Lethargic, standing with eyes closed, was only drinking and not eating...help!

[casportpony]

Please do keep me posted!

-Kathy

 

[Mother Bird]

Well....I lost her during the night. I'm afraid she was already shutting down. However, I learned a lot and tried my best, so it was not in vain. She was warm, had lived a few happy years with me, felt safe and relaxed with me stroking her back when it happened...could have been worse.

In the process I also found a new farm supply store that I hadn't been in yet. They were great to help and I met another chicken person there, who I was able to help in return. I also found a new source for equine items which will be great for my gelding. It's (pretty much) all good

 

[Farmer Liss]

Hi. I have sick a 2 yr old RIR. She recently went through a full molt and now has all her feathers back and beautiful as ever however her comb is much smaller than it use to be. I didn't notice it shrinking hot disappearing but it is only bout 1/4" high now, normal color and malleable. My other 6 hens and a rooster who are all seemingly fine. About a week ago I noticed she started staying by herself more and staying closer to the hen house and not free ranging as much as the others. Then about 4-5 days ago she starting standing still and closing her eyes and facing the sun. Cold? On Sat (3 days ago) she was laying on the ground kinda on her side with her left leg sticking out awkwardly. My husband and I isolated her and put her in our barn in a box with a heat light on her and food and water. She seemed to like the light and got a little better. She was still eating and drinking normally. Yesterday I moved her to a dog crate with open sides and kept the door open for her so she could move around more if she wanted to. She walked around all day and ate a little but drank A LOT. She now has very watery diarrhea that we did not notice until yesterday, it barely has any color to it at all. She eats layer crumbles and I gave her some scrambled eggs 2 days ago. She is worse today. She can barely stand and keeps falling to her left. She eats eggs if I hold her up and drinks some then too otherwise she kinda falls over. When I hold her she seems very frail and thin. I have never weighed her or wormed any of them before. I mixed Safeguard in her water this am and just bought Corid but haven't started that yet. Any other suggestions?

 

[Farmer Liss]

So sorry for your loss

 

[casportpony]

So sorry for your loss, you really did everything you could have. I don't want to sound insensitive, but I would recommend having a necropsy done by a lab or you could try it yourself. They're free in CA, so maybe one of these labs would work for you?

41


PENNSYLVANIA


Pennsylvania State University, Animal Diagnostic Laboratory
Orchard Road
University Park, PA 16802 Phone 814-863-0837 Fax 814-865-3907
AI, END, IAV-S*

42


PENNSYLVANIA


Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture,
2305 N. Cameron Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110 Phone 717-787-8808 Fax 717-772-3895
AI, CSF, CWD, END, FMD, PRV, Scrapie, IAV-S*

43


PENNSYLVANIA


University of Pennsylvania,
School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton Center, PADLS
382 West Street Rd
Kennett Square, PA 19348-1692
Phone 610-444-5800 Fax 610-925-6806
AI, END


This is a copy and paste from a post I did:

How to Send a Bird for a Necropsy​

They need the whole bird, refrigerated, not frozen. If you live in CA, there are four labs that do necropsies on poultry (chickens, turkeys, waterfowl) for free. I know that they do out of state necropsies, but I think they charge for those. You could call them and ask what they charge for out of state "backyard poultry". The lab I use is the one in Tulare, CA. If you are in CA, call them and ask for their FedEx account number, it will save a bunch on shipping charges.

CAHFS
18830 Road 112
Tulare, CA 93274-9042
(559) 688-7543
(559) 686-4231 (FAX)
[email protected]


The other labs are listed here:
http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/services/lab_locations.cfm

If it's Friday, unless you want to overnight for Saturday delivery, I would suggest shipping on Monday for Tuesday delivery. What you need to do, if you haven't already done so, is put your bird in your refrigerator, NOT the freezer! Then you need to find a box, line it with styrofoam (I use the 4'x8'x1" stuff from Home Depot. You can also get smaller pieces at an art store like Michael's, but is way more expensive. Click here to see foam options. You'll also need at least one ice pack. Here are some pictures that I took of the last bird that I sent:

Box lined with foam on four sides and bottom. Seams of foam taped sealed.


Box, sides, bottom and and top.


Frozen ice pack in ziplock baggie.


Brown paper on top of ice pack.


Hen in ziplock baggie on top of brown paper.


Brown paper on top of hen.


Ice pack on top of brown paper.


Lid on top of brown paper.
​

Inside the box you should also include a submission form in a ziplock baggie. Do not tell anyone at FedEx that you're shipping a dead animal... that seems to really worry them. Just make sure that nothing will leak.

-Kathy

 

[Eggcessive]

Hi. I have sick a 2 yr old RIR. She recently went through a full molt and now has all her feathers back and beautiful as ever however her comb is much smaller than it use to be. I didn't notice it shrinking hot disappearing but it is only bout 1/4" high now, normal color and malleable. My other 6 hens and a rooster who are all seemingly fine. About a week ago I noticed she started staying by herself more and staying closer to the hen house and not free ranging as much as the others. Then about 4-5 days ago she starting standing still and closing her eyes and facing the sun. Cold? On Sat (3 days ago) she was laying on the ground kinda on her side with her left leg sticking out awkwardly. My husband and I isolated her and put her in our barn in a box with a heat light on her and food and water. She seemed to like the light and got a little better. She was still eating and drinking normally. Yesterday I moved her to a dog crate with open sides and kept the door open for her so she could move around more if she wanted to. She walked around all day and ate a little but drank A LOT. She now has very watery diarrhea that we did not notice until yesterday, it barely has any color to it at all. She eats layer crumbles and I gave her some scrambled eggs 2 days ago. She is worse today. She can barely stand and keeps falling to her left. She eats eggs if I hold her up and drinks some then too otherwise she kinda falls over. When I hold her she seems very frail and thin. I have never weighed her or wormed any of them before. I mixed Safeguard in her water this am and just bought Corid but haven't started that yet. Any other suggestions?

Welcome to BYC. If you start your own new thread in the emergency forum, you will always get more looks and help. The two things that I can think of that your hen has are maybe Mareks disease, or what my hen is dying with now, internal layin/egg yolk peritonitis. They tend to waste away, have runnystools varying from runny yellow, to clear with black pieces and some white urates. Here are a couple of links that may help:
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/502
http://www.avianweb.com/eggyolkperitonitis.html
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/egg-laying-issues/index.aspx

 

[Mother Bird]

I'm hoping casportpony reads this and replies...I have no idea other than vitamin deficiency. Not sure corid it right either. I always hear to look for bloody poop before starting that. I'm sorry and hope you can get some answers to help your little girl...

 

[Mother Bird]

Again, thanks for all the information and directions. They truly are appreciated and so clear.
My daughter is a HS senior in AP biology. She and her teacher have done them for me before, so I may go that route

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. If you start your own new thread in the emergency forum, you will always get more looks and help. The two things that I can think of that your hen has are maybe Mareks disease, or what my hen is dying with now, internal layin/egg yolk peritonitis. They tend to waste away, have runnystools varying from runny yellow, to clear with black pieces and some white urates. Here are a couple of links that may help:
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/502
http://www.avianweb.com/eggyolkperitonitis.html
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/egg-laying-issues/index.aspx

X2! Good post and links.. Treating these *very* sick hens is a lot of work and the prognosis is usually poor. Of course the best thing to do would be to find an experienced avian vet, but that is usually very expensive.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

I'm hoping casportpony reads this and replies...I have no idea other than vitamin deficiency. Not sure corid it right either. I always hear to look for bloody poop before starting that. I'm sorry and hope you can get some answers to help your little girl...

Corid won't hurt, but I don't think it will help. Right now what she needs is a warm place, at lease 80 degrees.

-Kathy