded the chocken coop. it had made a mini stream at the base of the coop and the water was coming in so fast it couldnt empty quick enough. in the franzy, that lucky chicken got trampled in the mud and died. the same thing happened to another chicken that same night in another coop/pen we have. so we transported the coops to another location and put "breather holes" on the base of the coop so the water could flow out if it ever happens again.

GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS!