Quarantine: One hen died and now the other is sick

[Newchickenowner 2020]

Hi everyone,

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to manage the health of my two beloved chickens and could really use some advice here.

I've just lost one of my two pet chickens (a silkie named Edna) and the other one (a polish bantam named Gladys) is currently at the vets under observation. I'm absolutely devastated to have lost the first one who we found hiding in a bush on one of the really hot days last week here in the UK (it was about 34 degrees when we first noticed her getting sick.) I rushed her to the vet and they gave me antibiotics and recommended giving her 20 mg of water a day alongside baby food using a pipette. In addition, I broke up antibiotics and gave her one pill a day by placing them in her beak. She seemed to get worse and worse and was very weak, lethargic and not eating and drinking. I took her back 3 days later but the vets called me the following morning to say she had died. Totally heartbroken, I didn't realise I would cry this much over a chicken!

We rushed the polish hen to the vets the second she lost her appetite and seemed to be sitting in unusual places, like corners. They suspected an infection passed from Edna and injected her with antibiotics over a few days and she seems to be doing better. I'm going through everything I could have done to have saved Edna but I I thought she was trying to stay out of the sun when she was really just taking herself away because she was sick. I assumed she would be drinking and left pots of water around the garden for easy access but I now realise she hadn't been drinking. I suspect the extreme heat caused severe dehydration before the virus even took hold... So my two questions are:

1) Was there anything I could have done to have prevented this in the first place?

2) I've quickly found 2 new hens to keep Gladys company. I will be quarantining them in a separate pen which I wiped down with antibacterial solution (I also sprayed and rinsed the eglu, water feeder and pen for Gladys when she comes back.) I will keep the new girls there for a week as the vet advised that the bacteria in the environment should have died by then and won't be transmissible. But I'm worried, is there any chance my two new girls might pick up the same thing? And is there any chance that Gladys might get sick again even though she's been treated?

It feels a bit daunting - I was so worried about predators, I have to admit I was shocked to find an infection would kill Edna so quickly...

Thanks so much and sorry for the long post!

 

[coach723]

It really depends on what the actual cause was. If it was viral then it could spread, some virus's last a while in the environment, some do not. If it was bacterial, then less likely to continue to spread. Did the vet give you more specific's about what the 'infection' might have been? How old were the hens? In hens over the age of 2 reproductive problems including cancers and infections are not uncommon and are not really contagious. If it was a respiratory infection on the other hand, those can be very contagious. Without a necropsy, sometimes it's very difficult to know for sure what happened.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I am sorry for your loss. It can be devastating especially when they are pets.

How old was Edna? How old is Gladys?

When did either of them last lay an egg?

Did the vet happen to say what the infection was? Respiratory? Egg yolk periontitis(sp?)? Acitis? Mereks?

While many infections are transmissible not all are. Some live in the environment many many months if not years and others just a short spell.

 

[Newchickenowner 2020]

Thanks so much for coming back to me. I was so upset it didn't occur to me to ask for a necropsy and the vet said it could have been any number of things when I asked. If I err on the side of caution with the new girls, is there anything I should be doing to protect them?

 

[Newchickenowner 2020]

I am sorry for your loss. It can be devastating especially when they are pets.

How old was Edna? How old is Gladys?

When did either of them last lay an egg?

Did the vet happen to say what the infection was? Respiratory? Egg yolk periontitis(sp?)? Acitis? Mereks?

While many infections are transmissible not all are. Some live in the environment many many months if not years and others just a short spell.

Thanks for coming back to me, really appreciate everyone's time and responses! It was really the best part of my day going out to spend time with them so it's been a rough few days.

Both hens were 7 months and had only been laying for about a month and a half. Edna didn't lay an egg for about a day before she got sick and Gladys lay an egg on the day that she was brought in but the vet confirmed she was running a fever. Both chickens had been free range in my back garden for the last five months. I feel like this had to be triggered by the heat because surely they would have gotten ill well before this if not?

I should mention, the reason I rushed Gladys in was I noticed her crop was soft and squishy, like there was fluid in there as opposed to food. The vet didn't confirm a specific infection which I'm now realising from the posts is something I should have gotten info on. The vet did say she didn't think it was egg yolk periontitis because she couldn't feel anything.

The symptoms were:

- Panting/gasping
- Lethargy
- Lack of appetite
- Diarrhea
- Not drinking water
- Swollen "squishy" crops

 

[21hens-incharge]

That is very sad. They are/were very young.

Do you have a lot of wild birds coming to your yard?
Neighbors using chemicals?
Mouse poison?

I would be calling the vet to find out WHAT infection Edna had.

 

[RainbowHen]

Thanks so much for coming back to me. I was so upset it didn't occur to me to ask for a necropsy and the vet said it could have been any number of things when I asked. If I err on the side of caution with the new girls, is there anything I should be doing to protect them?

They should be quarantined, far away from your other bird, for 30 days. Not only can they get sick but they can bring illnesses with them as well.

 

[Newchickenowner 2020]

That is very sad. They are/were very young.

Do you have a lot of wild birds coming to your yard?
Neighbors using chemicals?
Mouse poison?

I would be calling the vet to find out WHAT infection Edna had.

I do have a lot of wild blackbirds in the yard. I'll ask the neighbours about chemicals but we don't use mouse poison at all. I guess it could be anything in the soil left from the previous owners as well. I've asked the vet to call me so we can discuss what she suspects the sickness was down to. It's a bit scary to think wild birds could bring in all of this. Thanks so much for your response.

 

[Newchickenowner 2020]

They should be quarantined, far away from your other bird, for 30 days. Not only can they get sick but they can bring illnesses with them as well.

I have them in a separate pen and will keep them quarantined for 30 days. I'll keep a really close eye on them and Gladys to ensure she doesn't get sick again. I'm not sure how common it is for chickens to get sick - they seem so vulnerable so many threats and so fragile.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have them in a separate pen and will keep them quarantined for 30 days. I'll keep a really close eye on them and Gladys to ensure she doesn't get sick again. I'm not sure how common it is for chickens to get sick - they seem so vulnerable so many threats and so fragile.

Yes and at the same time some seem invincible. I have an 11 year old bantam cochin that has been through being the absolute smallest in the flock at under a pound while the others were all 5+ pounds, a mite infestation, 16° F below zero for a solid week and was head hen for over 7 years. They are fickle little things at times.