Inactive sick hen

[greycat]

Update;

The hen had relapsed with the same symptoms as before. She never did spring back totally from the first episode.

I finally got in touch with one of the Doc's at University of TN and he seemed to think that I was only treating the secondary
effects of her ailment (what ever that may be) and that was the reason that she showed improvement then relapsed.

On his recommendation I submitted the hen to the Lab for a Necropsy Exam. ( i felt it was time to put her down anyway - she suffered long enough)

Today I got a call from the lab tech and the preliminary results of the necropsy showed nothing that really stood out as a clear indicator of what was going on with the bird. The lungs were clear, the digestive tract was in order with the exception of some clear fluid, but he said it would be that way normally in conjunction with the loose stool. He had no explanation at this point of what was causing the thick clear discharge from the mouth.

They are supposed to do some further exams and testing and will let me know soon what or if they find anything.

I sure hope they can get to the bottom of this, s i can treat accordingly and eliminate the risk of this spreading to the rest of the flock.

So...... At this point there are still quite a few pieces of the puzzle missing and quite a number of folks scratching their heads for answers

 

[greycat]

Also, sadly I have learned the hard way, by spending countless hours on the phone and internet trying to locate a vet that will see chickens, that there are very few to none that will even talk to you about chickens.

Most of the vets i found will only treat an animal if it has four legs and barks or meows.

 

[seminolewind]

Sorry about your hen. I never realized what a mystery chickens could be!
It's good you sent her for an autopsy, sometimes we never know what we may be saving the others from.

 

[greycat]

Update: Called again today to see if the culture testing showed anything that would explain this whole scenario.

The Lab said everything came back "normal" nothing out of the ordinary.

I sure was hoping that there would be some specifics so that a proper treatment regimen could be established for (hopefully not) next time this rears its ugly head , so that it can be treated early on instead of guessing.