Rescue Chickens Dying

[LightswitchRaves]

Hi! I’ve been a forum lurker for a while, but just joined. Sorry, this is going to be long. In June 2021, I bought a house and inherited seven chickens. I’d never had chickens before, but as a wildlife biologist and avid learner and Googler I wasn’t super concerned. The owners we bought the house from only lived there since about January 2021. They had inherited 3 chickens, a silkie, an easter egger and a turken. During the short number of months they bought 4 leghorns. I’m assuming when they bought them they were already layers, but I can’t be sure. Their beaks were filed, and when I inherited them, they were laying. Of the 4 leghorns, one was pretty sick within the first week. She was lethargic and barely moving and had her tail down (didn’t really seem to be egg bound, just sick). After calling local vets to see if anyone would take care of a sick chicken (nope), I decided that vets weren’t going to be the way to go with my little flock. Since the first leghorn seemed to be suffering and at that point I didn’t know what to do, I had a wildlife biologist friend humanely euthanize her.

Over the next few months I lost two leghorns. At that point, I’d had a good hospital setup in my garage with dog crates and the whole shebang. The two leghorns I was able to nurse back to health a time or two, but ultimately they didn’t survive. Next was the silkie. She became a garage chicken, but ultimately died. At that point I had 3 left - the turken, a leghorn, and the easter egger - and they were doing really well for a while, and they’d always been my healthiest birds. The easter egger was a garage chicken once briefly, but had been doing well. One day she just up and died. I was bummed, but I have no clue how old she was. The turken and the leghorn were forlorn for a few days, but bounced back and were healthy for a while. Most recently, my final leghorn, Alice, has taken a turn for the worse. It’s the same as the others. Generic lethargy, getting skinnier and slower. I’ve been trying to get her to drink (she’s dehydrated from diarrhea) and have been feeding her various things like yogurt, pureed pumpkin, etc. etc. I know that stuff could also give her diarrhea, but I just want her to eat and hydrate. I don’t want to force feed her or anything because I don’t want to add to her stress. I don’t know that I need any advice about her unless I’m doing something terribly wrong, I’m just trying to keep her happy in her last days and letting nature take its course.

With all the birds that were sick, I gave them supplements, tried yogurt, veggies, all sorts of stuff. I didn’t just let them die. But because I didn’t know what was wrong with them and their symptoms were basically just “sick chicken that could have any number of things”, I just did my best.

I’m not sure what I’m hoping to get out of posting this. I tried my best. I learned a lot. I cleaned their coop regularly, and even did two full clean outs, even though it’s just an old shed and hard to really thoroughly clean (and there’s always been a rat problem no matter what I’ve tried… I don’t think that’s what did them in, but I can’t be sure. I just cleaned as much as I could and took biosecurity pretty seriously). They had a decent sized run that I also cleaned regularly, and when I was out there with them, I would let them free range. I just feel like the chicken reaper. I’ve somehow killed 5 (soon to be 6 I think) hens within 1.5 years and just feel terrible. I tell myself that I didn’t know how old they were or what their story was, but jeez, what the heck?? So I guess I came here for some sympathy? I don’t know. But I can take any blame people want to dole out too if that’s the case.

The turken is really healthy. I’m bummed that she’ll be living on her own soon, but I’ll try to do as much as I can for her so she’s got someone to interact with. I know it’s not great to have her on her own, but I’m not going to get more chickens. I would tear everything down and make it a better situation, but I just don’t have the energy or money to do it. Also, apparently I kill all the things! I don’t really want to rehome her and don’t think I really can because of HPAI.

It’s actually funny/not funny. I work with endangered shorebirds and I’ve always been called the chick murderer because I was always in charge of taking care of the dead stuff, because as you all know, chicks invariably die. But this whole situation has made that joke a bit too real.

Pics attached. One of all of my girls, a terrible pic, but the only one I have of all of them together. One of Henrietta the silkie, one of Hazel the easter egger, one of me and Alice a few days ago, and one of Alice and Martha, my last ladies.

 

[centrarchid]

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[centrarchid]

X

 

[LightswitchRaves]

Make certain there are no small screws and nails the birds might be ingesting. They can cause what is often called "hardware disease" where the item gets imbedded in gizzard or other part of digestive tract causing infection and often slow decline.

Occasionally would find a staple or two, but would get rid of them as soon as I found them. We have an avocado grove, so it’s possible they would ingest some leaves, but not green ones. At the point they would have been ingesting any, the leaves would basically be small organic matter, almost dirt, so I would doubt there was much persin still in it, but it’s possible. However, I would think the original 3 had lived there for quite some time without issue. But I don’t know if they were allowed out. But I imagine it would have killed them all at roughly the same time.

 

[LightswitchRaves]

Describe feed, its manufacture date, and how it is stored.

Kruse’s layer crumbles (they hated pellets), was bought every month or so, so unsure of manufacture date, stored in a water-tight garbage bin, no mold or observable changes in it over time while stored.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

It sounds like it could be some sort of virus. If that is the case, it would mean that there isn’t much you can do, unfortunately, and the remaining hen is a carrier. However, you can’t really know for sure unless you send one of your deceased hens to a lab for a necropsy. Another factor could be reproductive disease, which is pretty common in leghorns since they’re bred to lay so many eggs.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I think a Salmonella test should be done.

 

[Quarterhorses1]

I think a Salmonella test should be done.

Agreed

 

[LightswitchRaves]

It sounds like it could be some sort of virus. If that is the case, it would mean that there isn’t much you can do, unfortunately, and the remaining hen is a carrier. However, you can’t really know for sure unless you have a necropsy done on one of your hens. Another factor could be reproductive disease, which is pretty common in leghorns since they’re bred to lay so many eggs.

Thank you. Probably a virus or bacteria seems about right. It really only impacted the leghorns. They never seemed terribly healthy, and I wouldn't trust that the previous owners got them from somewhere reputable. The silkie and the Easter egger just kind of died, so I would maybe lean toward something different like old age. But anyway, it doesn't seem like there's much to have done I guess except to have hit them all with antibiotics and hoped for the best, but from what I've seen online (and what I know about bacterial resistance and the efficacy of antibiotics on viruses...) that's not typically a great option. I guess I could have always done more or done better, but this makes me feel a little better... Thank you.

 

[aart]

However, you can’t really know for sure unless you have a necropsy done on one of your hens.

Yes...with labs.

it doesn't seem like there's much to have done

Probably not......but knowing what killed them would be good for any future birds you might want to add.