My Poor little chicken

[leebottrill]

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I hope you will be able to offer me some advise. For the last 3 days i have noticed one of my little bantam chickens had become very weak. I bought her in and looked after her. She became increasingly weak and this morning unfortunately died.

I had done some research and thought she might be egg bound. (tale down, tired and unstable on her feet) but i bathed her twice and checked the area and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. when i laid her on her back she was straining her backside, and i could hear a crackle in her lungs. Her poo was also a mustard yellow this morning.

There is so much information, and so many things it COULD be. I just want to make sure i do the right thing in the future.

I have recently changed their diet to include layers pellets. also giving then a lot of veg and fruit scraps. They are all wormed and deliced and are generally very happy. They are all between 4-6 years old.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG HERE?

 

[Judy]

Probably she had a condition that you could not have done anything for. She rather sounds like she had egg yolk peritonitis, but as you said, it could have been many things.

I would feed at least 90% layer feed with no more than 10% veggie scraps, as they cut down on their total protein intake, and otherwise alter the nutritional balance of their diet.

 

[leebottrill]

Ok, i will do that. Thanks for you advise

 

[4xcharmd]

We lost our tiny black silkie last night from the same thing. She was fine, only eating starter crumble, grit and water... Then BAM, her poop got hard and stuck. Multiple soaks got rid of marble sized pieces, I tried to flush her out with a few drops of molasses water, more soaking her butt... but her rear end became so swollen with lumps, I couldn't even figure out how to get the blockage out.
I suspect that she had some sort of deformity... She was twice as small as the others the same age.
To give you an idea, here's a pic of her and her brother, Manny to compare

The more I read, the more I wonder if the little silkies may be more prone to these problems? It seems to happen a lot with them

 

[Luvmy9hens]

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I hope you will be able to offer me some advise. For the last 3 days i have noticed one of my little bantam chickens had become very weak. I bought her in and looked after her. She became increasingly weak and this morning unfortunately died.

I had done some research and thought she might be egg bound. (tale down, tired and unstable on her feet) but i bathed her twice and checked the area and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. when i laid her on her back she was straining her backside, and i could hear a crackle in her lungs. Her poo was also a mustard yellow this morning.

There is so much information, and so many things it COULD be. I just want to make sure i do the right thing in the future.

I have recently changed their diet to include layers pellets. also giving then a lot of veg and fruit scraps. They are all wormed and deliced and are generally very happy. They are all between 4-6 years old.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG HERE?

Similar story to what happened with my bantam last week. She has recovered. She laid a shell-less egg. Same symptoms: tail down, hunched back, lowered wings, lethargic, loss of appetite, straining, watery poop (some with very faint blood streaks - barely noticeable). The membrane remains inside and is not easily passed. Infection sets in and they die. They need medical intervention to treat the symptoms but you would also want to find the cause. Laying a shell-less egg is not normal and can be lethal for the reason stated above. Sorry that you lost your sweet little girl