- May 25, 2019
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To preface, I just had a 7 month old hen die. She suddenly became lethargic (she went from lethargic to dead in less than a day), and I initially thought she had cocci because the only symptom was some weakness, so I started treating her with Corid. I noticed she was very thirsty which I hadn't noticed before whenever we dealt with cocci. I also noticed she was twitching her head which I wasn't sure if she was stressed. I wanted to wait a bit to see her droppings and expected to see the classic mucusy/bloody droppings. But instead, she had a single, very small black, tarry, dry dropping. And at that point she also had bloody mucus coming from her beak which was a new one for me. Internet said possibly internal bleeding and before I could come to a conclusion, she slightly convulsed and died. We performed a necropsy today - our first ever, so we relied on YouTube to help us figure out how to do it and what looked normal. I expected to see something like a nail or staple perforating something in her upper GI tract, but that's not what we found.
NOTE: She did NOT exhibit any respiratory symptoms (no sneezing, wheezing, labored breathing, etc.)
We found:
Likely Normal Things:
Normal weight and breast size for her breed (Easter Egger)
Yellow skin that is apparently normal depending on breed
Grass and some grit in her crop and gizzard
Normal esophagus
Normal trachea except the end of it (where it is firmer) looked a bit pinched and we weren't sure if that was normal
No worms or mites
No broken bones or bruising
Likely Abnormal Things:
Tiny white spots on the liver
A spleen full of blood
Coagulated blood in the heart though the outside of the heart was pale (still not sure if that falls in the range of normal)
A cottage cheese-like substance in the chest cavity but couldn't determine where exactly it came from
Things I'm Not Sure About:
Clumpy areas in the intestines while other areas were very fluid
An orange appearance on the connective tissues
We have not noticed any other birds with symptoms, BUT we did have one that died suddenly of unknown causes a couple months ago. We didn't do a necropsy on her. She was almost 4 years old and a Cream Legbar.
I am suspecting Fowl Cholera because of the sudden death and the bloody mucus from the mouth as well as the other abnormal finding from the necropsy.
I'm wondering if I should treat my other birds (including hens and roosters of various breeds including bantam breeds varying from 7 months to 4 years, some guinea fowl, and turkeys - two hens and a tom).
From what I read, Tylan is the med of choice for this one. I am not opposed to injecting the medication (we have done several paracentesis on two hens over the last couple years). However, putting it in their water would be simpler since we have 44 birds and especially the guinea do not like to be handled and are difficult to tell apart. Either way, I need help with dosage or other recommended medications. Also, if you think it might be some other cause, please let me know.
At the moment, we plan to clean out the bedding and give them HydroHen and minced garlic in their water and probably oregano and cinnamon powders on their food to help boost immunity until we figure out a better treatment option.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
NOTE: She did NOT exhibit any respiratory symptoms (no sneezing, wheezing, labored breathing, etc.)
We found:
Likely Normal Things:
Normal weight and breast size for her breed (Easter Egger)
Yellow skin that is apparently normal depending on breed
Grass and some grit in her crop and gizzard
Normal esophagus
Normal trachea except the end of it (where it is firmer) looked a bit pinched and we weren't sure if that was normal
No worms or mites
No broken bones or bruising
Likely Abnormal Things:
Tiny white spots on the liver
A spleen full of blood
Coagulated blood in the heart though the outside of the heart was pale (still not sure if that falls in the range of normal)
A cottage cheese-like substance in the chest cavity but couldn't determine where exactly it came from
Things I'm Not Sure About:
Clumpy areas in the intestines while other areas were very fluid
An orange appearance on the connective tissues
We have not noticed any other birds with symptoms, BUT we did have one that died suddenly of unknown causes a couple months ago. We didn't do a necropsy on her. She was almost 4 years old and a Cream Legbar.
I am suspecting Fowl Cholera because of the sudden death and the bloody mucus from the mouth as well as the other abnormal finding from the necropsy.
I'm wondering if I should treat my other birds (including hens and roosters of various breeds including bantam breeds varying from 7 months to 4 years, some guinea fowl, and turkeys - two hens and a tom).
From what I read, Tylan is the med of choice for this one. I am not opposed to injecting the medication (we have done several paracentesis on two hens over the last couple years). However, putting it in their water would be simpler since we have 44 birds and especially the guinea do not like to be handled and are difficult to tell apart. Either way, I need help with dosage or other recommended medications. Also, if you think it might be some other cause, please let me know.
At the moment, we plan to clean out the bedding and give them HydroHen and minced garlic in their water and probably oregano and cinnamon powders on their food to help boost immunity until we figure out a better treatment option.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
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