She's gone - updated***

[Paws2u]

Had a work barbeque at my home yesterday at lunch. My girls were free ranging and staying out of the way of all who attended. Later that afternoon my daughter came in house carrying one of our Black Star pullets (7-months old). Ashley said she had very running poo. She was also lethargic and not fighting my 7 year old. That evening I checked on her twice more...her comb was still bright red; she was roosting a little early; and still very runny poo. I could not get her to eat or drink, and could not get her to vet until today early. When I returned home from work at 8:00am, it was too late, she was gone. I cradled her in my arms and said goodbye. Her poo was like water and the off-white (beige) in color. She was found with her head in a corner of the coop. All this to ask you all if this could have been a poisoning? All of our barbeque visitors wanted to be near the girls. The only thing that could have been poisonous that was served was someone made homemade chocolate candy. If she was kicked, etc., would she have been swollen somewhere. I am afraid for my other girls and roo. Thank you for your help. I am amazed at how much I miss this girl. ***WHEN I PURCHASED THE DAY-OLD CHICKS, THEY CAME FROM MCMURRAY'S AND WERE VACCINATED. DOES THAT VACCINATION COVER POSSIBLE CAUSES...COCCIDIOSIS????

 

[undermywings]

So so sorry for your loss. Any sign of a large crop or vomiting?

 

[agnes_day]

im so sorry

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I would say she had adult coccidiosis and I would treat all of them also there is yeast infection and E.coli that they need treated for

My friend Nathalie Ross gave me this info on it

Nathalie Ross" <[email protected]>

(1 coccidiosis
I think it might be helpful for you to know that coccidia are
very VERY hard to trace in a fecal. When I worked as a vet tech, it
was common procedure to go ahead and treat with a combination
antibiotic/antiprotazoan medication like Sulfa products (Sulmet being the most
common) based on symptom diagnosis rather than physical evidence of the
oocysts.

This is less true of other parasites like roundworms and such,
but still true. Often vets recommend a routine worming program to kill
worms not found. Worms aren't always shed into the fecal matter, nor
are their eggs, but that doesn't mean they aren't up there chowing down
on your birds' food in the gut and leaving scars which make it harder
for the birds to digest feed in the future.

(2 worms
So, think about a twice a year worming program. My personal program is
to worm in the fall with Ivermectin, in the spring with either
Ivermectin or another BROAD spectrum medication like tramisol or worm-ex.
Note: I didn't mention piperazine.

Piperazine( wazine) is a one-worm wormer -
rounds only. You'll want to use it for your very first worming to decrease
the parasite loads (which are undetectable unless they're really very
heavy) to prevent the possibility of the bird going into anaphylactic
shock or being blocked.

These two last dreadful things can happen if
there are parasites up there you don't know about, and you use a
super-wormer (like the 2 mentioned above) which kill everything all at once. So
do piperazine the first time, or with new birds with unknown histories,
then use the super-wormers from then on.

(3 gut bacteria
. At 7 weeks, the chickens are still in the
process of getting their gut bacteria in order. See, they're born
without any bacteria at all in their gut. So they eat at day 2, and put
food in there as a food source for themselves but also for bacteria.

For adults
Basically, it's first-come-first-serve for bacteria.

If the bad ones get
there first, they take over and your birds get ill. IF there are some
good but mostly bad, the same thing happens. If you give your birds
probiotics (substances containing live beneficial bacteria) your GOOD
bacteria will have the advantage.

Those good bacteria crowd out the bad,
make it impossible for the bad bacteria to live in anything but minimal
numbers, and thus help your birds to stay healthy. So I always
recommend giving probiotics weekly from week 2 til point of lay.

Then I move
to once a month or as needed. You can use live-culture yogurt (1
teaspoon per 8 newly hatched, moving up to 1 teaspoon per point of lay
bantam, 1 tablespoon per point of lay large fowl - no more please). You can
also use powdered livestock probiotics (Probios dispersable powder
being my absolute favorite - it's the choice of exotic bird breeders, and I
also have hookbills).

Or, you can go to the human health food store
and pick up a human supplement like "acidophilus" (Lactobacilus
acidophilus), or a combination of acidophilus and B. bifidum sold to combat
yeast infections. The latter is a particular useful thing for a poultry
hobbiest to have. The addition of b. bifidum helps combat thrush.

Thrush is essentially a yeast infection that is common to birds because of
the way their crops store feed in wet conditions. Things tend to get
fungus and yeast there, and thus the yeast infection. That infection
goes throughout the bird's system and is really a mess, so that
bifidum/acidophilus mix is the best. Try to find a non-dairy liquid, and you'll
have the ultimate probiotic.

So, there are some options. I'd tend towards those. Also, if you're
prescribed antibiotics for your birds' infection, you'll want to give
PRObiotics daily during treatment. Antibiotics are unfortunately going
to kill the good bacteria which are having such a difficult time getting
established in y our babies as it is. The antibiotics will possibly do
as much harm as good, so combat that bad effect with probiotics. Try
giving them daily for about 3 days after the last batch of medicine.

(4 E.Coli
In case your chickens are said to have an infection of E. coli (most
likely case) then you can try putting some vitamin E in their feed.
Vitamin E helps fix E. coli overpopulations. You know what else helps fight
E. coli? Guess: b. bifidum. It secrets a substance that E. coli just
can't stand. See where this is going?

Nathalie Ross, Houston, TX

 

[vnploveschickens]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Take care of you & your daughter.
Check out your other chickens, make sure they are ok too.

Val

 

[Paws2u]

She did not have an enlarged crop, no vomiting, not egg-bound when palpated. She was healthy at 1:30pm and listless at 5:00pm.

 

[Beed]

I am so sorry. May it help you to know that she did not suffer for a long time. To not know is heartbreaking and stressful. So very sorry.