lethargic chicken

Cinderella

In the Brooder
9 Years
Aug 29, 2010
11
0
22
Canberra
My little Coco Channel, is not well
1 She is a 12 month old Wyndotte

2 She si the last out of the coop, staying by herself and is very lethargic. Weight loss ++ and looks unwell. She has lost her colour in her comb.. it si pale pink, She has not been laying for 2-3 weeks

3 She has been like this for a week

4 There si a history of Maeks in the flock in the past 12 months I have lost 5 chooks to this. I thought that she has this. She is showing no sighs of Maeks , She si still walking ( slowly) drinking, and only eating a little , No limping , wing droop, no runny nose, nor eye discharge, and is still remaining upright

I feed them laying pellets, seed, and as a treat, sunflower seeds plus veggie scrapes, daily hand full of grass ( I weed the garden as I go to the coop)

8 The poo ( took a while) is a small amount lumpy, Not runny, dark and no white peaks with clear fluidly stuff only a dsh of white. Differently not normal

The girls live in a well ventilated she with straw which is cleaned out 2 weekly. it is dry

They where wormed last month.

Can anyone help me? I am having a bad run with this lot of chickens.... dont think the breeder was that good now ......
 
I don't know anything about Marek's - or at least i haven't dealt with it.

However, if i have a lethargic hen that age, the first two things i investigate are the crop and the egg-laying machinery.

I would feel of the crop and see if you feel anything unusual, and if it is full even though she hasn't been eating, i would withdraw food for 12 hours to see if she would empty her crop. If the crop doesn't empty, then i would know that it is impact and begin treating in that direction.

If the crop seems to be healthy, then i would suspect something wrong in the egg-laying department. You could start with a warm bath to see if she will pass something that might be blocking up the works (like an egg) and feel around her abdomen to see if anything is amiss.

Another thought is that sometimes they get peritonitis and infection gets started in the abdomen. There isn't much to be done about this, as far as i know, and there probably wasn't anything you could do to prevent it.

Those are just a few ideas.
 
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I have checked all of the above...... Her crop is empty and no sighns of any problems in the egg laying equipment. She is all skin and bones. Eating very little. Still drinking. I have put some vitiams in her water have given her the egg yolk and yoghurt mixture which she had a little of. She find in a quiet dark place and she just rests. She continues to stand and can roost. Any ideas.... anyone
 
So sorry to hear you lost her.
hugs.gif
 
I am having the same symptoms, additionally, very loose poo just before death. Yesterday was the third bird in 3 weeks. 6 weeks ago we lost one the same way. It is affecting both hens and roo. Our roo had a very large tumor on his leg, thie first bird with symptoms appeared to be off balence. fall over or collapse under her own weight..Every bird was skin and bones. Seemed fine and within 1 week, the last one was within 2 days, they are too weak to do much of anything. Drinking the same as usual, no appetite in the last 12 hrs. Yesterday we chose to end her suffering. I woke this am wondering who is going to be sick next. I appreciate any direction or advice anyone might have. I will have the next one autopsied, I have not been able to put one of them in the refrigerator until the vet opens. However, I am leaning toward that now that 4 have passed and I am expecting worse to come. Thank you for your input. 2 of the birds were from a hatchery and vaccinated, 2 of the birds were purchased at a chicken swap they were 4 weeks old when I got them which makes the roo who just passed about 21 weeks old. Our hatchery chicks are 17 weeks old. All were on medicated feed as starter, and now are on starter grower. Water is fresh everyday, coop is dry, has been well ventilated until the last 2 weeks when I shut the windows. We do not have a flock history since it is new so no history of Mareks.
 
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Before she died she had a huge vomit of milky fluid and then I suspect she aspirated and the died... Right up to the end she was standing but not eating or drinking.... I would like to know what it was( could ahve been) that killed her so I am prepared if it happens to another chicken. Should I have taken her to a vets, or given AB'S or a crop feed or what.....
I
 

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