Inactive sick hen

[greycat]

Hi,
I have a New Hampshire Red hen that is 9 months old. She has suddenly become inactive, just standing or sitting around with the appearance of being asleep (eyes closed) and stays isolated from the rest of the flock.
Her face, cone & waddles become pale at times until I arouse her.

Thick, stingy, & sticky mucous in mouth and throat and a small amount dripping from the beak
Stool is loose and snotty clear (like egg albumin) with a trace of yellowish color. There is no blood in the stool.

Has stopped eating and drinks very little.

I have read many disease diagnosis online, but none seen to fit the symptoms & have tried calling a hatchery for advise but they are stumped too as to what it could be.

Any Ideas and possible cure?

 

[jeepguy982001]

sry i'm new and have no idea but you've dif come to the right place. someone with experience will prob give you some good advice soon. Hope everything works out for the best.

 

[LizaBlue]

First thing, keep her isolated from the others to prevent spread of illness. Use a soft disposable moist, but almost dry (don't want to drown her) piece of cloth to wipe her nose/face. You may need to use swabs to clean nares (nostrils) of debris. Her lungs will fill with fluid if she's allowed to sit/lay continuously. Look online and find directions to make a sling if necessary. A few drops of Poly-vi-sol liquid baby vitamins (about $7-10 at Walmart) may help her get nutrients. You can force fluids using a medicine dropper (some pharmacies will give you one) or eye dropper. Holding bird securely, place dropper on the side of the beak and allow a drop to fall on its tip - usually the bird will open its beak and start drinking.

As for diagnosing your bird, I had the same problem with some turkeys and I never found out what it was. I treated them with Sulmet for Coccidocis, Sav-a-Chick enzymes, Poly-vi-sol, egg yolks mixed with ground oatmeal and chick starter, and any other home remedy I read about online here. When I was convinced the poults were gonna die no matter what (after 72hrs. of round the clock care), I finally put gobs of Vick's Vap-o-Rub under their wings and said good bye. The next morning they were prancing around like nothing was wrong. There are lots of resources to diagnose poultry diseases, but frankly, the only thing I know to do is treat the symptoms.

I'm no vet, and I'm not an experienced chicken-keeper, just sharing what I learned during my emergency.

good luck!

 

[greycat]

Thanks for the replys!

I'm going to throw everything i got into this and see if i can cure / save her.

Started her on SulMet this morning - gave a full 2 oz solution by syringe to get it in her system as quick as possible.
and it's in her regular drinking water fount too.

Giving a 3/4cc injection of B Complex twice daily until she gets some strength back. (an old poultry farmer recommended it)

And i'm going to have to do a bit of force feeding of some high protein eggs and starter liquified to a soup consistency.

Maybe she will pull thru


Just as a precautionary, Im giving the entire flock the SulMet in their water too.

 

[rbaker0345]

That doesn't sound like coccidiosis which is what sul-met is best for, however, it will probably help. Finish your course of sul-met and if there is still mucous and labored breathing, try terramyacin or penacillin injectable. Injections in chickens are easy easy dont be afraid. In the meantime, put her on a mash of kale greens (or something similar) garlic (lots of it) and olive oil. Mash it up in the food processor with some nilla wafers (for taste). VetRX is good to add along with the vitamins. Also, make sure your coop is clean and well ventilated and that your bedding is as free from dust as possible. This time of year, fresh straw is the best. Smell the straw, it should smell like straw and not mold. Whack the bale on the top as hard as you can, there should be very little dust coming out. When you bed with the straw, shake it out ouside and then carry the loose straw into the coop.

 

[greycat]

I absolutely agree. This doesn't fit the description of Coccidiosis.

I have asked numerous people about this vets, farmers, ect. & no one can come up with a definitive diagnosis of what is wrong.

Everyone is scratching their head on this one.

SulMet was chosen because of its treatment of respiratory ailments, & since she is all snotty, I hope it helps.

Since im already giving an injectable form of B Complex could the Penicillin be mixed with it if i decide to use it and done as one injection or should they be done separately in different locations ?
I did the B Complex as an intramuscular injection. Would the Penicillin be better subcutaneous or intramuscular?

 

[dawg53]

If you smell a foul odor about her head and nostril area, most likely it's coryza and sulmet treats coryza. Not smelling a foul odor could possibly be mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG.) Treatment for MG would be duramycin, tylan, baytril or denagard. Penicillin is more for injury type infections rather than respiratory issues. IF, it's one of these 2 respiratory diseases, they are contageous to other birds and birds will remain carriers. MG passes through eggs as well to the offspring. You would have to have a closed flock if you decide to treat and keep them. Your other option is to cull. I dont recommend injecting two different products together or giving 2 different meds at the same time. It's best to give one medication at a time, wait a few days, then proceed with another treatment. During those few days...probiotics should be given to rebuild the immune system.
Forgot to add a link to respiratory diseases, scroll down to Infectious Coryza and Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG.)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Katydid2011]

I lost a pullet a few days ago. She was a bit depressed (inactive and slightly puffed up) one day and dead the next. A few hours before she died her rose-comb and wattles turned purple and I could hear a slight gurgling as she breathed (I had her inside under a light, giving her electrolytes and yogurt - as much as she would take, which wasn't a lot).

The only sign that anything was wrong prior to that was a dramatic drop in the flocks egg production a day or two before. Unfortunately, we'd just had a cold snap and I attributed the reduction in egg production to that. I spent most of the day in and around the barn watching my remaining 48 hens and saw that two others were looking depressed. By the next day there were four sick, one near death. At that point, in fear for my entire flock and not knowing what else to do, I treated them with the maximum dose of water soluble tetracycline hydrochloride and saw immediate improvement (Phew!). Today, none appear sick. I will treat for a full 7 days and hope that does the trick.

The thing is, my girls symptoms are not consistent with Coryza or MG and weren't nearly as bad as what you're describing with your hen (no visible mucous or stool changes), albeit one of mine died quickly. I'm stumped.

Please keep us posted. I'll be following this thread with interest and hoping that your girl recovers fully.

 

[LizaBlue]

Hope your chicken has recovered! If not, another helpful hint to get them interested in food/water is they seem to like orange jello. I bought a box and just sprinkled a little powder in everything, even cod liver oil - which is supposedly good for respitory ailments in turkeys- and anything that had it, they would eat! Plain yogurt? no. Yogurt with honey? no. Yogurt with jello powder? yup. Don't know if other flavors work.

BTW real citrus is bad for poultry, but nothing is real about jello, lol.

 

[nancypo]

Minus the snot, my hen's the same. What dosage do you do anti-biotics in the injection or water? It's her 3rd or 4th day really droopy, and can't afford a vet. I only have 3 girls and lost 2 in the spring. I don't want a repeat....