I'm at a loss

[MissPriss]

Brownie was walking wobbly the other day. The next day she quit standing. I brought her inside. She acted like she could not walk. When I turn her over she kicks her legs. I have put her in the bath a couple of times per day and she "walks" in the water. I know she can move her legs to some extent.

The first day I was worried she was egg-bound. I just do not feel an egg. (5 days later either). The second day she started showing signs of sour crop. I think I got that taken care of...crop is back to normal, stuff is passing out of both ends, no icky smell. She was eating a minimal amount of food---yogurt, scrambled eggs, drinking lots of water...

Today she refuses to eat or drink and sit still not standing.

Her comb is bright red and floppy. Her eyes are bright. She vacillates between being very alert for a few minutes then sleeping for hours on end.

She clucked at me a couple of times yesterday...today, no such luck.

Her feces is loose and green. Breathing seems fine---not labored or raspy.

Today she started drooling when she sleeps. That is normal for me but not a chicken....

Her balance is still off. She falls to the side if she does not have one of her wings out or she is not propped up.

I have gone through the threads. If it is Merecks, how long do I give her to see if she recovers?

Our vet does not know much about chickens and the avian vet in town does not want much to do with them either. I was able to get some antibiotics for the sour crop, but it was a fight.

Any suggestions. I don't want Brownie to suffer, but I also don't want to euthanize her unnecessarily.

 

[faykokoWV]

Hopefully someone with more experience can answer your question

 

[robin416]

My first thought is poisoning of some kind. If you have or can get hand rearing formula for cage birds she might be willing to eat that since its moist. I would also offer her some cooked oatmeal.

 

[Judy]

You could read up here on botulism; does she free range at all, have access to compost or fallen fruit or such things? It could also be an internal laying problem; you did not say if she is laying, or what her age is. Does she feel thin or light, have a prominent keel bone? Has she been wormed? Checked for mites/lice? What is the feed and bedding?

The green poop might just indicate she is not eating much. If she is not paralyzed anywhere, not sure Marek's would be my first thought, not that it couldn't be the cause.

I'd certainly try isolating her and boosting nutrition and vitamins before I euthanized, at least.

 

[Nif]

My first thought is poisoning of some kind. If you have or can get hand rearing formula for cage birds she might be willing to eat that since its moist. I would also offer her some cooked oatmeal.

I was thinking poisoning too...of some sort. Also adding some molasses would be helpful. Let me see if I can find how much. Threehorses suggested it in a recent post.


Here is a quote from threehorses:

A few drops of molasses, a teaspoon of applesauce, a teaspoon of yogurt, some honey if you have it, and crumbles. That will help flush the 'stuff' out of her system, the applesauce will cleanse and then make good bacteria happy in her gut, the yogurt will replace good bacteria in the 'clean slate' that the flush leaves, and they just like the honey. The crumbles will take up the extra moisture.

Hope this helps!​

 

[MissPriss]

THank you all for the information. Unfortunatley I asked too late. After a good 5 day fight, Brownie passed peacefully yesterday.

For other people's info---if it helps, answers to some of the other questions-- we just got our lawn mower back after 2 very long weeks, and I mowed. Let the girls out to free range immediately after and Brownie was sick the next morning. THe clippings had not sat long. I think they mainly feasted on the grasshoppers that were everywhere

Brownie was about a year old, a very good layer. She was not the alpha chicken, but certainly not at the end of the pecking order either.

Her keel bone was prominent at the end, but she had lost a lot of weight. I tried an epsom salt flush in case she still had some souries in her crop. She was mite free and (I think) worm free.

They have a 50 x 50 x 6' pen around their house, and get free range priviledges a couple of evenings a week. (My cattle dogs are not chicken friendly

)

We do have wild cherry trees on the property---pits contain some cyanide compound, but I have read that the pits pass through them too quickly to break down.

Thankfully, none of my other girls are showing any signs of illness. 3 black stars, 5 red stars, 4 RRs and 5 leghorns. The kids took it better than me. She earned a spot under their favorite rose bush.

Anyhow, thank you again for the suggestions.

 

[Nif]

I'm sorry that you lost her!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

for you

Sadly sometime we never know what causes their passing.

for dear Brownie