Possible Chicken diseases??

[Caradonley620]

Hello! I am hoping to get some guidance as I just had another chicken die. I took over my mom's flock almost a year ago. Three weeks ago one of the 4 year old chickens died. She looked exhausted and was lethargic. I thought she was broody as she didn't show any signs of being ill. She died and I thought it was old age. Three days ago I noticed one of my two year hens was fluffy and sitting in the nesting box. I thought she was broody and would pick her up and put her with the others. I took her out of the nesting box the last two nights and on put her on the roost. This morning she acted tired but did eat some watermelon. I went in there tonight and picked her up out of the nesting box. What I assume was mucus came out from her beak. I went back in and picked her up and put her in a box to separate from the others. She made a squawking sound and shook her head and mucus came out. Moments later she violently shook, squawked, stopped shaking, and then did it again and died. Can anyone help me diagnose this as I need to make sure I take the correct precautions for the rest of my flock. Everyone seems fine currently. I feel horrible and am nervous if it is a respiratory illness like it sounds, that it will spread. The more research I do, the worse I feel. Any ideas/suggestions/commentv Thanks for your help!!

 

[micstrachan]

I'm so sorry for your losses. It could be respiratory. It could also be digestive (or even something else.) What do they eat and do they have access to grit? I am wondering if their crops, or somewhere else in the digestive tract, is getting clogged up.

 

[dawg53]

It doesnt sound like a respiratory disease to me, the symptoms just arnt there as you described.
The two year old does sound like she had a crop or gizzard problem by mucus coming out of her mouth, maybe impacted but not sure. It could possibly be capillary worms in the crop.

Start with the basics; thoroughly and visually inspect them for external parasites, especially around the vent area. Check the vent area for fly strike or vent gleet. Check their feed for mold and inside the sack itself, clumps in their feed, and feed mites in their feed. Inspect inside their coop for mold/fungus, bedding included. Check waterers for algae.
Get all the chickens started on corid for 5 days. Then after 5 days worm them with safeguard or valbazen.
Also keep an eye on their feces for anything out of the ordinary such as shed intestinal lining, blood, constant diarrhea...water or otherwise, continuous green, mustard or yellow in color feces and of course worms or tapeworm segments.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. You have already been given good advice on what to look for and how to go about taking care of your chickens. It is common to lose an older hen now and then, and health problems can start around 2 years old. Reproductive and crop problems are common. Mucus will come out of the beak as the crop empties when any chicken dies, but your hen could have been suffering from a crop problem. Crop problems can be separate, but may be related to other things going on (worms, coccidiosis, or reproductive diseases.) You can get a necropsy performed on any other losses through contacting your state vet or poultry lab (refrigerate the body in a plastic bag,) and many people will do a necropsy themselves by just looking at the organs. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Caradonley620]

It doesnt sound like a respiratory disease to me, the symptoms just arnt there as you described.
The two year old does sound like she had a crop or gizzard problem by mucus coming out of her mouth, maybe impacted but not sure. It could possibly be capillary worms in the crop.

Start with the basics; thoroughly and visually inspect them for external parasites, especially around the vent area. Check the vent area for fly strike or vent gleet. Check their feed for mold and inside the sack itself, clumps in their feed, and feed mites in their feed. Inspect inside their coop for mold/fungus, bedding included. Check waterers for algae.
Get all the chickens started on corid for 5 days. Then after 5 days worm them with safeguard or valbazen.
Also keep an eye on their feces for anything out of the ordinary such as shed intestinal lining, blood, constant diarrhea...water or otherwise, continuous green, mustard or yellow in color feces and of course worms or tapeworm segments.

I

Hello! I am hoping to get some guidance as I just had another chicken die. I took over my mom's flock almost a year ago. Three weeks ago one of the 4 year old chickens died. She looked exhausted and was lethargic. I thought she was broody as she didn't show any signs of being ill. She died and I thought it was old age. Three days ago I noticed one of my two year hens was fluffy and sitting in the nesting box. I thought she was broody and would pick her up and put her with the others. I took her out of the nesting box the last two nights and on put her on the roost. This morning she acted tired but did eat some watermelon. I went in there tonight and picked her up out of the nesting box. What I assume was mucus came out from her beak. I went back in and picked her up and put her in a box to separate from the others. She made a squawking sound and shook her head and mucus came out. Moments later she violently shook, squawked, stopped shaking, and then did it again and died. Can anyone help me diagnose this as I need to make sure I take the correct precautions for the rest of my flock. Everyone seems fine currently. I feel horrible and am nervous if it is a respiratory illness like it sounds, that it will spread. The more research I do, the worse I feel. Any ideas/suggestions/commentv Thanks for your help!!

Thank you so much for the information and advice. I am hoping it isn’t respiratory and was sour crop. I wish I knew earlier what to do so I could have helped her. I will inspect them all today as well as the coop and feed containers. I did change them out this morning thinking it was respiratory and would spread through the flock.

All poop looks normal lately but I will keep an eye out for what you mentioned. Her eyes weren’t icky at all and she didn’t walk around shaking her head or anything. They did eat some food that was rained on but it wasn’t moldy. I bought some vitamins with oregano and cinnamon to add to the water so hopefully it will help if there is anyone who isn’t feeling well. I really appreciate your help!

 

[Caradonley620]

I'm so sorry for your losses. It could be respiratory. It could also be digestive (or even something else.) What do they eat and do they have access to grit? I am wondering if their crops, or somewhere else in the digestive tract, is getting clogged up.

The more I researched the more I think it could be digestive and maybe sour crop. She didn’t have any signs of respiratory issues and her eyes weren’t gross. She looked normal, just more lethargic and kept away from others a bit. I wish I would have known so I couldn’t have helped her. They eat crumble but it did rain and they like the food clumped together. There wasn’t any mold. We did just have a strong wind and some type of strands feom the tree could have been low but in the coop. We have had high pollen counts lately. I don’t feed them grit. I do have some DE I can give them and sprinkles in their coop and outside area a few weeks ago. Do you think it sounds like sour crop?

 

[dawg53]

If there's a terrible smell coming from the birds mouth, it's sour crop.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would pick up a small bag of granite grit to help them digest grass and foods or grains other than layer feed. It can help to prevent crop and gizzard impactions. It used to be that you had to buy a 50 pound bag, but they have smaller ones for backyard flocks. The 50 pounders are more for you buck though.

 

[Caradonley620]

If there's a terrible smell coming from the birds mouth, it's sour crop.

I did notice a smell when I picked her up. I didn’t smell by her mouth, but I know it’s wasnt coming from her rear end.

 

[Caradonley620]

I would pick up a small bag of granite grit to help them digest grass and foods or grains other than layer feed. It can help to prevent crop and gizzard impactions. It used to be that you had to buy a 50 pound bag, but they have smaller ones for backyard flocks. The 50 pounders are more for you buck though.

Okay, I will pick some up. I appreciate the helpful information! I added some durastat to their fresh water today and gave them fresh food, not that it was bad. Just was worried about cross-contamination if it did end up being a respiratory issue. All my girls are acting fine. When I did more research on the respiratory disease, the symptoms don’t all line up with my hen. There wasn’t anything watery eyes or runny nose and sneezing.