luvaduck88
In the Brooder
Hi all, this is one of my first posts on BYC and so I do hope that I am writing it in the proper place. I really need some advice as one of my hens is showing a lot of signs of illness, but nothing seems to be making her better. and I do not know what is going on with her. This is my first year with chickens and I have learned so much, but I still feel like there is a lot more to learn.
I have a hen (silver laced wyandotte) that turned a year old 2 months ago and she has yet to lay a single egg for me and I have never seen her inside any of the nesting boxes. She has some feathers that grow in backwards on her tail just around her preening gland that make her tail stick straight up in the air and her lacing pattern is not even close to what it should be. I got her from Agway and so I do not know what hatchery she came from or whether she was vaccinated as a chick, but suspect that she has some genetic issues. She acts very strange (slow mentally) and makes different noises than my other hens. No one wants to roost next to her, but no one really picks on her either-she is paid very little attention by the flock.
I noticed a few months ago that one of her pupils looked strange and discovered that she is blind in one eye. I have no idea what caused this or when it happened. Maybe she has been like that since she was a chick and I just didn't notice, but it seems like it may have happened over the winter at some point. The pupil does not react to light and stays the same small size, but her eye is clear otherwise. She cannot see you approaching on her right side and is easily startled because of this.
In the past couple of months she has started to drink ridiculous amounts of water to the point of her bending over and overflowing clear fluid out of her mouth several times during the day. This happens every single day and it is very disturbing to watch, especially when the other hens run over and try to eat it!.. She also has been having extremely watery stools. They are mostly clear and water like with some solids, but they come blasting out like a super soaker...
Two months ago this hen had wet bum feathers that looked sort of like vent gleet, but she never had a bad smell to her and there wasn't much for solids sticking to her feathers. It didn't seem to me like that was what was going on, but maybe I am wrong. She ate normally and drank plenty of water so I didn't think much of it until I saw her standing off from the flock a couple of times with ruffled feathers and her eyes closed. I cleaned her up once or twice and since then even though she is still having the very wet stools, it doesn't seem to be sticking to her feathers. I started all of them on organic ACV (with the mother) in their water every other day for a week and then randomly since then and she did seem to perk up some. I also gave probiotics in their water on the off days. I have not seen her standing off alone with her eyes closed since then, she has been actively foraging with the other hens and eating as normal.
I noticed recently that some of my other hens are experiencing the watery stools and increased thirst, but not nearly as bad as this particular hen. I am thinking whatever it is, it is spreading and I want to help them feel better ASAP I just have no idea what is going on!
I am currently treating my entire flock with ivermectin pour on weekly in order to try to get rid of the dreaded quill (depluming) mite which I first saw signs of in my rooster, but it took a while to figure out what they were. I have given them 3 doses so far, but her weird symptoms started way before this treatment schedule started. I believe that my onne year old rooster developed MG over the winter while he was housed with one other young hen at the time away from my layers. He presented the bubbly eyes, mostly clear nasal discharge and rattling breathing with his mouth open. He and his coopmate were treated with denegaurd, but I cannot remember the dose (I found it on here somewhere). He still seems sickly at times, but right now the worst of it is the depluming mites issue which has started to spread to my hens. He moved into the hen house with his coopmate in March I think and I had treated them with denegaurd in January or February. Since then, they all freerange together and he is now actively mating all of the females. I also have younger pullets and a few cockerels around 14 weeks of age who are on the same property, but have never been free ranged and they have their own coop and enclosed run. One of them had bloody stool two weeks ago and I had a fecal sample tested at the vets. It came back as a moderate coccidiosis infection and so they were all treated with corid for 5 days. The vet told me not to worry about my hens if they don't have access to the younger ones yard because they likely have developed an immunity towards cocci by this age.
I am wondering if cocci always presents as bloody stool or if my hens might have been infected first and are still trying to fight it off? Is it vent gleet that spread through my rooster mating all my hens? Is it possible that their feed is bad and causing them to get sick? Would MG spread to my whole flock and cause symptoms like this?
PLEASE HELP ME HELP MY POOR CHICKENS! I feel like I have neglected them by not knowing what to do for them... :-(
I have a hen (silver laced wyandotte) that turned a year old 2 months ago and she has yet to lay a single egg for me and I have never seen her inside any of the nesting boxes. She has some feathers that grow in backwards on her tail just around her preening gland that make her tail stick straight up in the air and her lacing pattern is not even close to what it should be. I got her from Agway and so I do not know what hatchery she came from or whether she was vaccinated as a chick, but suspect that she has some genetic issues. She acts very strange (slow mentally) and makes different noises than my other hens. No one wants to roost next to her, but no one really picks on her either-she is paid very little attention by the flock.
I noticed a few months ago that one of her pupils looked strange and discovered that she is blind in one eye. I have no idea what caused this or when it happened. Maybe she has been like that since she was a chick and I just didn't notice, but it seems like it may have happened over the winter at some point. The pupil does not react to light and stays the same small size, but her eye is clear otherwise. She cannot see you approaching on her right side and is easily startled because of this.
In the past couple of months she has started to drink ridiculous amounts of water to the point of her bending over and overflowing clear fluid out of her mouth several times during the day. This happens every single day and it is very disturbing to watch, especially when the other hens run over and try to eat it!.. She also has been having extremely watery stools. They are mostly clear and water like with some solids, but they come blasting out like a super soaker...
Two months ago this hen had wet bum feathers that looked sort of like vent gleet, but she never had a bad smell to her and there wasn't much for solids sticking to her feathers. It didn't seem to me like that was what was going on, but maybe I am wrong. She ate normally and drank plenty of water so I didn't think much of it until I saw her standing off from the flock a couple of times with ruffled feathers and her eyes closed. I cleaned her up once or twice and since then even though she is still having the very wet stools, it doesn't seem to be sticking to her feathers. I started all of them on organic ACV (with the mother) in their water every other day for a week and then randomly since then and she did seem to perk up some. I also gave probiotics in their water on the off days. I have not seen her standing off alone with her eyes closed since then, she has been actively foraging with the other hens and eating as normal.
I noticed recently that some of my other hens are experiencing the watery stools and increased thirst, but not nearly as bad as this particular hen. I am thinking whatever it is, it is spreading and I want to help them feel better ASAP I just have no idea what is going on!
I am currently treating my entire flock with ivermectin pour on weekly in order to try to get rid of the dreaded quill (depluming) mite which I first saw signs of in my rooster, but it took a while to figure out what they were. I have given them 3 doses so far, but her weird symptoms started way before this treatment schedule started. I believe that my onne year old rooster developed MG over the winter while he was housed with one other young hen at the time away from my layers. He presented the bubbly eyes, mostly clear nasal discharge and rattling breathing with his mouth open. He and his coopmate were treated with denegaurd, but I cannot remember the dose (I found it on here somewhere). He still seems sickly at times, but right now the worst of it is the depluming mites issue which has started to spread to my hens. He moved into the hen house with his coopmate in March I think and I had treated them with denegaurd in January or February. Since then, they all freerange together and he is now actively mating all of the females. I also have younger pullets and a few cockerels around 14 weeks of age who are on the same property, but have never been free ranged and they have their own coop and enclosed run. One of them had bloody stool two weeks ago and I had a fecal sample tested at the vets. It came back as a moderate coccidiosis infection and so they were all treated with corid for 5 days. The vet told me not to worry about my hens if they don't have access to the younger ones yard because they likely have developed an immunity towards cocci by this age.
I am wondering if cocci always presents as bloody stool or if my hens might have been infected first and are still trying to fight it off? Is it vent gleet that spread through my rooster mating all my hens? Is it possible that their feed is bad and causing them to get sick? Would MG spread to my whole flock and cause symptoms like this?
PLEASE HELP ME HELP MY POOR CHICKENS! I feel like I have neglected them by not knowing what to do for them... :-(
