Pullet, 24 Wks, Heart is Racing (UPDATE: She Just Died)

[speckledhen]

She seems sleepy, her heart is pounding and her body is vibrating because of that. She seems out of breath, too, from time to time opening her mouth. She's a Delaware, the picture of health, good color, no injuries, no weird poop, cant get into poisons, eats layer pellets and a bit of scratch in the a.m. The coop is clean (their part is new, really). I'm worried I'll lose her and I have no idea why.
No discharges, eyes are clear, nares are clear, cant feel an egg, she just seems like her heart is going to explode, no abnormal poop. Found her under the roost in the shavings, and at first thought a dustbath, but she wasn't moving. Thought maybe her first egg was coming so I put her in the nest. She was very subdued and sleepy and stayed. After awhile, when I checked, I realized her heart rate was through the roof. I'm stumped.

 

[~SunSetsWest~]

Wow! I'm so sorry, I hope she will be OK. Any chance of a snake bite? Or maybe she ate a lizzard?

 

[speckledhen]

Too cold for snakes, I think. There are a few scenarios that I can imagine, like a poisoned mouse, etc (we dont use poison but dont know if the neighbors do). The coop and run are newly finished for the Delawares, specifically.
She wont eat or drink. We mixed up some vitamins and electrolytes and syringed them into her mouth. I just have no idea. The pen and coop have been chicken-proofed, so there's no access to anything dangerous in her own area and this group never freeranged.
She is a bit smaller than her sister, who is laying now. That group had cocci and she did have a brother who was hit hard, though he did recover. His growth was stunted, however. I wonder if it's possible, thinking about her smaller size, that the cocci did some damage to her heart? It's a stretch, and I've never heard of that happening from cocci, but I guess I'm grasping at straws.

 

[~SunSetsWest~]

I guess it's possible that her heart was damaged but I've never heard of it happening..I had a button quail get out and in trying to catch him, he seemed to suffer some kind of heart stress and showed similar symptoms, he did recover but it took a few days..

 

[speckledhen]

I reached the breeder and seems we both had the same ideas of possibilities. She is point of lay and did have cocci, though she didn't seem to be bad off like her brother. She is, however, smaller in body than she should be and I believe it's because of the cocci. Could be something to do with her reproductive system being compromised or maybe she's just having issues from that first egg that have nothing to do with cocci at all. The heart issue I've never seen associated with cocci, but then, it's hard to say. Ill check some research and see if that is mentioned. Thanks for your help and support.

Oh, I did find this short article on the effects of cocci on the hearts of turkey poults, so there may be a connection here. I just hope she pulls through.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7103891

 

[silkiechicken]

Sorry about the hen. I've read that cocci can cause stunting and that often it reduces the productivity of a flock if they get it as chicks. But not sure what that means on the individual bird standpoint. I guess it's not out of the realm that it caused some sort of reproductive tract issues during her development. Hope she pulls through. Good luck.

 

[ginbart]

I'm thinking of you. I hope she gets better.

 

[speckledhen]

My girls in that coop got fresh water with AviaCharge 2000 in it tonight and I put Cassidy on the floor of the coop (she sat a long time in my DH's lap on the couch like a perfect angel), but when I took the waterer back, she had jumped into a nest again. I'll update her condition when I open the coops up tomorrow.

 

[hcammack]

I really hope she is alright its a horrible way to spend a christmas I hope that other then this you had a good one.

Henry

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you, Henry. We had a great day. Finally, the sun was out and it was warm enough to do some work outside. We cut down some scrawny trees in the area where we plan to move the chicken pens, from the front of the coops to the back/downhill side of them. We had a nice day till I discovered Cassidy wasnt right. Hope yours was good!