fieldandcoop
Hatching
- Jun 4, 2023
- 1
- 0
- 7
Hi There,
I'm hoping someone can help shed light on a sad situation in hopes of preventing this again.
On 12/25/24, when I had my girls out free ranging, I noticed a bloody dropping (see first image). Immediately I assumed the worst. Unfortunately at the time, I didn't know whose dropping out of the seven girls it was. I did notice one of the insides of one of my 6 month old Gold Kissed Granite Olive Eggers vent was bright red when she was dropping a stool, but didn't notice any blood in that stool itself. I continued to monitor them for the day and didn't see anymore odd droppings and didn't notice any changes in behavior in anyone. The following morning, I inspected their coop and found another bloody dropping (see second image). Realizing this wasn't a one time thing, I collected both bloody stools for samples, as well as any other fresh droppings I could find, and sent them out for testing. I continued to monitor the flock, but didn't notice any other symptoms in any of them.
While I waited for the results to come back I provided ACV and a clove of garlic to their drinking water and added fresh herbs to their food to support their immune systems. Their food and water is refreshed daily. Everyone was eating and drinking and acting like normal. It's cold where I am right now and my (3) oldest hens, 1.5 years old, are on a laying break with pale combs as a result. (2) of my (4) 6 month old pullets just starting laying as of 12/16/24 and have bright red combs and wattles, while the other two pullets are beginning to squat for me but have yet to lay, and neither have bright combs. It's been hard to tell if their combs are pale due to lack of hormones or illness.
I continued to monitor the coop, run, and them for any more bloody stools or behavior changed and didn't note any. I received results back from Mid America Ag Research in which they performed the "Modified Wisconsin Sugar Floatation Method" test on the samples. The results came back with "No Eggs Found!" (see third image of scan I received). It appears they tested for the following" Management*, Ascaridia, Heterakis, Cappillaria, Syngamus, and Coccidia (what I was most worried about). From this, I concluded the samples didn't test positive for any of the above.
After receiving these results I did notice in one of my pullets some dried up stool around her vent with a red tinge. I washed her up and didn't notice it again. I concluded she was the one with the bloody stools and monitored her closely, but chose not to separate her from the others as I never noticed any other symptoms since the droppings 3-4 days prior and what I assumed were negative test results. She continued to eat and drink like usual. On the morning of 1/1/25, I did notice she didn't come down from the roost with everyone and when I went to check on her found her still perched on the roost and slightly twitching her head. After researching why this could be, in addition to the other symptoms presented earlier, I couldn't determine what was wrong. I brought her down and she proceeded to eat and drink and engage with the rest of the flock.
I put the girls to bed last night, 1/2/25, and noted everyone was on the roost, turned on their radiant heater as it was going to be in the single digits where we're at, and when I went out to check and on them and give them their food and water this morning, I noticed she didn't come out. When I opened the coop door to investigate I found she had passed. Where she was positioned, it doesn't appear she fell from the roost, but rather came down during the night, or worse, did fall but moved herself to the side of the coop afterwards (see fourth image). When looking her over, I noticed her vent was wet and she had more dried up stool around it since I had washed her up a few days prior (see fifth image), no blood noted this time but her vent was a bit red. She had yet to start laying, even though she was squatting for me. I included some photos of her throughout the past few days and well for reference.
I'm devasted and feel horrible as it's my job to take care of them. I feel like I didn't do everything I should have and could have to prevent this, even after all the research I did. I don't like to treat without definite cause, and ultimately the only real symptom noted was the bloody stool. My question now is do I assume the worst that it was Coccidia? Do I treat the rest of the flock? I don't like to treat without cause, hence why I submitted the samples for testing, but would this be cause enough to treat the rest of the flock? Did I submit the test/interpret the results wrongs? What's even more confusing is I thought Coccidia needed warmer temps that what we've been experiencing here in the Midwest.
Any help would be appreciated going forward as these girls are first and foremost very loved pets and I don't want to find myself in this type of situation again if I can help it.
Thanks so much for any and all insight.
I'm hoping someone can help shed light on a sad situation in hopes of preventing this again.
On 12/25/24, when I had my girls out free ranging, I noticed a bloody dropping (see first image). Immediately I assumed the worst. Unfortunately at the time, I didn't know whose dropping out of the seven girls it was. I did notice one of the insides of one of my 6 month old Gold Kissed Granite Olive Eggers vent was bright red when she was dropping a stool, but didn't notice any blood in that stool itself. I continued to monitor them for the day and didn't see anymore odd droppings and didn't notice any changes in behavior in anyone. The following morning, I inspected their coop and found another bloody dropping (see second image). Realizing this wasn't a one time thing, I collected both bloody stools for samples, as well as any other fresh droppings I could find, and sent them out for testing. I continued to monitor the flock, but didn't notice any other symptoms in any of them.
While I waited for the results to come back I provided ACV and a clove of garlic to their drinking water and added fresh herbs to their food to support their immune systems. Their food and water is refreshed daily. Everyone was eating and drinking and acting like normal. It's cold where I am right now and my (3) oldest hens, 1.5 years old, are on a laying break with pale combs as a result. (2) of my (4) 6 month old pullets just starting laying as of 12/16/24 and have bright red combs and wattles, while the other two pullets are beginning to squat for me but have yet to lay, and neither have bright combs. It's been hard to tell if their combs are pale due to lack of hormones or illness.
I continued to monitor the coop, run, and them for any more bloody stools or behavior changed and didn't note any. I received results back from Mid America Ag Research in which they performed the "Modified Wisconsin Sugar Floatation Method" test on the samples. The results came back with "No Eggs Found!" (see third image of scan I received). It appears they tested for the following" Management*, Ascaridia, Heterakis, Cappillaria, Syngamus, and Coccidia (what I was most worried about). From this, I concluded the samples didn't test positive for any of the above.
After receiving these results I did notice in one of my pullets some dried up stool around her vent with a red tinge. I washed her up and didn't notice it again. I concluded she was the one with the bloody stools and monitored her closely, but chose not to separate her from the others as I never noticed any other symptoms since the droppings 3-4 days prior and what I assumed were negative test results. She continued to eat and drink like usual. On the morning of 1/1/25, I did notice she didn't come down from the roost with everyone and when I went to check on her found her still perched on the roost and slightly twitching her head. After researching why this could be, in addition to the other symptoms presented earlier, I couldn't determine what was wrong. I brought her down and she proceeded to eat and drink and engage with the rest of the flock.
I put the girls to bed last night, 1/2/25, and noted everyone was on the roost, turned on their radiant heater as it was going to be in the single digits where we're at, and when I went out to check and on them and give them their food and water this morning, I noticed she didn't come out. When I opened the coop door to investigate I found she had passed. Where she was positioned, it doesn't appear she fell from the roost, but rather came down during the night, or worse, did fall but moved herself to the side of the coop afterwards (see fourth image). When looking her over, I noticed her vent was wet and she had more dried up stool around it since I had washed her up a few days prior (see fifth image), no blood noted this time but her vent was a bit red. She had yet to start laying, even though she was squatting for me. I included some photos of her throughout the past few days and well for reference.
I'm devasted and feel horrible as it's my job to take care of them. I feel like I didn't do everything I should have and could have to prevent this, even after all the research I did. I don't like to treat without definite cause, and ultimately the only real symptom noted was the bloody stool. My question now is do I assume the worst that it was Coccidia? Do I treat the rest of the flock? I don't like to treat without cause, hence why I submitted the samples for testing, but would this be cause enough to treat the rest of the flock? Did I submit the test/interpret the results wrongs? What's even more confusing is I thought Coccidia needed warmer temps that what we've been experiencing here in the Midwest.
Any help would be appreciated going forward as these girls are first and foremost very loved pets and I don't want to find myself in this type of situation again if I can help it.
Thanks so much for any and all insight.
