losing third chicken in three months and can't figure it out

[dawg53]

well I just can't figure it out. I haven't seen any lice or mites. They just seem to act distant for a couple of days and then obviously weak and not eating or drinking and then die. I gave her a shot of Tylan because it is all I have and I thought it couldn't hurt. I don't expect her to make it through the night. She will lay comfortably for awhile and the flail around for awhile biting her feathers or my hand or whatever is near. If she is going to die I wish it would happen quickly because she seems so miserable. Trying to figure out what to do to stop this from happening anymore when I just can't identify the culprit. One thing I know is that all of these birds came from the same batch at the hatchery and a friend of mine got some of those as well and they have all died randomly over the past year. Just seems weird for that to be related since there are several different breeds involved.

I recommend that you contact your local extension office and find out how to go about getting a necropsy performed on the next bird that dies. Bag it and put it in the fridge, not the freezer. Perhaps you can contact OSU's veterinary school of medicine and maybe they'll perform the necropsy for you.

 

[osudeltazeta]

I am more confounded than ever. Marianne survived Saturday night and even seemed to perk up a bit Sunday. Monday she remained the same but that isn't good since she won't eat or drink. Monday afternoon I noticed her crop was full and squishy even though she hasn't eaten or pooped to speak of. No foul odor from her mouth, but a pretty bad one from her vent. A friend told me she must be egg bound and to do the bath and oil treatment, which I did. She had a lot of dried poo covering her vent. Probably from being in a cage and not perched for several days. I gave her a good soak and cleaned her vent and tried to massage the area. I have no experience with egg binding so that may or not be the case. Ugh....at a loss. .