Impaction? Infectious bronchitis? Mites? What is causing this?

[thechicksitter]

Please help. I have no idea what is happening with my birds.
A few days ago I came outside to find one of my bantam pullets huddled in a corner. I pulled her out and noticed a long black string wrapped around her foot and in her mouth like she had swallowed it.
After many miserable attempts to pull it out, I cut it as far into her mouth as possible, gave her some olive oil and massaged her throat where it felt hard. She seemed better, so I put her back outside that night.
The next morning she hid in the corner again. There's was a hard spot above her crop. Not the actual crop. The crop was empty.

I Massaged it regularly throughout the day (which she loooooved) and it finally seemed to shrink and her poop was normal again by that night (it was mostly watery before that). We put her back outside. The next day she seemed fine until afternoon so I brought her back inside. She started sneezing very occasionally and her mouth would occasionally look like its full of mucus. No mucus in nose or eyes. And she will occasionally gape like she can't breathe (no gape worms). I gave her some VetRx and that seemed to help some.

Then I noticed mites on her, because they started crawling on me

They weren't there the two days before when I had been holding her all day. The other two chickens in that coop also had mites. We've never had mites before. I bought their coop used a couple of weeks ago but the owner said it was empty for three years, and I painted it, and dusted the inside with DE before the birds moved in.

I treated everyone with ivermectin pour on and started everyone exposed to the little bantam on antibiotics (Duramycin). Today the bantam looks much much better but I went outside and found another sick pullet. There were 2 in another coop nearby, and they didn't show any signs of mites, but I treated them anyway to be careful.
The newest sick hen doesn't have any of the same symptoms. Just extremely lethargic and very week. No signs of mucus or respirator problems or crop problems, etc. but she looks really really bad. She can't seem to keep her head up long.
Could she be having a reaction to any of the meds?

 

[Eggcessive]

The newest sick chicken could possibly have coccidiosis or dehydration, causing the weakness and drooping neck. Other symptoms of coccidiosis are runny poops with mucus or blood, hunched or puffed up posture, lethargy, and ruffled feathers. Corid is the treatment for cocci, but if she is just dehydrated, I would give her electrolytes and vitamins in her water (such as SaveAChick.) Gatorade or Pedialyte will work temporarily. Corid dosage is 2 tsp of the liquid Corid, or 1 1/2 tsp of the powder, per gallon of water for 5 days. Mites can be brought in on bales of straw. The coop bedding will need changing while the floor and nest boxes will need treated. Liquid or powder Permethrin works well, and the chickens need retreatment in 7 days until not signs of mites. Here is a link to many threads about chickens swallowing strings if you want to read a few: https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=chicken+swallowed+a+string

 

[thechicksitter]

The newest sick chicken could possibly have coccidiosis or dehydration, causing the weakness and drooping neck. Other symptoms of coccidiosis are runny poops with mucus or blood, hunched or puffed up posture, lethargy, and ruffled feathers. Corid is the treatment for cocci, but if she is just dehydrated, I would give her electrolytes and vitamins in her water (such as SaveAChick.) Gatorade or Pedialyte will work temporarily. Corid dosage is 2 tsp of the liquid Corid, or 1 1/2 tsp of the powder, per gallon of water for 5 days. Mites can be brought in on bales of straw. The coop bedding will need changing while the floor and nest boxes will need treated. Liquid or powder Permethrin works well, and the chickens need retreatment in 7 days until not signs of mites. Here is a link to many threads about chickens swallowing strings if you want to read a few:  https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=chicken+swallowed+a+string

Thanks for the response! The original pullet that swallowed the string seems to have recovered from that.

I'm not sure about coccidiosis though. I just got a look at her poo and it's completely clear and watery like the first chick after she swallowed the string. No blood.
She's a frizzle so it's hard to tell about ruffled feathers but she's not all poofy like my other chickens get when they don't feel great. No droopy tail. No blood.
I do have corid on hand though. Do you think that would be better than the duramycin?

 

[Eggcessive]

If it looks like a respiratory disease to you with sneezing and a runny nose, then treat for that with Tetracyclines or Tylan, although viral diseases such as infectious bronchitis won't be affected. If it looks like coccidiosis, then use the Corid. It gets a little complicated with different chickens in different coops with different symptoms. You may have a couple of illnesses in the different groups.

 

[thechicksitter]

It honestly doesn't fit what I've read about either one. The first chicken showed signs of respiratory illness on top of an impaction. This second chicken has no symptoms except being on deaths door.

It's too weak to hold its head up for long and it keeps dropping its head face down into the ground like they do as chicks when they pass out asleep (She's 2 months old now).
It's not drinking the drops of water on its beak and I have to open its mouth to get anything in. It's barely breathing or moving. Poop looks like water. She was fine yesterday.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Not all cocci will show blood in poop, just diarrhea... I'd run a course of Corid just to make sure...

 

[thechicksitter]

I think I'll switch to Corid because coccidiosis fits better than respiratory issues at this point. I think?
Its just so strange for all of these issues to pop up at the same time. I've never had any real problem with illnesses or parasites before now in any of our 9 birds. I try very hard to keep their living space as clean and sanitary as possible.

 

[thechicksitter]

Should the exposed birds outside be put on corid or duramycin or should I just watch for symptoms? I cleared out the entire run and coops yesterday. Do I need to bleach the coops or anything on top of putting down poultry dust for the mites?
Food and water bowls have been sanitized.

 

[thechicksitter]

She just passed away in my hand. I've never lost a chicken before. How could it happen so fast with no symptoms?

 

[thechicksitter]

Her coopmate was dead this morning when I went to check on everyone. She never showed any symptoms. She seemed fine last night.