1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Red Star hen, approx 5 months old, have not gotten weight yet but she does not feel thin or excessively light.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Some sneezing and what sounds like coughing. Occasional mucousy short gurgle. No gasping or gaping as of yet, and no discharge from eyes or nose. No swelling present in face. This bird also has small white rectangles in feces, which write and sort of pulsate. I suspect tapeworm on that one, but am not sure what the respiratory issue could be as the standard discharge and facial swelling that comes with most of the illnesses is not presenting.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Unsure, we brought them home from a farm last night. We did not notice sneezing or coughing prior to them arriving home, so possibly something was inhaled in the attempt to capture and box them. I don't want to assume, delay treatment, and have anything worsen, so hoping to find out on that one whether it is possible to have a respiratory infection with no discharge or gapeworm with no gaping. There is also no open beak breathing or labored breathing.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? Not at this time from what we can tell, but 2 other hens are in quarantine with her as they came from the same flock at the same time.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No: Feathers, nose, feet, and eyes are all clear and seem in good condition. Visually all birds look to be in good health.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. The birds were being kept at an inappropriate density, owner relayed that some birds were there as temporary housing while an additional coop is being constructed. In addition to this the housing they are in recently flooded due to heavy rain and flies were very thick in the area. They were housed on farmland that also has goats, sheep, horses, dogs, and cats. I can only assume she ate an infected fly to get the worms. Some of the flock had eyes that did not look healthy (partially shut or misshapen lids), but owner stated they had been pecked. I noted one bird in the flock of 60+ that had a single bubble at the nostril. Noted that waterers were filthy, and am unsure if that was due to poop in the tray, dirt, or a mix of both. Also unsure how often their water was changed or coop cleaned. The woman clearly adores her flock, but seems to have gotten in a bit over her head and wound up with too many in one area to maintain well, so signs of pecking and feather loss were present on some of the flock.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Yes both eating and drinking
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Fairly normal, except for the presence of the worms, possibly slightly soft but not foamy, bubbly, or runny. Image attached. I have a video showing the movement but do not see a way to upload it.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Nothing yet, we plan to get Zimecterin Gold to address the suspected tapeworm, but would like input on whether that is the best course of action and what should be done about the strange breathing, or whether it should be monitored longer. Also would like to know if any other blanket treatments are recommended for new birds from a flock that was not kept pristine. (e.g. dusting to ensure no external parasites, providing probiotics, bathing, etc) A general list of cautionary steps and treatments to provide with new birds would be great since this is the first time we have brought any in to add to the flock and I want to be sure nothing is overlooked.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? I believe we can treat on our own, and want to provide the right treatment to the other two birds that are not showing symptoms yet, as they have definitely been exposed, to ensure they are able to eventually integrate into our flock.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Currently they are in a chicken wire enclosed cage utilizing a kitchen table frame. They are on a tarp at the moment and we will be putting together something with a better design and actual bedding today. Open to recommendations as far as bedding. They were on dirt and some hay at the prior residence. We need something that will not harbor tapeworm eggs during the course of treatment, so please let me know if the tarp would actually be best due to ease of cleaning, or if something like river sand would be alright. I am concerned about them getting filthy walking through poop on the tarp since they are confined.
Thank you so much for any input you can provide. We really want to rehab these girls since they do seem healthy in all other areas and I believe they could have an excellent outcome, but we have to be sure we are not letting a typhoid henrietta into the flock. I should note that we knew it was going to be a tricky task taking on birds from an existing flock to incorporate, and fully expected to have to do some treatment. This woman socializes her hens and they are similar in age to our girls. We already had to build a second coop because we made the mistake of starting with 6 unsexed chicks and wound up with four roosters we now feel obligated to care for and protect. We would not be able to deal with another unexpected roo, and finding birds for sale and old enough to be definite hens seems impossible without having to go through this process. Our flock of 2 girls are happy for now but if we lost one it would not be a healthy situation for the one remaining and I worry about warmth in the winter with only 2. We are hoping we can move some mountains and give both the new birds and our girls a fuller and happier life by the end of it.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Some sneezing and what sounds like coughing. Occasional mucousy short gurgle. No gasping or gaping as of yet, and no discharge from eyes or nose. No swelling present in face. This bird also has small white rectangles in feces, which write and sort of pulsate. I suspect tapeworm on that one, but am not sure what the respiratory issue could be as the standard discharge and facial swelling that comes with most of the illnesses is not presenting.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Unsure, we brought them home from a farm last night. We did not notice sneezing or coughing prior to them arriving home, so possibly something was inhaled in the attempt to capture and box them. I don't want to assume, delay treatment, and have anything worsen, so hoping to find out on that one whether it is possible to have a respiratory infection with no discharge or gapeworm with no gaping. There is also no open beak breathing or labored breathing.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? Not at this time from what we can tell, but 2 other hens are in quarantine with her as they came from the same flock at the same time.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No: Feathers, nose, feet, and eyes are all clear and seem in good condition. Visually all birds look to be in good health.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. The birds were being kept at an inappropriate density, owner relayed that some birds were there as temporary housing while an additional coop is being constructed. In addition to this the housing they are in recently flooded due to heavy rain and flies were very thick in the area. They were housed on farmland that also has goats, sheep, horses, dogs, and cats. I can only assume she ate an infected fly to get the worms. Some of the flock had eyes that did not look healthy (partially shut or misshapen lids), but owner stated they had been pecked. I noted one bird in the flock of 60+ that had a single bubble at the nostril. Noted that waterers were filthy, and am unsure if that was due to poop in the tray, dirt, or a mix of both. Also unsure how often their water was changed or coop cleaned. The woman clearly adores her flock, but seems to have gotten in a bit over her head and wound up with too many in one area to maintain well, so signs of pecking and feather loss were present on some of the flock.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Yes both eating and drinking
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Fairly normal, except for the presence of the worms, possibly slightly soft but not foamy, bubbly, or runny. Image attached. I have a video showing the movement but do not see a way to upload it.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Nothing yet, we plan to get Zimecterin Gold to address the suspected tapeworm, but would like input on whether that is the best course of action and what should be done about the strange breathing, or whether it should be monitored longer. Also would like to know if any other blanket treatments are recommended for new birds from a flock that was not kept pristine. (e.g. dusting to ensure no external parasites, providing probiotics, bathing, etc) A general list of cautionary steps and treatments to provide with new birds would be great since this is the first time we have brought any in to add to the flock and I want to be sure nothing is overlooked.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? I believe we can treat on our own, and want to provide the right treatment to the other two birds that are not showing symptoms yet, as they have definitely been exposed, to ensure they are able to eventually integrate into our flock.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Currently they are in a chicken wire enclosed cage utilizing a kitchen table frame. They are on a tarp at the moment and we will be putting together something with a better design and actual bedding today. Open to recommendations as far as bedding. They were on dirt and some hay at the prior residence. We need something that will not harbor tapeworm eggs during the course of treatment, so please let me know if the tarp would actually be best due to ease of cleaning, or if something like river sand would be alright. I am concerned about them getting filthy walking through poop on the tarp since they are confined.
Thank you so much for any input you can provide. We really want to rehab these girls since they do seem healthy in all other areas and I believe they could have an excellent outcome, but we have to be sure we are not letting a typhoid henrietta into the flock. I should note that we knew it was going to be a tricky task taking on birds from an existing flock to incorporate, and fully expected to have to do some treatment. This woman socializes her hens and they are similar in age to our girls. We already had to build a second coop because we made the mistake of starting with 6 unsexed chicks and wound up with four roosters we now feel obligated to care for and protect. We would not be able to deal with another unexpected roo, and finding birds for sale and old enough to be definite hens seems impossible without having to go through this process. Our flock of 2 girls are happy for now but if we lost one it would not be a healthy situation for the one remaining and I worry about warmth in the winter with only 2. We are hoping we can move some mountains and give both the new birds and our girls a fuller and happier life by the end of it.
