Chickens-diva
In the Brooder
- Jul 20, 2023
- 17
- 6
- 14
(FYI - Sad story)
About a month ago I made a post about a sick chicken I had, she sadly died
and I was wondering why. Initially, she was sluggish, lagging behind, and closing her eyes. (She was prob 6 months old, and was low on the pecking order.)
I thought this was fine as it fit her nearly careless personality, but it kept getting worse, I let them out a few days after that and she could hardly walk, her body was practically dragging on the ground, and she would just sit and peck the grass around her. She also pooped a very green diarrhea. (She was really weak).
We isolated her, bought electrolytes for water, a special feed called strike III and fed her cooked eggs. She didn’t seem that great, and we let her sleep because she really wanted to. (She was practically sleep walking the whole time.) The next day I fed continued to feed her, using a pipet and mixing the feed with water.
Then, later in the day my grandfather (who has dealt with chickens for most of his life) recommended garlic and yogurt, and some alcohol, as he always treats his flock every few months with vodka. I fed her a lot of the yogurt and garlic, and a few milliliters of a 40% alcohol drink. She obviously wanted to sleep and I let her until the morning.
In the morning she was still very ill, and I fed her more of yesterdays food mix (her poop was still green, and she was still just as weak). She continued to sleep for a few hours, when I suddenly heard panicked squawking from where she was. I ran to check and she was kicking up a storm and flapping like mad. By the time I crossed the garage she had stopped and I realized after holding her that she had died then. (She also had a lot of shavings in her mouth from the flapping). It was really tragic, especially as it appears she had a seizure as she died, and I’m looking for answers. I’ve listed all the symptoms I can remember her having, and below is my theories.
One of my first thoughts was the coop. My coop connects to a garden, and one of the only plants there is a potato plant (I decided not to plant much this year). I know that potato plants are dangerous for chickens, but I knew that they won’t eat it unless it was their last choice. However, she was a new chicken, naturally slow, and was bullied so I think she may have been bullied into eating the plant, and she just got worse and worse as I also noticed her crop was empty. The issue is I cannot find much info on potato poisoning so I’m unsure. However I know green poop can be caused by leafy greens and the diarrhea from the heat (they were thirsty). However it doesn’t explain how she kept pooping green even after isolation.
Another thing to note is that it cannot have been anything transmittable as she was with the flock for multiple days beforehand and it’s been a month since her death, and my flock is doing fine. Also, she didn’t display any egg bound issues, or worms.
Another thing I considered was an overdose on the alcohol, (which may have caused the seizure like death, but it wouldn’t explain how she slept well for five hours after the alcohol was given and died later.
I’m at a complete loss, and I am interested to know what theories y’all can give, and I appreciate any input given! Let me know if anything was unclear.
Sorry about the length of the post
About a month ago I made a post about a sick chicken I had, she sadly died
and I was wondering why. Initially, she was sluggish, lagging behind, and closing her eyes. (She was prob 6 months old, and was low on the pecking order.)I thought this was fine as it fit her nearly careless personality, but it kept getting worse, I let them out a few days after that and she could hardly walk, her body was practically dragging on the ground, and she would just sit and peck the grass around her. She also pooped a very green diarrhea. (She was really weak).
We isolated her, bought electrolytes for water, a special feed called strike III and fed her cooked eggs. She didn’t seem that great, and we let her sleep because she really wanted to. (She was practically sleep walking the whole time.) The next day I fed continued to feed her, using a pipet and mixing the feed with water.
Then, later in the day my grandfather (who has dealt with chickens for most of his life) recommended garlic and yogurt, and some alcohol, as he always treats his flock every few months with vodka. I fed her a lot of the yogurt and garlic, and a few milliliters of a 40% alcohol drink. She obviously wanted to sleep and I let her until the morning.
In the morning she was still very ill, and I fed her more of yesterdays food mix (her poop was still green, and she was still just as weak). She continued to sleep for a few hours, when I suddenly heard panicked squawking from where she was. I ran to check and she was kicking up a storm and flapping like mad. By the time I crossed the garage she had stopped and I realized after holding her that she had died then
. (She also had a lot of shavings in her mouth from the flapping). It was really tragic, especially as it appears she had a seizure as she died, and I’m looking for answers. I’ve listed all the symptoms I can remember her having, and below is my theories.One of my first thoughts was the coop. My coop connects to a garden, and one of the only plants there is a potato plant (I decided not to plant much this year). I know that potato plants are dangerous for chickens, but I knew that they won’t eat it unless it was their last choice. However, she was a new chicken, naturally slow, and was bullied so I think she may have been bullied into eating the plant, and she just got worse and worse as I also noticed her crop was empty. The issue is I cannot find much info on potato poisoning so I’m unsure. However I know green poop can be caused by leafy greens and the diarrhea from the heat (they were thirsty). However it doesn’t explain how she kept pooping green even after isolation.
Another thing to note is that it cannot have been anything transmittable as she was with the flock for multiple days beforehand and it’s been a month since her death, and my flock is doing fine. Also, she didn’t display any egg bound issues, or worms.
Another thing I considered was an overdose on the alcohol, (which may have caused the seizure like death, but it wouldn’t explain how she slept well for five hours after the alcohol was given and died later.
I’m at a complete loss, and I am interested to know what theories y’all can give, and I appreciate any input given! Let me know if anything was unclear.
Sorry about the length of the post
