Sick Guinea

[Renavatio]

Hoperfully, someone can help. My Guinea is displaying signs of lethargy. In addition to this, there is a really nasty foul smelling blackish diarrhea. Symptons continued to worsen and the guinea is now in bad shape. I know that the bird will not make it but this is not my main concern. About a week and a half ago the same thing happened to one of my chickens. I noticed a little lethargy went in to examine and noticed a foul smelling vent covered in black diarrhea. The vent appeared to be really crusty almost ashy. The bird just laid around until it died.

I give a healthy dose of electrolytes and vitamins to my birds frequently. I have brought in a lot of new birds from various places and I am concerned I have brought in a strain of something. I have also added wheat to their diet of lay crumbles. I believe both of the birds that died were female. If anyone has any suggestions... I would love not to lose my whole flock.

 

[PeepsCA]

You may want to post something about this in the Emergencies / Diseases section in the Raising Backyard Chickens forum if you haven't already. I see it's been a while since you posted this,hopefully the Hen is still with you...

Black diarrhea can equate to a number of issues/diseases so it's hard to guess what it could be. I would immediately isolate the bird, clean up any area the bird and bird's poop has been (if you haven't already) and take a fresh as possible stool sample to a vet and have them check for coccidiosis.Guineas typically don't get blackhead, but that could be another possibility. If you've brought in a lot of birds it could be just about anything. Egg yolk peritonitis is another guess, since you said both were Hens... but as far as I know that's not contagious/infectious, the others definitely are.

If she is not eating, her poop will be dark, because there's not much in her gut. And if she's not getting up to poop that's why her vent is a mess. Make sure the bird stays hydrated and warm (but not overly warm), offer her food/treats/mealworms to try and get something in her stomach and see if the diarrhea problem changes at all. 2 TBS of ACV to 1 gallon of water, plus electrolytes and probiotics or even some plain yogurt for her would be my first attempt at any kind of treatment until you can get stool sample results. Wouldn't hurt the rest of your birds to give them the same. Hopefully this is enough to prevent the other birds from coming down with whatever is wrong with her, if it's something contagious/infectious.

Good luck with her, sorry I couldn't offer more help or a better answer.

 

[Renavatio]

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately, we lost her yesterday. I had her isolated and hope nothing is spreading around my birds. Do any of the common poultry disease spread to waterfowl as well? I have a lot invested in my geese and would like not to lose them.

Tomorrow I am taking the bird to the vet. Hopefully, I can figure out what is going on. Thank you very much. Oh and I didn't know about that section. Real newbie to BYC.

 

[Leghornmum]

That's terrible! To give your other chickens an immunity boost just in case, give them vinegar in their water (you can look up how much to give per cup of water)

 

[Leghornmum]

I mean guineas