Need help with deciphering what happened?

[GetFitWithKrista]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to chicken keeping. I got five 8 week old chickens on 5/21 so they are about 3 1/2 months old now.

2 Easter Eggers
1 Dark Brahma
1 Welsummer
1 Cream Legbar

About 2 weeks in one of the Easter Eggers (we called her The General) had some blood on her face. I treated it and she seemed fine.

The other day she was really lethargic. It has been very hot where I live, in the 90s, so I thought she was dehydrated. I gave her Arnica in water. Right after that she started throwing up watery stuff. I thought maybe she drank too much at once.

That evening I separated her in a crate in the house so she could rest and cool off. Someone in the forum advised that isolating her might cause extra stress since chickens are flock animals so I put her back with the others the next morning.

I got electrolytes - Nutridrench - and administered later that day. A few hours later she died. It was very upsetting. It happened so quickly.

All the other chickens were and still are fine. The Dark Brahma (we call her Boots) sneezes sometimes and has watery poop. But she's eating, drinking and interacting with the others, essentially behaving normally.

What do you think happened? I would like to try my hardest to prevent this from occuring again as it was quite traumatic for us. I feel so badly.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So she is o.k. now?

I would not use Arnica in the water.

In hot weather, provide cool plain water. You can provide an additional bowl/drinker of water with electrolytes, but your birds need fresh plain water as well.
Make sure they have plenty of shade.

 

[FunClucks]

So she is o.k. now?

I would not use Arnica in the water.

In hot weather, provide cool plain water. You can provide an additional bowl/drinker of water with electrolytes, but your birds need fresh plain water as well.
Make sure they have plenty of shade.

No, the chicken died.

 

[FunClucks]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to chicken keeping. I got five 8 week old chickens on 5/21 so they are about 3 1/2 months old now.

2 Easter Eggers
1 Dark Brahma
1 Welsummer
1 Cream Legbar

About 2 weeks in one of the Easter Eggers (we called her The General) had some blood on her face. I treated it and she seemed fine.

The other day she was really lethargic. It has been very hot where I live, in the 90s, so I thought she was dehydrated. I gave her Arnica in water. Right after that she started throwing up watery stuff. I thought maybe she drank too much at once.

That evening I separated her in a crate in the house so she could rest and cool off. Someone in the forum advised that isolating her might cause extra stress since chickens are flock animals so I put her back with the others the next morning.

I got electrolytes - Nutridrench - and administered later that day. A few hours later she died. It was very upsetting. It happened so quickly.

All the other chickens were and still are fine. The Dark Brahma (we call her Boots) sneezes sometimes and has watery poop. But she's eating, drinking and interacting with the others, essentially behaving normally.

What do you think happened? I would like to try my hardest to prevent this from occuring again as it was quite traumatic for us. I feel so badly.

I'm so sorry you lost your chicken! That is very upsetting.

Do you have a vet who will see chickens where you live?

One thing you can do is take a sample of poo from the bird that has loose poo and sneezes and see if the vet can do a fecal float for you and ID anything he finds. Based on that you can pick a medicine that will help your birds. Folks on here can help recommend a medication and dosage if you're interested.

How exactly did you administer the Nutridrench?

If you have another chicken die, you can refrigerate (not freeze) its body and send it for an autopsy. This is the best way to determine what was wrong, in order to try and help the rest of your flock.

https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Hopefully it was something specific to that chicken and the rest of them will be fine.

 

[FunClucks]

This might be helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

I'm so sorry you lost your chicken! That is very upsetting.

Do you have a vet who will see chickens where you live?

One thing you can do is take a sample of poo from the bird that has loose poo and sneezes and see if the vet can do a fecal float for you and ID anything he finds. Based on that you can pick a medicine that will help your birds. Folks on here can help recommend a medication and dosage if you're interested.

How exactly did you administer the Nutridrench?

If you have another chicken die, you can refrigerate (not freeze) its body and send it for an autopsy. This is the best way to determine what was wrong, in order to try and help the rest of your flock.

https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Hopefully it was something specific to that chicken and the rest of them will be fine.

Thanks so much for your response. I do not have a vet, unfortunately. I followed the instructions on the bottle. I administered it from the dropper, a very little bit at a time.

I'm keeping a very close eye on the other ones and they all seem fine.

Thanks again for the info. Really appreciate it.

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

So she is o.k. now?

I would not use Arnica in the water.

In hot weather, provide cool plain water. You can provide an additional bowl/drinker of water with electrolytes, but your birds need fresh plain water as well.
Make sure they have plenty of shade.

No, she died, unfortunately.

Why do you think I shouldn't administer Arnica when needed?

I do give them all fresh water. I gave her the Arnica in a little bit of water in a syringe to try to treat her, as it helps my family and treating animals is no different. I did not put the Arnica in their main water source.

They have a decent amount of shade.

Thank you for your input.

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

This might be helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Thank you, I'm looking over it now.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No, she died, unfortunately.

Why do you think I shouldn't administer Arnica when needed?

I do give them all fresh water. I gave her the Arnica in a little bit of water in a syringe to try to treat her, as it helps my family and treating animals is no different. I did not put the Arnica in their main water source.

They have a decent amount of shade.

Thank you for your input.

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought Arnica is mainly used as a topical treatment for minor bruising, cuts or scrapes and it was not commonly used internally due to concerns about toxicity.
If you take it internally yourself, then no worries

Often we don't know the cause of a chick dying. If you lose another in a short period of time in similar circumstances, sending the body to your State Lab will give you the best information.