New hens are not well

[jimgunn]

Hi all. I bought 6 new hens 3 days ago to add to my flock, 4 of which are fine and mixing with the original flock. But when I let them out into the run when I got home from buying them, I noticed one wasn't well. It stood in the same place for about 2 hours, didn't eat much and with tail down and head in. I noticed that when our cockerel mated with her, a fluid came from her mouth. I picked her up and checked her over and noticed her crop was soft, as though full of water. I searched these symptoms and narrowed it down to sour crop. I checked the other symptoms and she also had them, e.g. Smelly breath. I emptied her crop the next morning as best I could. There was a lot of smelly brown fluid that came out, but I could still feel corn in her crop that I could not get out completely. I seperated her and gave her soft foods, natural yoghurt and water with garlic in it but she went down hill and died 2 days after I got her. I thought fair enough, sour crop is quite common and I did my best, but today, another of the hens has started acting lethargic too. She does not move around much, has her tail down and head tucked in, does not eat much and often keeps her eyes closed. She is slightly smaller than the other hens and gets bullied a little but apart from those symptoms I can't find much else wrong with her.

If anyone could tell me what's wrong with her, how to treat her and whether the other hens are likely to get it that would be great.

Thanks

Jamie

Edited to say that these hens are 23 to 26 weeks old

 

[New Chicken Lad]

while waiting for someone to respond, go here and see if you can't figure out something...Hoping for the best for you, Helen
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-injuries-diseases-how-to-diagnose-treat-your-chickens

 

[ten chicks]

Hi all. I bought 6 new hens 3 days ago to add to my flock, 4 of which are fine and mixing with the original flock. But when I let them out into the run when I got home from buying them, I noticed one wasn't well. It stood in the same place for about 2 hours, didn't eat much and with tail down and head in. I noticed that when our cockerel mated with her, a fluid came from her mouth. I picked her up and checked her over and noticed her crop was soft, as though full of water. I searched these symptoms and narrowed it down to sour crop. I checked the other symptoms and she also had them, e.g. Smelly breath. I emptied her crop the next morning as best I could. There was a lot of smelly brown fluid that came out, but I could still feel corn in her crop that I could not get out completely. I seperated her and gave her soft foods, natural yoghurt and water with garlic in it but she went down hill and died 2 days after I got her. I thought fair enough, sour crop is quite common and I did my best, but today, another of the hens has started acting lethargic too. She does not move around much, has her tail down and head tucked in, does not eat much and often keeps her eyes closed. She is slightly smaller than the other hens and gets bullied a little but apart from those symptoms I can't find much else wrong with her.

If anyone could tell me what's wrong with her, how to treat her and whether the other hens are likely to get it that would be great.

Thanks

Jamie

Edited to say that these hens are 23 to 26 weeks old

First rule,NEVER mix new birds,always quarantine for at least 4 weeks,this is to prevent any diseases contaminating your entire flock.

Look up info for Coccidiosis . Cocci is a parasitic infection of the intestinal tract,it is spread by droppings which get into feed/water via droppings. There are 9 strains of cocci,so it is possible that your new birds/original birds have a strain that the other group has no immunity to yet. Some symptoms are,runny/watery poop(may or MAY NOT contain blood,depends on which of the 9 strains it is)fluffed feathers,lethargic,not eating/drinking properly,weight loss,general look of unwell. If symptoms match,purchase Corid(amprolium)dose for Corid 9.6% liquid is 2 tsp per gallon of water,dose for Corid 20% powder is 3/4 tsp per gallon of water. Treat ALL Chickens for 5 days,do not give vitamins during treatment(interferes with medication)give vitamins after treatment is complete.

 

[jimgunn]

Thank you very much for the advice and info. I will look up Coccidiosis but it does not seem to ad up. The first hen that has now died wasn't looking good from the moment I took it out of the carry box before it had even pecked around. Also, the other 4 birds are showing no signs of this infection, this may be simply because it has not completely infected them yet and they will get ill soon, but seeing as the other one has already come down ill then surely they would have caught it by now. They have all been eating and drinking out of the same places so any infection there would have been caught by all the new hens. I am a beginner, as you can tell by my mistake in adding these birds straight away, but wouldn't all the new birds be showing these symptoms?

 

[ten chicks]

Thank you very much for the advice and info. I will look up Coccidiosis but it does not seem to ad up. The first hen that has now died wasn't looking good from the moment I took it out of the carry box before it had even pecked around. Also, the other 4 birds are showing no signs of this infection, this may be simply because it has not completely infected them yet and they will get ill soon, but seeing as the other one has already come down ill then surely they would have caught it by now. They have all been eating and drinking out of the same places so any infection there would have been caught by all the new hens. I am a beginner, as you can tell by my mistake in adding these birds straight away, but wouldn't all the new birds be showing these symptoms?

Birds will only get ill if they have not built up immunity to the strain,so you can have some birds that are fine and others will be ill. It might not be Coccidiosis,but cocci is very common and kills very fast.

 

[jimgunn]

I have looked up all symptoms and will take a closer look at all hens tomorrow to try and determine whether it is Coccidiosis or not. Do you think this is the case for both hens or just the second as the first had almost every symptom of sour crop there was. I was sure that was the problem with her.

 

[jimgunn]

This hen now seems to be on the mend. She is walking around, scratching and pecking, even had a go at one of the youngsters. Saying this, she is still pretty slow and keeps her tail down. Anything I can do to perk her up abit?

 

[New Chicken Lad]

This hen now seems to be on the mend. She is walking around, scratching and pecking, even had a go at one of the youngsters. Saying this, she is still pretty slow and keeps her tail down. Anything I can do to perk her up abit?

Is she eating and drinking??? If she were mine, I would try electrolytes in the water for a couple days...You can make your own with: 1cup water, 2tsp sugar, 1/8tsp salt, 1/8tsp baking soda-->mix into a gallon of water. I would also try feeding her (and everyone else) foods like scrambled eggs with corn, cooked whole oats with yogurt, applesauce & banana, whole grain high fiber nutrient dense pasta with peas & grapes...But of course, I am known to be 'out of my mind' when it comes to feeding my chickens...

Start with the electrolytes in the water...If you want to hear more of what I feed my girls, post back. Good luck, Helen

 

[jimgunn]

Yeah, she does peck around in the grass and I did see her drinking, but she is no where near as perky with tail up and scratching around, nothing like the others. Despite that its better than yesterday when she stood on the spot all day. I will try the electrolytes in water and see if that makes any difference. Thanks for the help