Mysterious Problem with my Chicken

[MeMiniMoo]

Thanks. I will give my vet a call in the morning and see if they are willing to do that. They made it pretty clear that they don't see chickens but maybe they will be willing to look at her fecal. Hopefully I can get a fecal sample considering it is only liquid coming out of her.

There are two vets in the area that see chickens: the vet school and an avian vet. Both charge close to $100 just to have an office visit which is a bit out of my budget right now seeing how far gone she already is. Perhaps one of them will be willing to look at her fecal though without a visit. I've brought chickens, who were not nearly as sick as she is, to both of these vets before and the answer I always get is 'We have no clue what's going on" or "We know what's going on but she is going to die anyways" and then I hand them $100 for basically nothing.

Trying to keep my hopes up although preparing for the worst

 

[casportpony]

You can ask them to sell you a tube and syringe for tube feeding, that shouldn't be more than $5. Don't feel bad about not wanting to spend that much at the vet. If you can get her to perk up with tubing I think she has a chance, but she is older and older hens are susceptible to repro problems, lymphoid leukosis and even Marek's.

If she doesn't make it you should send here off for a necropsy, they're $15 plus maybe a $15 disposal fee.
http://www.ncagr.gov/vet/ncvdl/FeeBrochure.pdf

Main page:
http://www.ncagr.gov/vet/ncvdl/VetLabServices.html

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

This is how I ship mine to UC Davis:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/799747/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures

-Kathy

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I think all my suggestions have been stated already. I think birds bred for high egg output have a lot of problems that can cause an early death. The gurgling does sound like pneumonia, it could be from inhaling fluid or food. Cardiac is a possibility. Marek's certainly is a possibility. I would do the fecal and check for mites.

Casportpony is great at tube feeding and care of sick birds. But your hen is so weak I wonder if I would go as far as tube feeding.

 

[katylox]

I had a duck to do this. It seemed dizzy and couldn't walk. The others were cruel. I gave her a shot of duramycin. Next day she was back to normal! I don't know what she had. I thought she would die, so this was a last ditch effort.

 

[MeMiniMoo]

Well she made it through the night again. She tried to stand this morning when I came in and succeeded. Only problem is when her body stood up, her head went down and hit the floor and laid there limp.I have to admit, it was a bit comical to see that she finally pushes her back side up and then her front side fell down When I carefully pushed her body back into a laying position, her head went back up-- She is like a teeter totter. Very strange.

Her poop was more normal today. Still a lot of water coming out but there was a lot more solid stuff. It was mainly a light brown color (The same color as the cat food/yogurt mixture) with some green mixed in.

I don't know that I need to go as far as tube feeding. What I am doing now is basically the same thing except I am not inserting a tube directly into her stomach. I just make a paste, fill a syringe, open her beak, and insert it into her mouth. She swallows it just fine on her own after that. She doesn't fight me too much and some of this is from weakness but it's also because she has always been a very tame chicken and allowed us to do just about anything to her. One reason I love her so much

The vet I have for my dog's and cat's will not look at her fecal. I called the avian vet and they said they did not want to do a fecal because they didn't think it would show anything--especially not e.coli. They recommended doing a necropsy when she passes.

I will continue to offer supportive care and see how she does. I want to say her comb does not look as blackish/purple today but I might just be too optimistic.

 

[casportpony]

Call the avian vet back and tell them you want a gram stain and see what they say... Let them know that you don't want antibiotics, you just want the stain.

-Kathy

 

[Eggcessive]

Even though it still sounds like Mareks, you could investigate botulism as a cause for her problems, although it usually either kills right away, or they get over it. They call it limberneck, too, because the paralysis progresses upward from the feet, legs, wings, then to the neck, when they can't hold the head up. I would doubt that it is that, but here is are a couple of links to read:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism
http://www.avianweb.com/botulism.html

 

[MeMiniMoo]

The gram stain didn't show anything of value. I brought her with me to the vet just for the heck of it. The vet was nice enough to listen to her heart and said that something was wrong. Probably the heart valve problem that had been mentioned earlier. I made a tough decision and had her euthanized. I couldn't bare to see her in that much pain anymore and, no matter how much care I gave her, a heart problem wasn't going to go away. I realized, if that was me, I would rather go down peacefully than wait weeks and weeks in pain for my heart to finally give out. The vet was even kind enough not to charge me for the fecal or the euthanasia.

I am going to take her remains to have a necropsy done just in case.

I want to thank all of you for your support and ideas. I'm so happy to know I have somewhere I can go to get help if something happens to one of my other chickens.

 

[casportpony]

The gram stain didn't show anything of value. I brought her with me to the vet just for the heck of it. The vet was nice enough to listen to her heart and said that something was wrong. Probably the heart valve problem that had been mentioned earlier. I made a tough decision and had her euthanized. I couldn't bare to see her in that much pain anymore and, no matter how much care I gave her, a heart problem wasn't going to go away. I realized, if that was me, I would rather go down peacefully than wait weeks and weeks in pain for my heart to finally give out. The vet was even kind enough not to charge me for the fecal or the euthanasia.

I am going to take her remains to have a necropsy done just in case. 

I want to thank all of you for your support and ideas. I'm so happy to know I have somewhere I can go to get help if something happens to one of my other chickens. 

So sorry for your loss, I think you did the right thing. {{{{{ hugs }}}}}

-Kathy