hen with diarrhea died last night

[sweetbirch]

Hi everyone,

One of our 2 year old RIRs died last night. She had watery greenish diarrhea for a few days, otherwise looked OK. Color good, behavior normal. Yesterday morning was lethargic, walking around slowly, wings drooping down, tail at half mast. I separated her, and she wouldn't eat or drink. Checked for eggs, couldn't feel any, but her abdomen felt swollen and squishy. She started breathing heavily and died soon after.

There are now 3 others with diarrhea. When I've been able to see them poop, it's greenish liquid with white streaks. Then they sometime seem to have solid poop, but it's starting to stick to their butt feathers. Also, a one year old barred rock died about 2 months or so ago. She also had diarrhea, and she was always weaker and smaller than the others. The others seemed fine after that, so I thought it was an isolated thing. Now I don't know.

I started giving them all ACV in their water the last few days, and garlic and yogurt the past 2 days. They get layer mash and they free range most days.

I looked around at other posts and disease references, and can't quite pin this down. I'd appreciate any help, as I'm a newbie. This is year 2 with chickens.

Thanks!

 

[chickenzoo]

When were your chickens last wormed? Worms can cause a lot of problems in chickens. Was she the only one feeling squishy in the backend? Sometimes internal layers/ wrong way eggs etc...will fill with fluid or infection and they end up looking like they were caring a water balloon.

 

[sweetbirch]

They have never been wormed, which I'm kind of regretting now after reading some of the posts. Our local chicken "mentors" never worm, so we never did either. I do have some wazine in the house which I was thinking of giving them tomorrow. I did manage to check one of the RIRs with diarrhea today and she felt a bit squishy, too. The rocks are hard to catch, but I'll try again tonight. I wondered about internal laying but then why would more than one be affected at the same time? Would worms cause the swollen abdomen? THanks for the help!

 

[chickenzoo]

Sometimes change in diet can aggravate the reproductive tracts of chickens also. Too much protein for long periods can cause irritation and cause problems in more than one to show. But I would try the wormer first. Wazine only treats round worms, which are the most common. If no improvement after 2 weeks then you might dose them with Safe guard liquid goat wormer 3cc per gallon of their water for 3 days. If you see mites or lice crawling on them, they can also cause the chickens to go downhill because of loss of blood. If you see them, dust them with Seven dust or instead of using Safeguard, use Ivomectrian Eprix(sp). Most wormers have a 30 day withdrawl time on eggs.. except Wazine and Ivomec Eprix I believe... but I do anyway....

 

[sweetbirch]

Their grain hasn't changed, they are on organic 16% layer, but they do free range, so they forage a lot this time of year. I did have some compost delivered from a local dairy farm, and they've been digging around in that. I don't know if that would cause problems. No mites or lice that I can see. Their feathers look shiny and eyes bright.They do seem skinny, though, I can feel the breast bone more than usual.

Would it be better to try a more broad spectrum wormer first, rather than the wazine? And is it OK to worm them when some of them have diarrhea or are they too weakened? Also, I have chicks in the brooder. They are separated, but should I be worried about this affecting the babes? Could it be infectious?

 

[chickenzoo]

It sounds more like worms, it is naturally in the ground but environmental things affect that.. ie: adding new birds, wild birds and animals passing through etc... Since they have not been wormed, I feel that perhaps using the Safeguard liquid goat dewormer might be the easiest on them and you for now. I have a lot of birds so i do it every 6 months or if I see symptoms... some people once a year or every other, just depends on your environment load.

 

[sweetbirch]

OK, that sounds good. I'll try to get to Tractor Supply today and pick some up. Thanks for the help! It's great to have some support here... it's easy to panic alone.