- Jan 20, 2015
- 10
- 0
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One of our hens is sick and I don't know what to do, please help me.
Some Backgrounds: This is the first time I have chickens and I don't know much but have been learning as much as possible through Backyard Chickens and the Internet. We bought 3 chickens from a workmate since around Christmas 2013 and was told they are first year layers. He kept his chickens in his backyard, I'm not sure if they were vaccinated. Since then til about Nov/Dec 2014 we had no problem with them, 3 eggs everyday like clockwork. From around Nov/Dec 2014 the egg productions dropped to 1 or 2 eggs per day, sometimes a day with no egg (rarely). We thought it was common and didn't figure out which one hadn't been laying. They are brown shavers I think, look like this picture here: http://www.therural.co.nz/blogImages/Livestock/Poultry/Brown-Hen.jpg
If it's too long of a post, please skip down to " The Problem We Are Facing" part. Thank you..
2 Weeks Ago:
2 weeks ago started from Mon 05/01, Pinky appeared not interested in food (thirsty at first but stop drinking afterward). Sitting down all the time. At first, we was not sure what she had, thought it was egg bound so made her a warm bath, partner put some vaseline up her vent and had a feel around. Nothing. I then did some Googling and narrowed it down to sour crop. Her crop felt a bit watery, about the size of a tennis ball. My partner then proceeded to empty her crop. He tilted her forward at about 70 degrees angle, massaged her crop and some yellow liquid came out. I then tried to gave her some yoghurt and 1tsp of red wine (after reading that it could help). Also left her some pellets soaked in water which she didn't touch. We then put her in the old coop by herself (haven't used this coop for a while). At this point, I realized that she was noticeably thin, keel pointing out. We might have been neglecting our chickens.. I'm not sure since when she had gotten thin like this..
After 2 days with no improvement, I bought Clotrimazole 100mg (for treatment of vaginal thrush) in pessaries and cut 1/3 of the pill mixed in water and fed her twice a day morning and evening. In the first few days force fed her egg yolks mashed up in water through a syringe (opened her beak, got the stuff in and let her swallow on her own), also force fed yoghurt, water and some olive oil. Left her water soaked pellet on free choice.
Fri 09/01, I saw a few soft droppings and one watery one in the morning (never been so happier to see a chicken poop in my life). She seemed more interested in food, ate some wet pellets and yoghurt by herself. Crop felt more solid.
Sat 10/01, eager to get out of the coop in the morning. Fed her the last 1/3 piece of Clotrimazole 100mg (2 whole pessaries so far), some olive oil. She also ate wet pellets, some spinach and kale by herself. Even scratched for bug in the garden. We let her out free range in the garden for a few hours. Noticed that she seemed to groom herself quite often, used her beak to get to feathers under the wings, neck and bum areas. Flipped her wings a few times. Also used her tail wings like a fan quite often.
Sun 11/01, seems to be back to normal. Ate and drank by herself. She roosted on the roost not on the floor like before. Crop emptied at night. During the day, it felt like a sandy bean bag, about a strawberry size. Ate some worms from the worm farm too.
Mon 12/01 to Fri 16/01 (last week), business as usual although she was still in her separate coop. Noticed her groomed herself quite often but we didn't pay much attention. We let her free range the garden when we were home, fed her some worms from the worm farm, spinach, kales, yoghurt, eggs, etc.
The Problem We Are Facing:
Sat 17/01, when I let her out of the coop in the morning, noticed she walked with a limb on the right leg. There were a few feathers on the ground. She was still eating normally. I thought she had a strain muscle on her leg. Groomed herself excessively. I though she might have mites. We thought of moving her to another spot in the following morning. Discovered a very long thin black poo in the coop between the normal round chicken poo.
Sun 18/01, when I let her out of her coop, it looked like there was a pillow fight inside. One more stringy long poo in the coop beside the normal round ones. This photo was taken 1 day after so the poo dried out a bit more than when discovered. I wasn't sure if it was her poo or other animals? Partner thought it was a hedgehog poo, I thought hedgehog poo was shorter not that long.. She still walked with a limb, sometimes stand on 1 leg. Anyway, he built her a temporary coop out of pallets on the other side of the garden. Fed her some soaked pellets which she ate some. Didn't drink water as far as I could see. We then both went out and got home late that night to find her had disappeared. We tried to find her but it was pitch black so we failed. We did notice feathers were everywhere in her coop. Went to sleep hoping she would show up in the morning.
The weird long poo in between normal ones (click to enlarge)
Mon 19/01, she did show up in the morning. She was walking very slowly, tail down. Sitting down a lot. When she stood up, she had her back hunch up a little, tail pointed to the ground. I also noticed she had her beak opened quite a lot. Fed her half a boiled egg yolk and some yoghurt which she ate happily. Also ate some pellets and drank some water. Some feathers were loose and fell out when she fluffed up and shook her body. I also saw her plucked some of them out. Because of the droopy tail and funny walking (not sure if it was like a penguin or not or just because her tail was down) but I thought she might be egg bound so I decided to gave her 1/2 of a human calcium tablet 1000mg watered down in 5ml of water. However, she still passed normal droppings, looked brown with white coating with some grass and grains present. The whole day, when she wasn't sitting, she would stand with her wing feathers open a little and droopy tail. Mouth also opened a little. She also kept standing one 1 leg when she didn't do the above. Also very talkative when I picked her up, and kept grooming herself very often. I then bought a bottle of food grade Diatomaceous Earth (D.E) powder and dusted her and her coop all over in hope it would kill any mites that might present. I also fed her about 3cc of orange flavor electrolyte powder (for human) mixed in water. (I'm not sure whether it was ok for chicken but it was all I could find).
Tue 20/01 (today), in the morning her droppings was normal, maybe a bit on the dry side. Sitting down all the time. I left her a bowl of pellets, a boil egg and some water before I went to work. Comb was paler than before and her face got some white flaking things? When I got home in the afternoon and checked her droppings, there were some normal ones and some watery ones. In one of the half soft half watery one I found a white moving thin object about 2 to 3mm long looks like a worm. Most of the time she just sit down, when she stood up she stood on 1 leg (I think it was the left one). Tail pointing down. When she walked she seemed to lift her legs higher than usual and walked very slowly. Balance a bit off? I'm not sure.. Feathers still loose and falling out. Not sure if she were still pulling them out or not..
I fed her some boiled egg yolk which she ate about half, She also pecked at some pellets, not much.. I made her a warm bath which she sat in for 10 mins, then blow dried her with blow drier in cool setting. She stayed still for me to do it. I noticed she opened her beak most of the time when she was in the bath but didn't when I was blow drying her. I noticed some of her feathers were missing some parts (like they were half eaten on 1 side). I then went out and got a bottle of 50ml Aviverm liquid wormer to put in her water. I live in New Zealand and that is all I could find at a farm store. Information about the Aviverm is here: http://www.chookmanor.co.nz/p/61/aviverm-poultry-wormer . The dose is 1ml/ 9kg of live weight dilluted in drinking water. I estimate she is about 1kg (she's very thin), I mixed about 0.2ml into 500ml of water but she didn't drink so I fried to force fed her about 6cc (6ml) of that liquid. She also ate about 3 small spinach leaves and 1 kale leaf when I held them out for her. After a white she seemed a bit better and was walking around a bit and pecking at the grass. It was getting dark so I put her in the makeshift coop. She walked back and forth for 3 mins on the "roosting pallet" looking like she wanted to get out and then settled in.
This photo was Pinky this morning.. (click to enlarge)
She is thin with keel pointing out and I guess she is about roughly 1kg (2.5 pounds). I noticed that at the starting point of this ordeal. I'm not sure since when did she lost weight but she has always been the smallest among the 3 chickens I have. I am in New Zealand and the weather has been hot lately, sunny all day and around 25 degrees Celsius (77 F) at noon and 11 degrees Celcius (51 F) at night.
I'm sorry my post is so long. I just don't want to miss anything and I'm freaking out thinking about Merak and all the terrible diseases that Pinky could have. I sincerely appreciate any help since I'm desperate and there doesn't seem to be a vet who knows much about poultry around here.
Thank you all very much!
Jessica.
Some Backgrounds: This is the first time I have chickens and I don't know much but have been learning as much as possible through Backyard Chickens and the Internet. We bought 3 chickens from a workmate since around Christmas 2013 and was told they are first year layers. He kept his chickens in his backyard, I'm not sure if they were vaccinated. Since then til about Nov/Dec 2014 we had no problem with them, 3 eggs everyday like clockwork. From around Nov/Dec 2014 the egg productions dropped to 1 or 2 eggs per day, sometimes a day with no egg (rarely). We thought it was common and didn't figure out which one hadn't been laying. They are brown shavers I think, look like this picture here: http://www.therural.co.nz/blogImages/Livestock/Poultry/Brown-Hen.jpg
If it's too long of a post, please skip down to " The Problem We Are Facing" part. Thank you..
2 Weeks Ago:
2 weeks ago started from Mon 05/01, Pinky appeared not interested in food (thirsty at first but stop drinking afterward). Sitting down all the time. At first, we was not sure what she had, thought it was egg bound so made her a warm bath, partner put some vaseline up her vent and had a feel around. Nothing. I then did some Googling and narrowed it down to sour crop. Her crop felt a bit watery, about the size of a tennis ball. My partner then proceeded to empty her crop. He tilted her forward at about 70 degrees angle, massaged her crop and some yellow liquid came out. I then tried to gave her some yoghurt and 1tsp of red wine (after reading that it could help). Also left her some pellets soaked in water which she didn't touch. We then put her in the old coop by herself (haven't used this coop for a while). At this point, I realized that she was noticeably thin, keel pointing out. We might have been neglecting our chickens.. I'm not sure since when she had gotten thin like this..
After 2 days with no improvement, I bought Clotrimazole 100mg (for treatment of vaginal thrush) in pessaries and cut 1/3 of the pill mixed in water and fed her twice a day morning and evening. In the first few days force fed her egg yolks mashed up in water through a syringe (opened her beak, got the stuff in and let her swallow on her own), also force fed yoghurt, water and some olive oil. Left her water soaked pellet on free choice.
Fri 09/01, I saw a few soft droppings and one watery one in the morning (never been so happier to see a chicken poop in my life). She seemed more interested in food, ate some wet pellets and yoghurt by herself. Crop felt more solid.
Sat 10/01, eager to get out of the coop in the morning. Fed her the last 1/3 piece of Clotrimazole 100mg (2 whole pessaries so far), some olive oil. She also ate wet pellets, some spinach and kale by herself. Even scratched for bug in the garden. We let her out free range in the garden for a few hours. Noticed that she seemed to groom herself quite often, used her beak to get to feathers under the wings, neck and bum areas. Flipped her wings a few times. Also used her tail wings like a fan quite often.
Sun 11/01, seems to be back to normal. Ate and drank by herself. She roosted on the roost not on the floor like before. Crop emptied at night. During the day, it felt like a sandy bean bag, about a strawberry size. Ate some worms from the worm farm too.
Mon 12/01 to Fri 16/01 (last week), business as usual although she was still in her separate coop. Noticed her groomed herself quite often but we didn't pay much attention. We let her free range the garden when we were home, fed her some worms from the worm farm, spinach, kales, yoghurt, eggs, etc.
The Problem We Are Facing:
Sat 17/01, when I let her out of the coop in the morning, noticed she walked with a limb on the right leg. There were a few feathers on the ground. She was still eating normally. I thought she had a strain muscle on her leg. Groomed herself excessively. I though she might have mites. We thought of moving her to another spot in the following morning. Discovered a very long thin black poo in the coop between the normal round chicken poo.
Sun 18/01, when I let her out of her coop, it looked like there was a pillow fight inside. One more stringy long poo in the coop beside the normal round ones. This photo was taken 1 day after so the poo dried out a bit more than when discovered. I wasn't sure if it was her poo or other animals? Partner thought it was a hedgehog poo, I thought hedgehog poo was shorter not that long.. She still walked with a limb, sometimes stand on 1 leg. Anyway, he built her a temporary coop out of pallets on the other side of the garden. Fed her some soaked pellets which she ate some. Didn't drink water as far as I could see. We then both went out and got home late that night to find her had disappeared. We tried to find her but it was pitch black so we failed. We did notice feathers were everywhere in her coop. Went to sleep hoping she would show up in the morning.
The weird long poo in between normal ones (click to enlarge)
Mon 19/01, she did show up in the morning. She was walking very slowly, tail down. Sitting down a lot. When she stood up, she had her back hunch up a little, tail pointed to the ground. I also noticed she had her beak opened quite a lot. Fed her half a boiled egg yolk and some yoghurt which she ate happily. Also ate some pellets and drank some water. Some feathers were loose and fell out when she fluffed up and shook her body. I also saw her plucked some of them out. Because of the droopy tail and funny walking (not sure if it was like a penguin or not or just because her tail was down) but I thought she might be egg bound so I decided to gave her 1/2 of a human calcium tablet 1000mg watered down in 5ml of water. However, she still passed normal droppings, looked brown with white coating with some grass and grains present. The whole day, when she wasn't sitting, she would stand with her wing feathers open a little and droopy tail. Mouth also opened a little. She also kept standing one 1 leg when she didn't do the above. Also very talkative when I picked her up, and kept grooming herself very often. I then bought a bottle of food grade Diatomaceous Earth (D.E) powder and dusted her and her coop all over in hope it would kill any mites that might present. I also fed her about 3cc of orange flavor electrolyte powder (for human) mixed in water. (I'm not sure whether it was ok for chicken but it was all I could find).
Tue 20/01 (today), in the morning her droppings was normal, maybe a bit on the dry side. Sitting down all the time. I left her a bowl of pellets, a boil egg and some water before I went to work. Comb was paler than before and her face got some white flaking things? When I got home in the afternoon and checked her droppings, there were some normal ones and some watery ones. In one of the half soft half watery one I found a white moving thin object about 2 to 3mm long looks like a worm. Most of the time she just sit down, when she stood up she stood on 1 leg (I think it was the left one). Tail pointing down. When she walked she seemed to lift her legs higher than usual and walked very slowly. Balance a bit off? I'm not sure.. Feathers still loose and falling out. Not sure if she were still pulling them out or not..
I fed her some boiled egg yolk which she ate about half, She also pecked at some pellets, not much.. I made her a warm bath which she sat in for 10 mins, then blow dried her with blow drier in cool setting. She stayed still for me to do it. I noticed she opened her beak most of the time when she was in the bath but didn't when I was blow drying her. I noticed some of her feathers were missing some parts (like they were half eaten on 1 side). I then went out and got a bottle of 50ml Aviverm liquid wormer to put in her water. I live in New Zealand and that is all I could find at a farm store. Information about the Aviverm is here: http://www.chookmanor.co.nz/p/61/aviverm-poultry-wormer . The dose is 1ml/ 9kg of live weight dilluted in drinking water. I estimate she is about 1kg (she's very thin), I mixed about 0.2ml into 500ml of water but she didn't drink so I fried to force fed her about 6cc (6ml) of that liquid. She also ate about 3 small spinach leaves and 1 kale leaf when I held them out for her. After a white she seemed a bit better and was walking around a bit and pecking at the grass. It was getting dark so I put her in the makeshift coop. She walked back and forth for 3 mins on the "roosting pallet" looking like she wanted to get out and then settled in.
This photo was Pinky this morning.. (click to enlarge)
She is thin with keel pointing out and I guess she is about roughly 1kg (2.5 pounds). I noticed that at the starting point of this ordeal. I'm not sure since when did she lost weight but she has always been the smallest among the 3 chickens I have. I am in New Zealand and the weather has been hot lately, sunny all day and around 25 degrees Celsius (77 F) at noon and 11 degrees Celcius (51 F) at night.
I'm sorry my post is so long. I just don't want to miss anything and I'm freaking out thinking about Merak and all the terrible diseases that Pinky could have. I sincerely appreciate any help since I'm desperate and there doesn't seem to be a vet who knows much about poultry around here.
Thank you all very much!
Jessica.
