Help with a disease!

[CayleeMarie03]

Hi Everyone, I don't think my chickens are dying from mites or lice anymore, because inspected them and none of them had any little critters crawling on them. But now I think it is a disease, but i don't know for sure. I brought another hen inside today, she was acting funny. She was walking around slowly and one of the other hens bumbed into her and she just fell over. Then she ate a little bit but then immediatly fell asleep, they normaly don't do that, the others were laying eggs and foraging outside. Then i opened the door for here and scattered some food on the ground so they can scratch for it and she went outside still walking slowly but then she came back in. So she is now in my bathroom and she has been eating and drinking but she doesn't really move, it's like her legs are to weak to support her, and she has just been closing her eyes but she still moves her head. She only opens her eyes when i open the door and pick he up. Does anyone now what might be wrong with her and how to cure it? I really don't want her to give it to the other birds or my chicks.

 

[aggiemae]

Sorry to hear. We had this happened to one hen in the spring. I never did figure it out she was fine and then two hours later she was as you discribe but also had one very wet poop and then just died. Hopefully yours will respond to antibiotics.

I did empty all the bedding out of the coop, nest boxes and run then wiped down the surfaces with mild bleach (6oz bleach in 2 gallons of warm water) and steamed cleaned the roosts too. I am not sure if this made a difference but none of the other hens got sick.

It took me months to stop thinking I was going to find a sick hen in the coop in the morning then we lost one a few weeks ago. She ran across the yard with the other hens when I called them for treats and by the time I came out with the meal worms she was dead by the back door.

 

[CayleeMarie03]

I am sorry to here about that, I cleaned out all the bedding and we put might powder in the coop just in case. We looked over the other chickens and they seem fine, but the one that is sickly seems to be weaker, and when she trys to she just stumbles over again. She did poop a little and has drank. Is there anything else i should do? In case there is mites or lice on here should i give her a bath with fle and tick dog shampoo? Someone told me that it sometimes works.

 

[CayleeMarie03]

She also can barely move her legs and she isn't as alert as she used to be, she won't open her eyes when i pick her up anymore and she moves her head down then back up and takes a breath and just keeps doing that.