Please Help

[Kiki]

@Wyorp Rock @EggSighted4Life @Eggcessive
Any thoughts?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi. I'm new here. Have a chicken thats about 1 year old. She's sick. This past Sunday she started keeping her feathers all puffed out...thought she may be eggbound. Checked her vent inside and out. Everything was normal. Brought her inside and kept her in a crate for 24 hours to monitor her eating and drinking. During this time she only drank and ate a small portion. Next day I put her back out and she went in the coop and back out with the others. Now she's not eating or drinking. Feathers still puffed out. No problems with poop or respiratory signs or sounds. Don't know what to do next?

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry your girl isn't well.

So you say she is about 1 year old? Is she or was she laying prior to illness? And you've only had them a couple months?

Sounds like it could be cocci... how has your weather been and how many other birds do you have in how much space? What do you feed including treats and supplements? No judgement here for any answers! Just trying to help get an accurate picture. We are all here to help and to learn along the way.

Can you take a fecal sample to the vet to check for worm load and species count, and cocci? It runs $13-18 here.

Next... I would offer scrambled egg, some vitamins in the water, and maybe a spoon full of yogurt for the probiotics... and take a sample to the vet for checking.

Your right is NOT egg binding.. symptoms don't line up and she'd be dead by now.

Hope you get some answers and quick!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

this seems like the same thing happening with my rooster right now except i think his neck is paralyzed

Sorry.

Have you looked into treating for wry neck? How old?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

feathers all puffed out

she only drank and ate a small portion. Next day I put her back out and she went in the coop and back out with the others. Now she's not eating or drinking. Feathers still puffed out. No problems with poop or respiratory signs or sounds.

Shes really skinny

Crop is soft and not even visible

but she got clear liwuid spilling from her mouth. We've had these birds two months but never wormed them or used DE.

Her crop is empty, but she has clear liquid spilling out of her beak?
What does her poop look like?
When was the last time she laid an egg?
What type of food/treats do you feed?
How does her abdomen feel - soft, hard, bloated, fluid filled, etc.?

The liquid coming from the beak makes me think crop issue. How does the crop feel?
You may want to massage the crop to see if that will get things broken up and moving. Provide her with plenty of water. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

I agree, getting a fecal float is always a good idea, this will determine if you have a worm or Coccidiosis problem. Imho, DE is not effective as a de-wormer and I really see no benefit of using it at all. If you do find that you have worms, it's best to de-worm with medication that your vet recommends or use a de-wormer like Valbazen or Fenbendazole.

 

[Lesvan]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry your girl isn't well.

So you say she is about 1 year old? Is she or was she laying prior to illness? And you've only had them a couple months?

Sounds like it could be cocci... how has your weather been and how many other birds do you have in how much space? What do you feed including treats and supplements? No judgement here for any answers! Just trying to help get an accurate picture. We are all here to help and to learn along the way.

Can you take a fecal sample to the vet to check for worm load and species count, and cocci? It runs $13-18 here.

Next... I would offer scrambled egg, some vitamins in the water, and maybe a spoon full of yogurt for the probiotics... and take a sample to the vet for checking.

Your right is NOT egg binding.. symptoms don't line up and she'd be dead by now.

Hope you get some answers and quick!

Thanks. Live in nc so weather is usually pretty mild. We've had a couple of cold days but nothing like zero. The run is 10 x 10. We let them free range about 1 hour every other day. Is is one of for birds we have. There coup Is approx. 4 ' high x 36" deep x 5' feet long. I clean it and the run every other weekend by
Removing soiled straw. Last weekend for the first ti.e the shovel hit some small patches I could tell were wet but not much in co.parison to what was dry. The run is layered with straw too and gets cleaned on the same schedule. We had good deal of rain last weekend, which is why I cleaned it out. Most of the straw was pretty wet a d I wanted them to have dry so I changed it after the rain. I was surprised I did t see any worms in or on the straw but I didn't. .
Just seems like I might would ha e seen something like that...never have. There was a definite odor of wet poop and straw almost ammonia. I only started using Food Grade DR with pellets yesterday and we've put nothing on them for parasites or given them anything internally. Just heart broken that I can't get this girl to feel better.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks. Live in nc so weather is usually pretty mild. We've had a couple of cold days but nothing like zero. The run is 10 x 10. We let them free range about 1 hour every other day. Is is one of for birds we have. There coup Is approx. 4 ' high x 36" deep x 5' feet long. I clean it and the run every other weekend by
Removing soiled straw. Last weekend for the first ti.e the shovel hit some small patches I could tell were wet but not much in co.parison to what was dry. The run is layered with straw too and gets cleaned on the same schedule. We had good deal of rain last weekend, which is why I cleaned it out. Most of the straw was pretty wet a d I wanted them to have dry so I changed it after the rain. I was surprised I did t see any worms in or on the straw but I didn't. .
Just seems like I might would ha e seen something like that...never have. There was a definite odor of wet poop and straw almost ammonia. I only started using Food Grade DR with pellets yesterday and we've put nothing on them for parasites or given them anything internally. Just heart broken that I can't get this girl to feel better.

Food grade DE is worthless.
Did you see these questions:

Her crop is empty, but she has clear liquid spilling out of her beak?
What does her poop look like?
When was the last time she laid an egg?
What type of food/treats do you feed?
How does her abdomen feel - soft, hard, bloated, fluid filled, etc.?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Has your gals comb always been dark at the tips or is this new? I didn't catch how many birds total and if you know when she last laid?

I was surprised I did t see any worms in or on the straw but I didn't. .
Just seems like I might would ha e seen something like that...never have.

Do you mean worms from the ground or intestinal worms from chickens?

If worms from chickens you may never see those. Unless round worms or tape worms, what passes in droppings is actually microscopic eggs of the species that stay inside the intestine. I haven't ever seen these kind either. Well tape worm in a dog once.

The run is layered with straw too and gets cleaned on the same schedule.

So this suggestion may not help you girl now and may not work for you but I will at least put it out there for ya... In my run I try to maintain forest type floor instead of bare dirt, which I do understand is the reason for the straw. It's a little bit different though, I hope you don't mind me explaining..

The bare dirt supports no life. The straw is mostly dry (also lifeless), but poo sits on top of it and gets matted down in my experience. By adding dry leaves, grass clipping, pine needles, even some used hay or shavings... for me it took time to build up anything. But somehow the droppings get mixed in and dried out better. I also pick up what poo I can see, even the ones that are smashed flat & dry. It's essentially what people refer to as deep liter but with as little actual litter as possible. Anyways it seems to support beneficial microbial growth that allows for a more sound environment. It gives the birds a good amount of stuff to scratch through, so helps a little with enrichment too. Not usually muddy either.

I only started using Food Grade DR with pellets

What does this mean?

When you say mild temperatures? What does that mean for daytime highs?

Just heart broken that I can't get this girl to feel better.

Well we can't give up on her yet!

 

[Chickielady]

Blue tips on her comb have my interest, as it may be low iron in her blood, and that can be from parasites.
Same as for having little weight on her.
Worms can eat all the food she eats.
I agree she should be wormed, and if possible isolate her and give her either medicated chick feed, or grower starter & Corid in her water.
Do not give her Corid in the water AND medicated feed, or you will over medicate.

It is alot easier/cheaper to feed to cure any cocci, than it is to get a fecal test done.
That said, adult chickens are basically grown immune to cocci in the soil. As chicks, they have no immunity built up to these pests, but as adults they should. Most all birds have cocci in their intestinal tracts due to this immunal build up.
The cocci are there, but can no longer harm the adult bird, or animal.
I have been told that most all will test positive for having it in their systems. It is in the soil, they are going to get it and must build up the immunity, as do cattle, sheep, horses and pigs, they all can get scours as babies.
Still, feeding medicated chick feed to her for a while would not hurt.
And worm her, I use Eprinex. what ever you use, it should improve her Oxygen levels and her comb should turn back red.
hope this helps !

 

[Kiki]

Blue tips on her comb have my interest, as it may be low iron in her blood, and that can be from parasites.
Same as for having little weight on her.
Worms can eat all the food she eats.
I agree she should be wormed, and if possible isolate her and give her either medicated chick feed, or grower starter & Corid in her water.
Do not give her Corid in the water AND medicated feed, or you will over medicate.

It is alot easier/cheaper to feed to cure any cocci, than it is to get a fecal test done.
That said, adult chickens are basically grown immune to cocci in the soil. As chicks, they have no immunity built up to these pests, but as adults they should. Most all birds have cocci in their intestinal tracts due to this immunal build up.
The cocci are there, but can no longer harm the adult bird, or animal.
I have been told that most all will test positive for having it in their systems. It is in the soil, they are going to get it and must build up the immunity, as do cattle, sheep, horses and pigs, they all can get scours as babies.
Still, feeding medicated chick feed to her for a while would not hurt.
And worm her, I use Eprinex. what ever you use, it should improve her Oxygen levels and her comb should turn back red.
hope this helps !

I have to disagree.
Adult birds can get ill from Coccidiosis just as easily as chicks.
I must add that feeding medicated feed will not cure an ill bird with Coccidiosis either.

 

[Chickielady]

I have to disagree.
Adult birds can get ill from Coccidiosis just as easily as chicks.
I must add that feeding medicated feed will not cure an ill bird with Coccidiosis either.

Sorry Kiki, we will just have to disagree.
I just have never had it happen in all my life. Once they build up an immunity to the "parasites" they are ok, unless they have a challenged immunal system. We have never had an adult cow or pig come down with it again.
As babies, they are extremely vulnerable to these nasty bugs.
The cocci are always in the soil, and if they did not build up an immunity to these bugs, then ALL birds and animals would continually be ill from these bugs.
As they grow and build up immunity, the bugs are all still there, still in their gut, cows, pigs, birds, all still there, their guts full of the bugs. but the bugs can no longer harm them as their immunity has been built.
Calves and pigs are extremely susceptible to cocci also.
And is this hen having bloody poo ? And are others getting bloody poo also ? It is very hard not to see cocci bloody poo...it is alarming, and hard not to notice.
If it were me, I'd worm her well, repeat in 10 days.
In fact, the whole flock should be wormed.
I worm all my birds in spring and in fall. I also use different kinds of wormer, rather than have the nasty bugs build up an immunity to the wormer used. We feed pumpkins to our farm animals and birds, and that alone has shown dead worms on the poop trays in the morning. Pumpkin seeds ! Blew my mind ! But they work !

The only other time I have seen blue combs, is with MG, where the bird just isn't getting enough Oxygen, which is called Cyanosis.
Low red blood cells, Low functioning air sac (or infected), or a bad heart, can cause this.