I have 1 chicken dead, 1 with sour crop and 2 with gurgly throats??

[ev-chicka]

What’s going on? I don’t know if it’s all related but I have to assume it is!

Several days ago I noticed one of my splash pullets making weird neck jerking motions here and there. I inspected her crop and it was soft, squishy and could feel fluid. I separated her and limited her food, gave ACV water and started a yeast infection cream treatment orally. She’s had 3 doses now and there’s been no change.

Yesterday I noticed a marans pullet sound gurgly in her throat and sneezed here and there. So I separated her gave garlic in water and herbs in feed for respiratory.

When I got home in the evening noticed one of my younger chicks in a different pen wasaying down and ill and a few minutes later she died in my arms. Her crop was guild filled and she leaked fluid from mouth before she died. I don’t know if that is illness or that happens when they die like emptying bowels (she did that too) and stomach is a automatic bodily response.

This morning I listened to hear if anyone sounded ill and my littlest 6 week old sounds gurgly in her throat, otherwise normal, so I’ve separated her. I’m running out of places to put them all!

Do you experts thing it is something respiratory even tho the original splash had no respiratory symptoms just crop? Or some virus that causes all of these things. I’m just not sure how to treat and going to a vet isn’t really an option so looking for thoughts. To make things worse, haha, I’m from Canada and can’t get antibiotics (only from a vet).
I’ll continue giving the splash thebueast cream but what to do with the others? ACV, herbs, garlic Etc? I don’t have Vetrx on hand either.

 

[azygous]

It sounds like an underlying issue affecting all the flock, and crop issues are secondary to it. The culprit could be a respiratory infection or it could be parasites such as intestinal worms or coccidia.

You don't need to keep separating the symptomatic birds as whatever it is, they've all been exposed to it by now. Living in Canada with restrictive rules on medications you are pretty much at the mercy of a vet. But you can minimize the expense by asking for a fecal float test on random poop samples.

From there, you should be able to find out if parasites are the underlying cause and you can then get the amprolium for coccidia and treat the flock yourself. The same goes for worms if that's the problem, unless the government controls the sale of worming meds and coccidiostats, too.

You can treat multiple chickens with sour crop with copper sulfate in their water, if you can get it.

Treating a respiratory infection will require an antibiotic. There's no way you can do that without a vet. Yay. Freedom.

 

[Quackter]

What I would do, I am a bit backwoods, soo.. if you feel like it's voodoo, I understand.
I'd give them some pumpkin seed treats, if you think they'll choke the little one's, drop them in the food processor for a couple seconds. From my reasoning leave them chunky, so they are irritating the worms clear up to their gizzards. It's a good excuse to have the first Jack-o-lantern on the block too.

At the first sign of a sniffle, we drop a couple cinnamon sticks, a few cardamom pods, a tablespoon of turmeric into roughly 4 gallon waterers. You can concentrate this, boil it and let it cool, then give them roughly a tablespoon orally with a syringe, no needle, (I use a dollar tree turkey baster, ironically.) We haven't seen any negatives, and they really have a boost the next day. Side by side they will drink the tea before the water. Bare minimum it will help with the inflammation.

 

[ev-chicka]

It sounds like an underlying issue affecting all the flock, and crop issues are secondary to it. The culprit could be a respiratory infection or it could be parasites such as intestinal worms or coccidia.

You don't need to keep separating the symptomatic birds as whatever it is, they've all been exposed to it by now. Living in Canada with restrictive rules on medications you are pretty much at the mercy of a vet. But you can minimize the expense by asking for a fecal float test on random poop samples.

From there, you should be able to find out if parasites are the underlying cause and you can then get the amprolium for coccidia and treat the flock yourself. The same goes for worms if that's the problem, unless the government controls the sale of worming meds and coccidiostats, too.

You can treat multiple chickens with sour crop with copper sulfate in their water, if you can get it.

Treating a respiratory infection will require an antibiotic. There's no way you can do that without a vet. Yay. Freedom.

Would this be the Copper Sulfate that I can use?

 

[azygous]

Yes. The only difference between that and acidified copper sulfate is the latter has the water heated out of it. If you were to dry it (the blue stuff) out in the oven it would be identical to acidified copper sulfate which is white.

Be aware though that copper sulfate is highly toxic in amounts larger than what is recommended as crop treatment for poultry - one teaspoon per gallon of water.

 

[orrpeople]

I agree that you're dealing with symptoms of something else. Is the crop paralysis all you have noticed? (Look at the way they walk, etc. as well.) Also, could you post poop pics?

 

[ev-chicka]

I have 3 chickens separated right now. My splash with sour crop is only showing the neck jerking (like adjusting the crop?) and has stopped laying. Otherwise active and normal in her crate. I relate the egg laying to lack of food, digestion and stress.

The marans is showing some respiratory illness I think with difficult breathing, some sneezing, hoarse sounding throat. I don’t think she’s going to recover but she’s hanging in there. I’m getting antibiotics but it will be a few days still...

The 3rd is the 6 week old and she is bright and chipper but has a phlegmy sounding throat so I separated her and maybe caught it early enough.

It’s possible it’s all related but the splash with sour crop is not showing respiratory issues. All of their poop looks quite normal (not diarrhea) but the 6 week old had one like this this morning. Bit of red in it.

 

[ev-chicka]

I agree that you're dealing with symptoms of something else. Is the crop paralysis all you have noticed? (Look at the way they walk, etc. as well.) Also, could you post poop pics?

 

[Kiki]

Are you in the US?


Sounds like your birds might be having trouble breathing... respiratory disease.

Is a vet an option?

 

[Kiki]

No amount of ACV, garlic & herbs or pumpkin seeds are going to help your birds.

You need antibiotics to try to save them.