my chicken wont eat

[biggee]

my chicken won't eat has been almost 5 days and it is pooping yellow she drank a little water today but no food, yesterday I got her to eat a couple mill worms, does anybody know what's wrong with her, I'm afraid she is not going to make it through the night

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

Did she make it?

 

[chooks4life]

Yellow diarrhea generally means Blackhead. The not-eating is because her liver is compromised and digestion is hard on her right now. It's a survival mechanism to fast, but the animal still needs help to survive.

With turkeys that had BH, I used a cup of raw cow's milk (unhomogenized and unpasteurized) with a teaspoon of honey, let it sit until the fat rose to the surface, scraped it off, and gave it to them, as treatment. It fixes almost all of them within 24 hours. Some relapse and need a second dose. A couple won't respond and just die.

That said, I never had to treat my chickens for BH, probably because I fed them raw garlic as a rule and other hot spices and herbs that would have strengthened their immune systems and probably interrupted the lifecycle of BH by burning the oocysts that carry it. However the treatment should still work if you can get hold of raw cow's milk, which is easier said than done.

The reason I mention specifically raw cow's milk, not raw goat milk or storebought pasteurized/ homogenized milks, is because the fat being homogenized is dangerous to their damaged livers and can kill them; they need to avoid all extra fat at this stage, and goat's milk is naturally homogenized so I would think it would probably not be good for them at this stage but you can always try.

If it's cooked milk, i.e. pasteurized, chances are it would also kill them as generally speaking, cooked proteins of any form are dangerous to their liver right now (as well as generally unhealthy even when the bird doesn't have BH) because they're harder to digest for the most part. However if you have nothing else you can try it with heat treated milk or goat's milk.

Maybe even substituting it with a cup of water containing a calcium magnesium and honey or multivitamin mix would help, at a stretch, I don't know because I don't know exactly why a simple drink of milk and honey would have such a lifesaving effect at such an advanced stage of such a deadly disease. I theorize that it's because the milk provides raw protein, cal-mag, etc and the honey multivits, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, electrolytes, etc, basically nutritional life support being given to an animal whose exhausted system is about to fail for want of the basics being given in a non harmful form. Their normal diet will kill them at this time.

Giving the drink when the animal is lying down and not eating, within a day or two of death with watery bright yellow diarrhea, is the right time, as giving it sooner can prolong the illness and cause the animal to not respond to the right treatment later on, so it's possible the disease has run its course and left the host dying by the time the milk-honey cure is given, which rescues the animal from organ failure. Giving the honey-milk cure for too long too can cause a relapse. It's a strange treatment but has worked wonders for my turkeys. It's possible an injection of calmag and vitamins etc could do the same thing at the end of the fasting stage so if all else fails you could ask your vet to try it. There are fatal diseases in cattle and other animals which are known to be cured by a simple injection of a calmag or copper or vitamin C, or whatever supplement (as examples) given at the right time. Oral administration works too.

There are different strains of BH, some of which can cause the stereotypical blackened or purpled head/neck, and some of which only cause yellow diarrhea, some of which kill rapidly and some of which take weeks. So my experiences are only a vague guideline there. British BH is supposed to be virulent and rapid-acting and makes their heads black and stink "offensively".

Different animals even with very similar genetics respond differently to it, i.e. I had a turkey require no treatment and only ever show a slight temporary infection whereas their full sibling died of it over a year after first contracting it, despite initially overcoming it, as the animal just relapsed and relapsed over and over again, most probably from a secondary infection. If you cull susceptible ones, even if they were treated successfully, and breed only the ones that showed the strongest defenses against BH, the family line quickly develops what appears to be functional immunity to BH. 'Cull' can just mean you don't breed that animal, or rehome it, not necessarily kill it. I've culled some genetically weak animals by rehoming them.

A diet free from cooked proteins and oils right now is necessary to enable her liver to heal and work the least amount possible as it heals; so no pellets or crumble under any circumstances. Corn, wheat, red sorghum etc need to be avoided too as they can tip the balance into liver failure, and should not be available to her in this physical state. Millets of various types, rolled whole oats, fresh green grass, and possibly hard boiled egg if she'll eat it, would support her while she heals; insects are another good source of raw protein but I don't know if mealworms, moths etc are too fatty.. They might be ok. Some moths are around 60% fat, so best to avoid. Raw onion and dandelion leaves would also help heal her liver faster.

All this said, there are a few things that can cause liver failure, and yellowed excreta are one symptom of liver failure, so it may not be BH. But generally speaking the same treatments support the liver whatever the cause of damage. Raw and freshly grated potato, if she'll eat it, will also support her liver while it heals.

Even if you lose this one be prepared to treat others because if it's BH, it's likely to affect more than one, possibly even all of them. Even if it's liver failure induced by some other cause, the more fresh and raw diet will still help. Best wishes.

 

[biggee]

she came down off the roost this morning and went right for the water and has been drinking, has not eaten yet but am going to go and get some raw milk from my neighbor I would like to thank everybody for their responses, Bernice thanks you too (my hen)

 

[biggee]

She still wont eat, i am thinking of pureeing up some hard boiled eggs and putting them down her with an eye dropper? Any suggestions

 

[goldie26942684]

My hen has the same problem, yet I cant find raw milk and I really dont want her to die from store bought milk. Any suggestions?

 

[chicbaby]

look on craigslist or something for dairy goats for sale and probably they will have one in milk you could contact and ask for some of their milk, or they probably know someone who has one in milk.
good luck with your babies.