SpicyDisaster
Songster
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Cuckoo maran, she's 19 weeks old and seems to be average out of the 15 pullets we have. She's the only cuckoo maran.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Yesterday when she bent down to pick up a piece of lettuce it seemed like water flowed out of her mouth. Odd but she was acting completely normal. Today she has been obsessed with the nesting box and I'm pretty sure she's about to lay her first egg based on the other pullet who started 5 days ago doing the same behavior. After hanging out in the box for about an 20 minutes she came out without having laid an egg. I looked away and looked back to find her trying to eat something mucousy off the ground. It appeared to be that she had "spit up" again but I didn't see it so I'm not 100%. There was another pullet next to her but she's the only one when shoed away that came back and tried to eat it. So she got moved to the garage where I could watch her a bit better. About 30 minutes later she gifted me with watery poo. It doesn't smell worse than any normal poo and doesn't seem to have distressed her. She's eating normally, drinking normally, and not very happy to be alone singing her song to her friends. I will post a pic from my phone in the comments of the poop in question, I didn't get one of the mucousy thing.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Two days
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Not that we've seen.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
None that I can find. Her vent looks normal, crop doesn't feel super full or hard, no foul smell from her mouth. Her mouth smells like feed she just ate.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
It's really hot here yesterday and today (100F+). Maybe being in the nesting box overheated or something? Could just be drinking the extra water with how hot it is.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Scratch & Peck grower feed, Hen boost supplement in the water as of yesterday for the whole flock, somedried black soldier fly larvae from Scratch & Peck, and some watermelon to cool down. A few days ago they did get some sprouted wheat germs and wheat grass as a treat.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
The one I've seen seems watery but not mousy or bloody.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Electrolytes and brought her into the garage which is only 85F.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
We'd like to treat this ourselves if possible. She's the eldest child's favorite bird so we aren't opposed to a vet. New to the area though and need to find one that will treat chickens.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
15 pullets share a 6'x10' coop with 8 nesting boxes and 20' of roosting space. Well ventilated. They free range in our back yard area (new construction so it's all just dirt and wheat field at this point). They hang out under the coop during the hottest part of the day for shade and cooler ground. Bedding is fir shavings (pine was out of supply) and we have straw in the nesting boxes as well as dispersed a whole straw bale out in their "yard" space for scratching fun.
Cuckoo maran, she's 19 weeks old and seems to be average out of the 15 pullets we have. She's the only cuckoo maran.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Yesterday when she bent down to pick up a piece of lettuce it seemed like water flowed out of her mouth. Odd but she was acting completely normal. Today she has been obsessed with the nesting box and I'm pretty sure she's about to lay her first egg based on the other pullet who started 5 days ago doing the same behavior. After hanging out in the box for about an 20 minutes she came out without having laid an egg. I looked away and looked back to find her trying to eat something mucousy off the ground. It appeared to be that she had "spit up" again but I didn't see it so I'm not 100%. There was another pullet next to her but she's the only one when shoed away that came back and tried to eat it. So she got moved to the garage where I could watch her a bit better. About 30 minutes later she gifted me with watery poo. It doesn't smell worse than any normal poo and doesn't seem to have distressed her. She's eating normally, drinking normally, and not very happy to be alone singing her song to her friends. I will post a pic from my phone in the comments of the poop in question, I didn't get one of the mucousy thing.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Two days
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Not that we've seen.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
None that I can find. Her vent looks normal, crop doesn't feel super full or hard, no foul smell from her mouth. Her mouth smells like feed she just ate.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
It's really hot here yesterday and today (100F+). Maybe being in the nesting box overheated or something? Could just be drinking the extra water with how hot it is.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Scratch & Peck grower feed, Hen boost supplement in the water as of yesterday for the whole flock, somedried black soldier fly larvae from Scratch & Peck, and some watermelon to cool down. A few days ago they did get some sprouted wheat germs and wheat grass as a treat.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
The one I've seen seems watery but not mousy or bloody.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Electrolytes and brought her into the garage which is only 85F.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
We'd like to treat this ourselves if possible. She's the eldest child's favorite bird so we aren't opposed to a vet. New to the area though and need to find one that will treat chickens.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
15 pullets share a 6'x10' coop with 8 nesting boxes and 20' of roosting space. Well ventilated. They free range in our back yard area (new construction so it's all just dirt and wheat field at this point). They hang out under the coop during the hottest part of the day for shade and cooler ground. Bedding is fir shavings (pine was out of supply) and we have straw in the nesting boxes as well as dispersed a whole straw bale out in their "yard" space for scratching fun.
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