Hen open mouth breathing greenish watery poop pecking in the air

[Petitebird]

This hen loves to eat, but she got squish crop and acted sluggish five days ago.

I treated her crop for one day, and she went back to normal for one day. The. She was sick again, breathing with her mouth open and wings spreading out. She was still eating.

so I thought she might have some kind of respiratory disease. So, I went to tractor supply and bought Vetrx and put drops of solution over her before I went to bed.
The next morning, she was completely unresponsive to food, and seemed to have some kind of nerve issue. I gave her some vitamin and she started to eat. But she would aim at wrong place when she ate. I had to put the food right before her face for her to eat. Still she would miss some.

She was breathing with her mouth open like in the picture for the whole evening last night. And this morning, she refused to eat again, just sitting there with her mouth open. She did drink some water ( I put electrolytes and probiotics in the water). She managed to eat some wet feed which was mixed with popa poultry complete.

At this point, I don’t know what to do because it seems Vetrx did not work for her, instead, it messed with her nerve system.

I have always been giving my chickens RopaPoultry, so I doubt that she has parasites. But, what can be the cause of her greenish watery poop?

I have Corid, Vetrx and antibiotics that vet prescribed. Should I try Vetrx again? Or should I just give her the antibiotics (SMZ TMP)? Or should I give her a couple of drops of concentrated RopaPoultry to work as antibiotics? I am afraid that SMZ TMP will mess up her crop if her crop is still not well.

 

[KaseySnow]

I know it's been some time since you posted this, but is there any update? Is she still alive?

Have you talked to your vet about these issues? I doubt the vetrx messed with her nervous system, it probably just didn't help whatever is going on.

Does her mouth have a sour smell? What does her crop feel like?

It might be some kind of blockage if she isn't eating. Perhaps best to isolate her in case it is contagious and maybe even withold food for a day or two in case her crop is overloaded.

 

[Petitebird]

I know it's been some time since you posted this, but is there any update? Is she still alive?

Have you talked to your vet about these issues? I doubt the vetrx messed with her nervous system, it probably just didn't help whatever is going on.

Does her mouth have a sour smell? What does her crop feel like?

It might be some kind of blockage if she isn't eating. Perhaps best to isolate her in case it is contagious and maybe even withold food for a day or two in case her crop is overloaded.

Thank you for responding. She was gone the next day. And I did necropsy on her. The lab doctor told me she had cancer tumors on her liver spleen and lung, and she had pneumonia. The merak’s disease is probably the cause of everything. I have two other hens left that eat very little and not produce many eggs.

 

[KaseySnow]

I'm so sorry to hear it. Mareks is rough, we have it in our coop as well.

I dunno if you've seen this already, but this is the best resource on Mareks disease that I've ever found online. Highly recommend reading through it to learn more about how the disease works and how to prevent spread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Petitebird]

Thank you so much! Love the link that you sent to me although I have not finished reading it. Here is the final report for her death:


Backyard
Marek's Disease.
Aspiration pneumonia.
Candidiasis (Crop Mycosis)

What happened to your flock after identifying Marek’s disease among them? Did you start giving vaccine to your babies?

I am really heartbroken I attached her pictures one year ago.

 

[KaseySnow]

We actually found out we had it in our flock when we tried to introduce a bunch of young pullets to the flock... only a few survived, most caught Marek's and died even though all the pullets had been vaccinated.

We have only introduced older birds since then and the survival rate has been much higher. My theory is that their immune systems are more developed and they are better able to fight it off.

We have decided to sort of let these girls die off before trying to clean the place and introduce any more birds. Most of the flock is around 10 years old, so I imagine we won't be waiting much longer.

Mareks can supposedly live in the ground for months to years, so getting rid of it is nearly impossible. Our vet seems to think that it may have a shorter lifespan in our climate though since we are in Colorado, which is technically a high desert, very dry. We'll see what happens. I've read you can get soil samples tested for Marek's, so we may end up doing that for a while until we get the all clear.

 

[Petitebird]

10 years old? They can live so long? My backyard is very wet, and I was suspecting that it had something to do with my flooded backyard. What are you going to do with soil test if proven positive?

 

[KaseySnow]

I've heard of hens as old as 16! They can live a long time if they're hardy and well cared for.

The virus can live longer in a moist environment, but realistically they probably got it from something contaminated being brought in (virus cells on something from the feed store, the shoes or clothing of someone who had been to an infected coop, a rodent or other wild animal carrying the virus, etc). Heck, even the wind can carry it in on feathers and dandruff from any other coop from miles around. Were they vaccinated as chicks when you got them? Most big hatcheries do, but if you got them from a backyard breeder, craigslist, a friend, etc it is unlikely they were vaccinated since many people don't know to do that.

As for what we will do, not sure, probably remove the topsoil and spray with some kind of antiviral if we can and, ideally, retest every month until it's negative. Our flock is limited to a large coop and run and do not free range, so it's a bit easier to practice biosecurity in this way.

We are likely going to be remodeling the run and coop to rodent proof it by digging up a bunch of soil around the perimeter to bury hardware cloth anyway, so the timing might work out.

It's a tough virus to get rid of though, and most likely it will show up in our flock again down the road because it's in a public place (I volunteer with a flock at a local history park) and there's a lot of people from all over who visit and toss feed in. So not only could the people be bringing it on their clothes or shoes from their own flocks, but the feed attracts wild birds and rodents who also carry the virus with them.

We may have a better chance trying to breed our younger girls (we have a couple under 6 years old) for Marek's resistance and just have a flock that carries it but is more naturally immune to the virus. There are threads on BYC about breeding for resistence if you are interested in going that route.

I highly recommend finishing that article on Marek's that I sent you before you decide how you want to handle it. It talks a lot about biosecurity and next steps once you have the virus in your flock.

 

[Petitebird]

Thank you! Yes, I will finish reading the article. It looks like Easter Eggers, the breed that I have, are not strong enough in front of the virus.

 

[KaseySnow]

Could be just the line of EEs you have. We have an EE in our flock and she's at least 7. Each bird is different, Marek's resistance breeding is kind of an ongoing process. I think there is one breed of chickens that is more naturally immune to it, I can't recall what it is though.

Just did a quick search and it looks like game breeds (especially oriental), the Russian Orloff, and Egyptian Fayoumi are supposedly more resistant to Mareks. I also read that some have anecdotally seen success raising their chicks with turkeys to increase resistance. There may be something to that since the Mareks vaccine is basically the turkey version of the virus, perhaps it's like a constant low dose exposure? I have not done any research on the credibility of these claims though, so take it with a grain of salt.