Please Help Us.... Sick Chick

[Ma]

We have a small flock of 9, 8 hens and 1 roo, 6 wks old. All have grown and are extremely healthy. They are all still on their medicated chick/starter food.

Three days ago we noticed 1 hen isolating herself from the rest. She is hunching, not eating, eyes half closing at times, and much smaller than the rest (like 1/3 the size of the others). She still scratches in the pen and tries to catch bugs, but thats the extent of her activity.

I know there must be something wrong. Do we have to cull her?

Please..........any advice is so appreciated.

Thank you so much.

Ma and Pa

 

[thndrdancr]

Have you seen what her poops look like? That is an early indication of trouble, it might be worms or cocci even if they are on medicated feed. You probably need to isolate her and get a handle on her symptoms, then you might be able to tell whats wrong. Chickens have SO many illnesses, its hard to tell what it might be.
Sorry I couldnt help more. Someone with a lot of experience might be able to help,but need more info on the poor gal. I wouldnt cull her just yet, if she has something, its likely the rest already have it, and are either resisting it, or have stronger immune systems.
Just separate her for now and keep watch, make sure she is eating/drinking. Also some gatorade or pedialyte will help her eloctrolytes balance out if she is having a problem, the heats been bad on them too.


Jill

 

[robin416]

That's one of those things that no one can know for sure. Giving her extra support like hand feeding chopped egg, yoghurt with live cultures, hand feeding bird forumla would give her more of a chance.

To give a better answer you need to provide a bunch more info. Is she drinking at all? What do her droppings look like? What is her crop like, her eyes, her nostrils? Everything you can think to check come back and let us know. For the time being you should probably isolate her so you can get a better picture of what is going on.

 

[Ma]

Her poopies are totally normal, nice color with the white on top. She drinks her water, I have had them on chick vitamens since day 1. We have had relief from the heat the past few days, and fortunately for us we never got the extreme heat like many did. Her crop, eyes, nostrils are fine. No sneezing or wheezing or discharges.

Can chickens just have normal viruses like people? Should we just wait this out? Seems like the only real symptoms are the hunching and desire to be on her own, and her inhibited growth.

She does get chopped egg yokes, they all love that. That's their nightime treat. It brings them in from the run running.

She loves to be picked up, what Orpington doesn't, lol. Her cooing sounds and communicating sounds seem quite normal.

Any more info is appreciated!

Ma and Pa

 

[robin416]

Try an experiment. Hook up a light near her low enough to provide warmth, see if she heads for it and stays there. And yes, there are virus' that they can contract.

 

[Ma]

Hi everyone and thank you so very much for responding.

"Little Bo Peep" seems better this afternoon! She's eating much better. We think she might have been chilled? She is very active this pm and not isolating anymore, and not hunching . We will continue to watch her closely. I spend alot of time with the chickens.....

She is definately the smallest one in the flock, but hey, somebody's gotta be, right?

We haven't raised chickens for 50 years, and here we are in retirement learning all over again.

Thanks again. If any one else has any info, we would be grateful for it.

Ma and Pa Nichols