astridmanzo
In the Brooder
- Sep 26, 2020
- 11
- 7
- 16
Hello everyone, I wanted to share a story about my hen Isabella and see if anyone has ever seen anything like this.
She was a Rhode Island White and less than a year old, one day she was fine and the next one she didn't want to move or eat. She was the hungriest chicken in the flock and when I saw her no eating one morning I knew something was wrong. I isolated her and I started making research. I thought she had some kind of crop issues because I noticed that it wasn't empty in the morning even though she wasn't really eating.
I treated her myself because I thought she just had maybe sour crop but she didn't get better. She was just sitting with her eyes closed all day, no eating and not wanting to do anything. I think she actually wanted to eat though, she would look interested in the food and then kinda change her mind. So I ended up taking her to the vet, they took Xrays and it looked like she only some grit in her system. No food, no eggs. They prescribed her some antibiotics because the small amount of poop she was doing was really smelly. They took a sample and she had an IG tract infection.
I started giving her the antibiotics and I thought she was getting better, I was super excited to see her joining the other girls and trying to gain back her position in the flock. About 5 days into the treatment and 2 weeks total since I noticed she was sick, I knew she was not doing very well again at all and she was really down all day, I gave her a piece of watermelon and she really wanted to eat, ate a small piece but regurgitated it, I felt her crop and it was like a big balloon full of water.
I put her in her crate that night knowing that she was worse than ever and I didn't really know what to do anymore, I got up around 6am to check on her and she looked really really sick, she was shaking a little and there was a really weird smell. She looked miserable. I should mention that she was barely pooping anything. It had been around 2 weeks with little to no food in her system and her droppings were almost nothing.
So that morning I took her to the emergency knowing that things were not looking good at all for her. They took Xrays again and they told me she had NOTHING inside, no food, no eggs, nothing at all. She was completely empty except for some grit in her crop and a lot of liquid that wasn't passing through. The vet didn't really know what was wrong with her and told me that the antibiotics should have been working. Sadly, we decided that euthanasia was the best and more humane option for her. They let us see her one more time and off she went... I really loved my sweet Isabella and it made me really sad that she had to be put down but I knew she had been in pain for over 2 weeks at this point.
The vet told me that it seemed as if her body wasn't really functioning anymore, some kind of motility issue? but she didn't actually know why or how to treat that. I must mention that both of the places I took her to were bird specialists so I trust they knew what they were doing.
More than $1000 dollars later I still ended up with a dead chicken and no idea why she died. So my question is, has anyone here seen anything like this? Their body just stops working and no food can get past the crop and egg production just stops.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I think all the details are very important. Attached is the last pic I took of her, she was my favorite girl and she was so friendly. I'm so sad that she had to go so young.
Thank you!
She was a Rhode Island White and less than a year old, one day she was fine and the next one she didn't want to move or eat. She was the hungriest chicken in the flock and when I saw her no eating one morning I knew something was wrong. I isolated her and I started making research. I thought she had some kind of crop issues because I noticed that it wasn't empty in the morning even though she wasn't really eating.
I treated her myself because I thought she just had maybe sour crop but she didn't get better. She was just sitting with her eyes closed all day, no eating and not wanting to do anything. I think she actually wanted to eat though, she would look interested in the food and then kinda change her mind. So I ended up taking her to the vet, they took Xrays and it looked like she only some grit in her system. No food, no eggs. They prescribed her some antibiotics because the small amount of poop she was doing was really smelly. They took a sample and she had an IG tract infection.
I started giving her the antibiotics and I thought she was getting better, I was super excited to see her joining the other girls and trying to gain back her position in the flock. About 5 days into the treatment and 2 weeks total since I noticed she was sick, I knew she was not doing very well again at all and she was really down all day, I gave her a piece of watermelon and she really wanted to eat, ate a small piece but regurgitated it, I felt her crop and it was like a big balloon full of water.
I put her in her crate that night knowing that she was worse than ever and I didn't really know what to do anymore, I got up around 6am to check on her and she looked really really sick, she was shaking a little and there was a really weird smell. She looked miserable. I should mention that she was barely pooping anything. It had been around 2 weeks with little to no food in her system and her droppings were almost nothing.
So that morning I took her to the emergency knowing that things were not looking good at all for her. They took Xrays again and they told me she had NOTHING inside, no food, no eggs, nothing at all. She was completely empty except for some grit in her crop and a lot of liquid that wasn't passing through. The vet didn't really know what was wrong with her and told me that the antibiotics should have been working. Sadly, we decided that euthanasia was the best and more humane option for her. They let us see her one more time and off she went... I really loved my sweet Isabella and it made me really sad that she had to be put down but I knew she had been in pain for over 2 weeks at this point.
The vet told me that it seemed as if her body wasn't really functioning anymore, some kind of motility issue? but she didn't actually know why or how to treat that. I must mention that both of the places I took her to were bird specialists so I trust they knew what they were doing.
More than $1000 dollars later I still ended up with a dead chicken and no idea why she died. So my question is, has anyone here seen anything like this? Their body just stops working and no food can get past the crop and egg production just stops.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I think all the details are very important. Attached is the last pic I took of her, she was my favorite girl and she was so friendly. I'm so sad that she had to go so young.
Thank you!
