I have a small flock, started with 8 birds, they are currently about 7 months old. About 10 days ago we lost a chicken suddenly. She was fine during the day and laid an egg that morning. We found her in the afternoon hunched over in the yard. Brought her inside and she died within the hour. Her crop felt a little large and watery but it all happened so fast that she was gone before I could look at remedies or even making a great guess as to what it was. (Sour crop?). I had noticed her on the chicken cam (I peek at them while they are sleeping) breathing deeper/heavier the night before but I had attributed it to deep sleep.
A week and a half later none of the other chickens are displaying any symptoms except possibly my littlest. We have noticed her being away from the rest of the flock and resting with her eyes closed. She still roosts at night and her appetite seems pretty ok, although she is much more likely to eat or drink if I bring the food to her, separate from the rest of the flock. She was happy to eat some crumble and scrambled eggs last night and took a syringe of electrolyte water. However this morning when I gave her another drink of electrolytes it seemed like it went right through her. About 10 minutes after giving her the water she pooped out a bunch of water along with a clump of more normal looking? green poop. Her crop empties overnight and can't be felt/is flat in the morning. During the day her crop never gets as full as the other chickens though. Some factors:
1) She is the smallest and least dominant of the flock and maybe being crowded away from the food?
2) I moved the feeder from the ground to hanging and she doesn't seem as comfortable with that
3) We're in WV and 2 weeks ago we had snow...followed by hot (70s/80s) weather this weekend
4) I have been inspecting everyone's poop and it all looks fairly normal to me
5) the chickens free range intermittently, as in when I can keep an eye on them. They usually get a few hours a day plus all day long on weekends
I feel like the next step might be to treat for worms but I am not sure what kind/how to if I don't know what kind it might be or even if that would make sense with no real evidence.
Any thoughts are appreciated, I am at a loss but worried. Thank you!
A week and a half later none of the other chickens are displaying any symptoms except possibly my littlest. We have noticed her being away from the rest of the flock and resting with her eyes closed. She still roosts at night and her appetite seems pretty ok, although she is much more likely to eat or drink if I bring the food to her, separate from the rest of the flock. She was happy to eat some crumble and scrambled eggs last night and took a syringe of electrolyte water. However this morning when I gave her another drink of electrolytes it seemed like it went right through her. About 10 minutes after giving her the water she pooped out a bunch of water along with a clump of more normal looking? green poop. Her crop empties overnight and can't be felt/is flat in the morning. During the day her crop never gets as full as the other chickens though. Some factors:
1) She is the smallest and least dominant of the flock and maybe being crowded away from the food?
2) I moved the feeder from the ground to hanging and she doesn't seem as comfortable with that
3) We're in WV and 2 weeks ago we had snow...followed by hot (70s/80s) weather this weekend
4) I have been inspecting everyone's poop and it all looks fairly normal to me
5) the chickens free range intermittently, as in when I can keep an eye on them. They usually get a few hours a day plus all day long on weekends
I feel like the next step might be to treat for worms but I am not sure what kind/how to if I don't know what kind it might be or even if that would make sense with no real evidence.
Any thoughts are appreciated, I am at a loss but worried. Thank you!
