Possible periconditis - severe mite infestation

[arrowti]

Hello everyone. This morning I went out to break the water in the coop and saw one of our easter egger hens lying 'under' the egg boxes. She was just sitting there, eyes half closed, breathing a little heavy. I walked up, and she didn't move. Major red flag since our chickens are all freakazoids who are terrified of people (except the bantam roo and the buckeyes). I then knelt down and was touching her and she still didn't move. Just looked at me quietly.

She had some orange stuff stuck to her beak but that could very well be egg since our birds are notorious egg-eaters. I picked her up, brought her inside, and plopped her in the tub. I noticed she seemed to be straining her vent as well as breathing hard, but I couldn't feel anything hard. Regardless I gave her a warm bath and there came the mites.

Tons of mites - the bath water turned black, they were crawling up my hands and arms, up the side of the tub. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them. I bathed her in the warm water which she enjoyed and wrapped her in a towel. She pooped once, and it looked normal.

She has no interest in eating or drinking. Currently she is lying under a heat lamp in the garage, head down, breathing hard, not moving. She has food and water, even cracked corn, and won't touch anything. Barely opens her eyes.

We dusted her heavily with poultry dust and are hoping for the best.

I know if it is periconditis there won't be any saving her. But considering the sheer number of mites on her, I'm thinking they could be at least part of the problem.

She is 3 years old, feed-store quality (i.e. poor quality) breeding background. Otherwise has been very healthy. Not sure if she laid an egg before or not, we have two other easter eggers who lay the same color egg.

Any advice? We're hoping cleaning up the mite infestation will at least help a little.

 

[rebrascora]

It sounds like she may be trying to lay a shell less egg. That can really take it out of them as it doesn't pass down and out of the oviduct easily and they are sometimes straining for more than a day to get them out. The fact that she is able to poop normal looking faeces is good and I'm sure having rid of those parasites will be a huge relief to her.... you will need to treat all the other chickens and the coop.
I would very much doubt the mites themselves are the problem.... they are more opportunistic and flourish on chickens that are under the weather and unable to dust bath or preen.
Does your hen have any abdominal swelling? Between the legs and below the vent are the common areas for it to be apparent.... usually just cupping your hand between their legs and then the same place on a healthy hen that is roosting will give you the best indication if there is something unusual. Sometimes if they have significant swelling, they will start to walk with a wide stance or more upright.
People confuse egg yolk peritonitis with internal laying. Peritonitis is an infection of the abdominal cavity. Often internal laying goes on for months but the mass of yolks building up in the belly remains relatively inert with no bacterial build up. Once an infection sets in the bird will start to look sick.

I would place your girl on a heat pad or in a warm quiet, dim room where she can relax and perhaps give her a calcium supplement like a crushed Tums tablet and give her a few hours to see if she manages to pass something.

 

[arrowti]

I forgot to mention... her vent itself feels pretty swollen and she gets uncomfortable when I touch it. It had some frozen poop stuck to it when I bathed her which may be why she was uncomfortable. She was standing upright when she stood but had a hard time with it and would fall to the side.

Currently she is resting in a quiet room with the heat, water, and food. And we're hoping she'll last the night.

 

[junebuggena]

The mites may be why they were eating eggs. Mix up some vitamins and electrolytes in her water and get her some chick starter. If she won't eat dry feed, you can wet it down to a soupy consistency. And gently dip her beak in it to encourage her to swallow.

 

[arrowti]

Well, thanks everyone for your help.

Unfortunately I went to check on her to try and give her some electrolytes and she was dead.

Whatever it was, I must have been too late.

 

[Chullicken]

Well, thanks everyone for your help.

Unfortunately I went to check on her to try and give her some electrolytes and she was dead.

Whatever it was, I must have been too late.

Sorry for your loss, lost one of my feather babies two weeks ago to internal hemorrhaging. Always tough when we intervene and it just doesn't work out how we want. Side note, may want to really look into that mite issue. If she had that many on her, they're massing in your coop some place.

 

[junebuggena]

Don't forget to treat the rest of your flock for mites. If one bird is heavily infested, odds are good that the rest of them also have mites.

 

[micstrachan]

Aaww... I’m so sorry.

 

[arrowti]

We got the dust and we'll dust them in the morning. And then repeat for two weeks to catch any of the new hatches. We don't get an outbreak every year but when we do, it's always in winter.

It's also the worst week as far as temps and none of the birds want to leave the coop. :/

 

[junebuggena]

We got the dust and we'll dust them in the morning. And then repeat for two weeks to catch any of the new hatches. We don't get an outbreak every year but when we do, it's always in winter.

It's also the worst week as far as temps and none of the birds want to leave the coop. :/

That's when they are most vulnerable. Might want to put a bin full of sand in the coop so they can dust bathe. It's not easy to keep the parasites off if the ground is frozen.