I need EXPETISE PLEASE! PLEASE HELP US...see images in profile

[familycomp3]

Its a long story so I am sorry, there ARE PICTURES IN MY PROFILE TO REFERENCE!! PLEASE HELP US

I have wanted chickens a very long time. Been collecting FREE wood for month and all other materials needed for a coop. From wood to wire, to tyvek and even metal roofing. As my husband was grabbing some wood from a building demo down the road another person pulled up for some as well and asked what it was for and my husband told him, and then this man proceeded to tell my husband about this lady that has some chickens he thinks she would part with for free.

I called her 2 weeks later on a whim (this was 3.5 weeks ago) because I was sick of waiting and I THREW a coop together. It was really quite impressive for my little 110lb self. Lifting 5x8' sheets of plywood. I am sure it was a sight to behold. So I went to get hte chickens and she let me barrow a HUGE dog kennel to transport and trusted I would bring it back, she had them all picked and packed before I got there. She filled my head with TONS of useful info (and some stuff I THOUGHT was not quite right too..like, dont clean out their coop ALL winter as the poo generates heat) UM...NO THANKS I was thinking! Now ALL the 6 hens looked GREAT 3 1.5 yr old buff orpington all laying and all plump but one really. The one that was NOT SO PLUMP I asked why she (and only she) was missing some feathers on her back. She said they just finished their molt and that they should grow in soon. One of the other ones that looked very healthy was over sprayed with purple paint and she told me she got int he way as she was trying to spray her rooster (NO IDEA WHAT ANY OF THAT MEANT, BUT OK) Then she gave me 3 - 4 month old white rocks. They all look good, a little small and they do NOT lay YET, but they are young still.

After 3 days of them being cooped up I FINALLY let them out (HEY, I FELT bad, I couldnt leave them in there for 1 whole week. You should have seen her coop. I GOOD sized fenced in basically MUD PIT, with a small camper for shetler for them) So I felt bad leaving them in their new 5'x8'x3' coop. I knew I would free range them so the small size is not an issue, and they really LOVED it as ALL THREE hens already laying were giving me eggs EVERY DAY! When I returned the dog crate even she was like "WOW, they must be happy" Then I went to a local agway and bought a GREAT looking rooster. I threw him right in with the free range hens and the first night he would not go in the coop. Okay, so he stayed out and every night thereafter they all went in together. They do EXACTLY as they should in the yard. The rooster leads the flock. I have foudn gREAT GREAT joy in watching them and seeing just how smart they truly are.

So 2.5 weeks ago I noticed these white spot forming on my normally healthy looking roosters wattle, but I only had him 3 days when I FIRST started to see these. EVERYTHING I was looking up showed BLACK spots so I have asked my farmer friends. 2 days later emailed the Agway I got the rooster from with pictures, and then called the vet (THEY CALLED ME THREE DAYS LATER MAY I ADD) Agway said I coudl return him but I really just wanted to know what was wrong, and SOLVE IT!! I LIKE my rooster and YES got attached in just a short week! So I kept him. After a few days so 2 weeks ago they began to turn black. The VET AND the agway place thought pox since they went white to black and at that point was flicking his head from aggrevation or pain I suspect Avian pox? The vet would have to come out at $90 to actually diagnose and provide medicine at additional cost. She suggested I wait it out at that point even since the roosters spots where drying and he was eating and drinking as he should.

Then a week ago I noticed the hen that was lacking some back feathers was now losing LOTS of feathers AND WEIGHT! And my rooster was too losing weight now, though I dont see he eats any less these days. All the hens crowns and wattles have looked great until TODAY! I see tiny spots here and there on ALL the buff orpingtons crowns, and their eyes are turning white and like foaming at the eyes, the one that was losing LOTS of feathers pretty mcuh lost 40% of them JUST LASTNIGHT and her and my rooster look so small all of a sudden. Pooping constantly with a mix of sometimes more solid and other times diarhea. That goes back and forth. They still act as usual, really except ALL EGG LAYING HAS DECEASED AS OF THIS WEEK! NO EGGS SINCE SATURDAY WHERE THERE WHERE 2 EGGS WITH A SMALLEST AMT OF BLOOD ON THE EGGS BUT IT WAS DEFINITELY BLOOD!

What the hey do I DO? :C I can hardly even look at them I feel this huge feeling of guilt, like I should have never done this. I was too uneducated. BUT I KNOW PLENTLY of people who have had chickens for years and nNEVER HAVE THEY EVER had an issue like this. I have cleaned my coop ... YES... now 5 times in the 3.5 weeks. Built them a new coop (well someone else did Its twice the size just better overall (that was saturday, so at first I wondered if it was stress from the new coop) We collect feathers of there and there are so so many all over my yard as it now also looks like the other 2 buffs are going to loose thier feather too because they look...LOOSE? If that makes any sense. So anyways...the feather, I have never noticed anything on them as I have the kids check them WELL but yesterday we picked up a feather with one red little spider looking thing. It was so so tiny. Was that a mite? It was the only one I have seen and I have held the chickens on MORE than one occassion.

ANY INSITE would be GREAT! NATURAL WAYS TO HEAL THEM!! Especially if you can save my flock AND save me $90 as I just did not EVER EXPECT a flock of chickens could succum to such horrible illness. It kills my heart to see them like this. HELP

 

[Lady Badlands]

Omigoodness, it sounds terrible. I'm so sorry for what you're going through. Sounds as though the Rooster must have been diseased and the hens caught it. They were probably stressed from moving to a new environment and whatever the Roo has was easily transferred to the hens, who's immune system was stressed.

I'm sending healing energy to you and to your flock and hope that this nightmare will turn into something positive.

All the best to you!

 

[familycomp3]

oh and can anyone tell me whether THEY THINK this would have started with the hen that was shy a few feathers right from the first day I got her...or with the rooster who has now had the spots almost 2 weeks now??

 

[maggiemo]

Wow. I am so sorry you are going through this. I am going through something very similar. I have a young flock and I very impulsively added 4 more hens a week ago. Yesterday 4 of my birds have swollen eyes. I took them to CSU vet clinic to get cultured and a diognosis so I can properly treat them. I am positive that something came in with those birds. Of course I just threw them in with everyone and now I (my birds) are going to pay the price.
Again, sorry you are going through this.
I learned my lesson. I will never mix flocks again.

 

[familycomp3]

Thank you for the well wishes! I learned my lesson too...don't take FREE BIRDS!! HA! I am so bummed and now faced with a moral dilemma. Is it MY responsibility as their owner to dish out this $100+ , to jsut see if it passes, or to actually do away with them as to save them any more suffering? My heart aches for them

May I add though, that much makes me hopeful for their recovery as I said it seems they just walk around ALL DAY eating the stuff in the yard, I am filling their food everyday, they LOVE treats still, I walk out the door with anything and they ALL come running so fast. They dig and play, and harass each other a little.

 

[dawg53]

You are looking for "NATURAL WAYS TO HEAL THEM." You got your healing energy from Lady Badlands to you and your flock.
See or feel the difference?
Here's what's going on....your rooster has fowl pox. Dry fowl pox takes about a month (more or less) to go away on its own. It is usually transmitted via mosquitos and is a virus. Antibiotics will not treat a virus. Fowl pox is contageous to your other birds, not to humans. Eggs are safe to eat. Once the fowl pox runs its course through your flock, your birds will be immune to that particular strain in the future.
There are 2 reasons why your birds are losing feathers: They are either going through molt, which is normal this time of the year. Or by your description of a tiny red in color spider looking thing...is most likely a red chicken mite. All your birds need to be dusted with sevin dust. You'll need to dust the inside of their coop, roosts and nests. Redust your chickens again in 7-10 days...inside the coop, roosts and nests again. This will effectively end the mites lifecycle.
While your at it, worm all your chickens with valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer. Dose them orally, undiluted, using a syringe without a needle. Give them 1/2cc orally, then repeat again in 10 days. Toss eggs in the garbage for 2 weeks after the last dosing.

 

[CMV]

Well, you have a lot going on right now. The spots sound like fowl pox. The foaming eyes sounds like a respiratory ailment. The feathers dropping sounds like a molt. The fact that the birds were fine until the roo came into the pic, I would say that he was carrying something that infected the hens. It's hard to tell for sure, though, because your timeline is not real clear. Either way, you are going to need to separate the sick birds from the healthy ones.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Quite honestly, if you have no other hens to pass anything on to, I would wait it out and see if they recover. The feather loss could be molting. And hens do gets stressed when you move them to a new environment and stop laying, even if it is a better environment. I moved my chickens to their new coop this summer and had to keep them inside for a couple of weeks while we finished the run. They stopped laying for at least 6 weeks. Changing their feed can upset them too. Are you feeding them the same as the lady you got them from?

Unless they are obviously suffering, just give them good fresh feed and water, plenty of both. If you can, alternate adding RAW Apple Cider Vinegar and vitamins to the water (don't add together) to give them an extra help. You can also give them a good organic, plain yogurt to put good bugs in the tummies - mix with a little feed to help keep the mess down. Also think about worming them. With a little extra care and patience, you may be surprised at how resilient they can be.

 

[familycomp3]

I WONDERED too if the rooster and the hens were experiencing just completely different things because everyone seems to say definitely to the dry pox on the rooster. And YES now that it has been 3 weeks...the rooster is showing many signs of improvment (though still very gradual)

The feather I had found with the little red bug had been on the ground for however long, and have seen NO other signs of them. When I went out to take pictures about an hour ago I grabbed one of my white rocks and checked her all over (though not impressed) not a single thing looked off on her. That little tiny red bug was awfully small and DOES make me wonder if I would see them ON THEM! If they do have mites, would that have come from one of the 2 places where the birds came from, or COULD they pick something like that up just hanging around in the yard?

 

[KYTinpusher]

Didn't see the mite problem at first. I personally don't like Sevin, even though many use it successfully. Make a dust bath for the chickens. I mix 1 part sphagnum moss, 1 part wood ash, 1 part sand, and 1 part diatomaceous earth (food grade, NOT pool stuff). You can give them a jump start by bathing them or dusting them directly with the diatomaceous earth, too.