Need guidance on possible cause of chicken death

[K Roe]

I had a year old bantam millefleur. A sweet female who laid eggs occasionally but with so many bantams I'm not sure how regularly she laid. On Tuesday I found her in the feed container (where she sometimes liked to hang out) but she was struggling to get out so I picked her up. I noted she seemed like she had lost weight and felt more frail than normal. When I set her down she seemed a bit weak so I carried her over to the water thinking maybe she had been stuck in the feeder longer than I thought. It is summer in TN after all so easy to get hot. She stood and drank and free ranged as was typical the rest of the day. I observed her eat, drink, and frolic with the others the next day as well. Thursday night when I put the chickens away she wasn't there but arrived closer to sunset seeking a way in the coop. I picked her up and took her in noting that her comb was looking dry and shriveled up, she was still light, and her eyes looked at me sleepily. When I would turn her on her back to check her out she would curl up her toes, but I didn't see any other evidence of issue on her body. Again, when I set her down she seemed to just plop on the ground and then stand up on her own within a few seconds. Odd for her as she was one who liked to be held but normally would fly off your hand not just plop in the ground. Friday night I found her lying on her side near the chicken garden just twitching periodically to get the flies off until she passed. So these symptoms could not be more vague I know, but I'm wondering likely possibilities for two reasons: my remaining flock and the fact that I'm 8 months pregnant and had been handling a now dead chicken. Other notables: my flock does free range during the day, I sometimes feed them cut up fruit and veggies in the summer, they eat typical layer feed daily, the chickens share space with ducks, they have baby pools for swimming but they sometimes drink from them too and being pregnant now the pools aren't as clean as I would like, remaining flock is acting normal at this point. Obviously she was not well but am I or my flock at risk?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Honestly, it could be a lot of different things.

Taking age and breed and conditions into consideration, my first thought is likely internal or external parasites. Worms and/or mites can especially cause a bird to be anemic and exhibit the weak symptoms you explain.

I'd do a vent check on a couple of birds to see if there are any external parasites. I'll link a good article below to show what you should look for.

If you do find external parasites, in your condition, I'd have somebody else, like your husband, do any treating. The best treatment would be spraying the whole coop, with flock inside aiming at their vents, at night on the roost with Gordon's poultry spray (a permethrin type spray). It can alleviate both mites and lice problems.

The next issue would be internal worms. Unfortunately the FDA has tightened up so much with any poultry meds that you can't buy wormers over the counter like you used to be able to do.

I haven't found a good alternative yet to what I used to use. Colloquial advice suggests Copper Sulfate in the water seems to help. (Purchased at a poultry section and following the advice on package). You can also do Safeguard for goats in the water, though it doesn't mix well in water so you have to keep swishing the water bowls since it settles.

The last thought is it *might* be a singular case of coccidia build up in her as her immune is somehow weaker. For that, Amprolium feed for the whole flock (which many also use for ducks, but that has traditionally been argued against for ducks though none know why). The reason I think of coccidia is your heat and dirty pools with ducks around.

Then finally, it could be a slower moving kind of Marek's, but I wouldn't worry or jump to that conclusion. Bantam Cochin are more resistant to Marek's and she didn't display classic symptoms (but more modern symptoms).

It could also be simply she had internal issues that didn't show up until now with the extra heat.

All in all I doubt you have a big flock scare to worry about...hopefully....and most likely, with your inability to clean as much as you normally would (been there/done that), parasite build up in my mind is most likely.

My thoughts.
LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Ooops....article below
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be hard to say if she was just weak and dehydrated from being unable to escape the feed container, or if she had other problems without a necropsy. Those may be performed by the state vet. For what it is worth, I also had a little millefleur d'uccle rooster who loved scratch as a treat. When I had the lid off the almost empty scratch can, he jumped inside. I was rushed after catching 5 young cockerels to give to a friend, and I placed the lid on not seeing him. The next morning when I would have normally not looked in there, I found him limp and blue, but alive. He had eaten some grain and left some droppings. After some TLC, he recovered, and drank lots of water. I am sure he had nearly died from lack of oxygen and not water. He and his little mille fleur hen always hung out together, and they got to spend a couple more years together, until we finally lost him last year. Very sorry for your loss.