Pullet in rough shape

[Crookadoodle]

I'm glad the ones you are treating are getting better.
I do hope you get some answers from the testing. Please let me know what you find out.

Definitely will! I will make sure to do a solid update once we know more. I found one of the most helpful things on BYC is the threads that have follow through from start of problem to resolution/answer, just incase someone stumbles upon this hopefully the update will have some sort of answer.

 

[Crookadoodle]

So just a mini update, we had sent away 2 pullets for necropsy. The previous one that had passed and I had to freeze, and then we had another spontaneous passing shortly after of a pullet named Eagle. She had same symptoms of rapid weight loss, bright green poop, no appetite and minimal drinking, lethargic.
The vet did a quick post mortem before sending her in to the vet lab, he said she was so tiny, and died from starvation or muscle atrophy, what caused that we wont know until the report comes back. He did says she had some nasal discharge too, not sure how I missed that. We are at a total of 5 pullets gone in a 2.5 week span. I have 20 chickens remaining, 2 with similar symptoms who I have been caring for in my garage for a week now and 1 who has bumblefoot cus ya know when it rains...it pours.
I am anxious of how long the wait for the results will be...at this rate I may not have many left by the time I get answers.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So just a mini update, we had sent away 2 pullets for necropsy. The previous one that had passed and I had to freeze, and then we had another spontaneous passing shortly after of a pullet named Eagle. She had same symptoms of rapid weight loss, bright green poop, no appetite and minimal drinking, lethargic.
The vet did a quick post mortem before sending her in to the vet lab, he said she was so tiny, and died from starvation or muscle atrophy, what caused that we wont know until the report comes back. He did says she had some nasal discharge too, not sure how I missed that. We are at a total of 5 pullets gone in a 2.5 week span. I have 20 chickens remaining, 2 with similar symptoms who I have been caring for in my garage for a week now and 1 who has bumblefoot cus ya know when it rains...it pours.
I am anxious of how long the wait for the results will be...at this rate I may not have many left by the time I get answers.

Thank you for the update. I'm sorry that you lost another one.
The wasting may be due to Marek's disease, but that's just a guess. Hopefully you will get all the results back in soon so you know what you're dealing with and have a better idea of treatment options to pursue.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

Hey everyone!
I have a pullet who is really under the weather...here comes a mouthful, apologies in advance.

On Sunday night we returned after a full day trip away from the homestead and when closing up the coop later than usual my husband found one of our bcm pullets sitting outside the coop, alone on the ground in the run. She had not attempted to roost. So he closed it up and brought her back into the coop and tried to put her on the roost, she fell off onto the droppings board unable to balance. He brought her in and I quickly found her legs and feet to be stiff and frozen. I noted her comb was frostbitten also and she was very lethargic.

This pullet has had quite the tx history already, when we purchased her at 5 months old she came with mites, then later on the whole crew got lice well (which we just finished a round of 4 treatments in early January).

I have been applying vetricyn to her feet after soaking in lukewarm water, the very first soak was barely warmer than cold to make sure it slowly thawed them out. Initially they started bending within a couple minutes. And then small little bubbles appeared in a couple of spots. Some pink watery blood was under her feet wherever she stood on the first day. There is some obviously frostbitten parts but I am wondering if anyone can tell how much of her toes/feet she may lose to frostbite damage.

During her house stay so far she was drinking and eating well, however, today that has stopped, I offered her the usual fermented feed, and even some veggie scraps- no go. She will drink but not much. I have her in my bathtub with a folded towel for cushion. She can stand and kind of walk on her feet but does not by choice. She spends most of the day laying down somewhat tilted to one side with her wings slightly out for balance. Her keel bone is protruding much more than usual and is featherless and she seems thinner. Her stools are VERY runny and mostly cloudy white with specks of green and brown and extremely sickly smelling. I regularly clean her feathers around her vent and underside as they get soiled. I have noticed during the first cleaning above her vent it looks bare and irritated like she has been feather pecked. Photos below of all her bits.

Last week she seemed fine, very energetic and no problems were noticeable. Now it looks like she was either bullied by some flockmates, or got injured somehow, is sick with maybe coccidiosis and is dealing with frostbite. This poor girl is not well!

Aside from fluids, some pain meds from my previously palliative pup, and TLC what can I do to help her with this much going on. If she is being bullied this bad will she ever be able to go back to her flock? And any tips on coccidiosis treatment in Canada? It is oddly difficult to find treatments for chickens here.

Chooks can die from stress & your girls had more than her fair share. It starts with organ failure. I've had a great deal of success with milk thistle. Atleast 500mg for a couple of days. Mix it with honey if you're using capsules. If you get caplets, massage them until they pop open and put it in her beak.

Hope it helps.

 

[Crookadoodle]

Chooks can die from stress & your girls had more than her fair share. It starts with organ failure. I've had a great deal of success with milk thistle. Atleast 500mg for a couple of days. Mix it with honey if you're using capsules. If you get caplets, massage them until they pop open and put it in her beak.

Hope it helps.

She sure had quite a bit going on thats for sure. I am open to trying anything to help so I might give that a go too. I am hoping the necropsy sheds some light on the cause, I hate loosing these sweet girls!

 

[Crookadoodle]

So the attached report is the results so far. No answers yet has to what has claimed 5 pullets and 4 are still sick with whatever it is. I am so so thankful that Mareks and AI were negative but I am also feeling like they will just keep passing if I we don't know what else try.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hopefully they will get the rest of the results in soon.
It is good they been able to rule out all of those so far, but still heartbreaking that you have no answers either.

Let's go over what you have done (treatments), what you feed and they symptoms again.
Photos of housing may be helpful as well.

Think, could any feed have gotten moldy? Have you noticed any clumps in the feed?
Any chance they ate something toxic, maybe scratched around in dirt that had oil spilled, fertilizer, etc.?
Just brainstorming and trying to think of anything that may give a clue...

 

[Crookadoodle]

Hopefully they will get the rest of the results in soon.
It is good they been able to rule out all of those so far, but still heartbreaking that you have no answers either.

Let's go over what you have done (treatments), what you feed and they symptoms again.
Photos of housing may be helpful as well.

Think, could any feed have gotten moldy? Have you noticed any clumps in the feed?
Any chance they ate something toxic, maybe scratched around in dirt that had oil spilled, fertilizer, etc.?
Just brainstorming and trying to think of anything that may give a clue...

Yes exactly! My vet is not willing to prescribe any other treatments until the results come in.

Okay lets review the symptoms, of the 5 that have passed and 4 that are unwell some have had all symptoms others only had a few.
•wing drop, usually just 1 side
•change in ambulation; loss of balance, stumbling, non weight bearing-just sitting/laying
•lethargic
•loss of appetite (those who have passed stopped eating entirely about a day or so prior to death)
•sudden weight loss (my pullets generally average 4-5lbs some smaller and some larger but all who passed were about 2-3lbs) protruding keel bone.
•shrunken and pale combs and wattles
•frostbite on some due to lethargic and sitting out in the run before I realized showing symptoms
•runny green stool (++smelly)
•hunched posture
•less or no vocalizing (my girls usually chat with me)
•vet reported one of the deceased chickens had nasal discharge
•one chicken had a redenned featherless area above vent but below tail as noted in initial post


For treatments:
I would being the chicken into the garage if showing mild symptoms or into the house in the bathroom of suddenly more unwell and needing more attention. Puppy pads for bedding and clean water or sugar water provided if lethargic or dehydrated. Provided all flock feed, tried to offer treats to those not eating to tempt them didnt make much difference.

For the frostbite- soak feet in epsom salt water once a day, pat dry and spray with vetricyn 2x a day.
Entire flock was treated with a 3 week course of amprolium just incase, that has finished recently. They were also treated for lice+mites this winter successfully.
I have tried giving 2 of the sicks ones some st. Johns wort for a couple weeks now, initially it seemed to help but there has been no improvement since, both pullets will sit in one spot and move a couple times a day to a new spot, will eat and drink but not normal amount.
I have also tried to syringe fluids but it hasnt made much difference.

I can try and get some photos when I go out for chores next, just with my little ones right now. A general description of their coop is a 8x10 insulated shed type building, with two 8ft long roosts, droppings board and sand as litter, milk crate nesting boxes under the droppings board. 2 windows and a large door, also some gable vents. Their run is a 10x20ft covered run, it is open near the top on one end to let in sunlight but otherwise has round bales push up against it for further wind and snow protection. Food is hanging and free fed, stored in a metal garbage can to stay dryand pest free. water is in a heated nipple drinker, they have a dust bath container, some logs and plastic furtniture to perch on. The run is raked at least once a week as it is half concrete and half dirt, or as needed if snow blows in. I put empty feed bags down if there is water spilled near their waterer so its not slippery.
They dont get a lot of kitchen scraps maybe once or twice a week but its never rotten, just what i peel or cut off for dinner.

I should note 1 of my hens has started laying again for about a week now.

 

[Crookadoodle]

Yes exactly! My vet is not willing to prescribe any other treatments until the results come in.

Okay lets review the symptoms, of the 5 that have passed and 4 that are unwell some have had all symptoms others only had a few.
•wing drop, usually just 1 side
•change in ambulation; loss of balance, stumbling, non weight bearing-just sitting/laying
•lethargic
•loss of appetite (those who have passed stopped eating entirely about a day or so prior to death)
•sudden weight loss (my pullets generally average 4-5lbs some smaller and some larger but all who passed were about 2-3lbs) protruding keel bone.
•shrunken and pale combs and wattles
•frostbite on some due to lethargic and sitting out in the run before I realized showing symptoms
•runny green stool (++smelly)
•hunched posture
•less or no vocalizing (my girls usually chat with me)
•vet reported one of the deceased chickens had nasal discharge
•one chicken had a redenned featherless area above vent but below tail as noted in initial post


For treatments:
I would being the chicken into the garage if showing mild symptoms or into the house in the bathroom of suddenly more unwell and needing more attention. Puppy pads for bedding and clean water or sugar water provided if lethargic or dehydrated. Provided all flock feed, tried to offer treats to those not eating to tempt them didnt make much difference.

For the frostbite- soak feet in epsom salt water once a day, pat dry and spray with vetricyn 2x a day.
Entire flock was treated with a 3 week course of amprolium just incase, that has finished recently. They were also treated for lice+mites this winter successfully.
I have tried giving 2 of the sicks ones some st. Johns wort for a couple weeks now, initially it seemed to help but there has been no improvement since, both pullets will sit in one spot and move a couple times a day to a new spot, will eat and drink but not normal amount.
I have also tried to syringe fluids but it hasnt made much difference.

I can try and get some photos when I go out for chores next, just with my little ones right now. A general description of their coop is a 8x10 insulated shed type building, with two 8ft long roosts, droppings board and sand as litter, milk crate nesting boxes under the droppings board. 2 windows and a large door, also some gable vents. Their run is a 10x20ft covered run, it is open near the top on one end to let in sunlight but otherwise has round bales push up against it for further wind and snow protection. Food is hanging and free fed, stored in a metal garbage can to stay dryand pest free. water is in a heated nipple drinker, they have a dust bath container, some logs and plastic furtniture to perch on. The run is raked at least once a week as it is half concrete and half dirt, or as needed if snow blows in. I put empty feed bags down if there is water spilled near their waterer so its not slippery.
They dont get a lot of kitchen scraps maybe once or twice a week but its never rotten, just what i peel or cut off for dinner.

I should note 1 of my hens has started laying again for about a week now.

Oh and add this to the list! I found an odd dropping and kind of dissected it to see what was in it, it was a little bloody and green. This was in the water that I used to break up the stool. Is this a tapeworm? I sent photos to the vet as well via email not sure if he will do anything with just that or if he will need a sample.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I don't know what that is.
See if you find any more. I'm tagging in @dawg53 and @Eggcessive to see if they recognize it.
Hopefully your vet responds quickly, if not, then I would consider deworming. You haven't done that and at this point, it's worth a try, imho.
Have they done a fecal float or even a gram stain to look for worms or infection.

I'm really sorry that you're losing them and the results so far are not pointing to disease, it must be so frustrating and heartbreaking for you