Obviously Sick Barred Rock

roxanne

Crowing
16 Years
Mar 29, 2008
154
121
311
Roanoke, VA
1) What type of bird, age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Barred Rock.
Hatched in early 2019
No, she is no lighter, in fact, she seems heavier

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
She is very slow (easy to catch), her abdomen seems very bloated and it feels full of water. Her comb is droopy and faded in color, She seems to be breathing heavily and she feels warm.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
It noticed these symptoms 2 days ago

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
I do not see any of these symptoms in any of the other birds

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
I have looked her over and there does not seem to be any bleeding, or other injuries

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I don't know what may have caused this

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She eats regular laying pellets just like the other birds, she eats scratch, barley, dried green peas, garden bugs like cabbage worms, slugs, beetles and worms, and garden greens, kale, cabbage, collards, broccoli leaves, tomato leaves

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
I have not watched her poop. I will watch her tomorrow to see her poop

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I have washed off her hind end which was caked with dirt and poop. Other than the dirty hind end, her hind end looks normal. I administered her 1/2 of a FishBiotic capsule mixed with coconut oil to coagulate the powder

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?
There are no vets near me who treat chickens, so it is all up to me.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I don't have any pictures, but I will take a few of her tomorrow when I watch her to see her poop.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
We have a four tiered roosting chicken coop that allows ample space for all 11 of my chickens. We use the deep bedding method and our bedding was just changed at the beginning of the spring this year.
 
I have read all the literature, and her symptoms do coincide with this condition. I have never heard of this condition before now. Thanks for the heads up.
So I guess my best recourse would be to cull her rather than have her suffer. Letting her die on her own would be inhumane and would also waste the meat that my family could eat.
Sad, but true 🙁. Such is the reality of farm life. 🙏🏻❤️
 
I hear you! Miraculously, she had gotten better! She was really struggling and walking like a penguin several weeks ago and I was getting ready to cull her. We had a really busy week and that weekend I was set to put her down. My husband went out to feed the chickens that Saturday and he called me to come and see the sick chicken. She was walking better and looked less swollen. She really looked a lot better and was getting around a lot easier. She was eating, drinking and getting in and out of the coop all on her own. So we have let her live. We will continue to keep an eye on her condition.
 

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