Sick hen

[Rachelle Elaine]

UPDATE ON ELEANOR:
she is about the same on and off with spurts of improvement then recession.
After readings in the Emerg/Diseas section and doing a better exam.
I would like to give her a bath (she's got poo all over her bum), and she is very underweight- her breast bone feels extra prominent, and even lighter to pickup.
Her crop was ALMOST emptied by this morning but whats left feels a bit soft and "doughy". No strong smell and I dont see anything in her mouth other than those white bits from previous photo. Shes still making that crying noise every minute or so. eyes closed mostly. she ate some watermelon yesterday. I gave her berries and her food dampened with electrolyte water just now.
I have had an necropsy on a quick hen death about 7 months ago - (unfortunately he said she depleted herself of calcium and that it was do to "backyard breeding" ie genetics, she had 7 ovum in her and a "good looking fat pad" ) however he did say since they free range I need to deworm at least once a year.

COOP UPDATE: I have a new shade canopy until my large shade sails arrive. Misting system gets installed in next two days, hopefully it arrives sooner. and I have a temporary sprinkler set up- so the highest it got yesterday IN COOP was 101. VS 110 outside.

 

[Rachelle Elaine]

Just gave Eleanor a bath- shes so weak- but there were mites on the towel and i see the nests or eggs on the roots of her feather near the vent and under her wings. I am spraying her with Poultry protect now (and the rest of the flock) - Potassium Sorbate

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad she made it through the night.

Poultry Protector may help with the lice, hopefully.
Treat the coop too.

Does she have fluid in her abdomen?

 

[Rachelle Elaine]

I'm glad she made it through the night.

Poultry Protector may help with the lice, hopefully.
Treat the coop too.

Does she have fluid in her abdomen?

How do I find that out?
She seems to be keeping one eye closed all the time now. She's still going about the same just hasn't eaten much, 1/4 strawberry all day. Only pooped twice.

 

[Rachelle Elaine]

Now she seems much worse she laying with her head back and she seems too weak to hold her head straight. I just forced electrolytes cause she hasn't eaten much.
I'm so bad at this, breaks my heart.
Going to search the forum more

 

[Rachelle Elaine]

Another update coming soon:
I'm feeling a bit pissed off right now, Eleanor was doing worse last night really lethargic and still labored breathing she's got to be exhausted and I really expected her to be dead when I woke up this morning. She wasn't she waited until I picked her up thinking she was dead to give me the fight of her life and then die in my arms. I'm not too surprised this is the kind of girl Eleanor was but RIP!
I drove her to the lab early this morning and should have results back later today I will post when I get the full report hopefully it'll help someone in the future.

I am thankful that the rest of the flock is doing really well and my booty hen hasn't cracked anymore fertilized eggs.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about Eleanor.

Please do let us know what you find out.

 

[Rachelle Elaine]

Here is the report from the Necropsy on Eleanor -
I am hoping others may find this helpful.

Clinical Exam
One dead 1-year-old Wyandotte chicken presented for necropsy with a history of lethargy over the last few days and terminal
gasping.
Necropsy Diagnosis

• Caseous and mucoid pharyngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, and airsacculitis (cause of death).
• Chronic fibrinous salpingitis with internal laying.
• Intestinal tapeworms, cecal worms.
• Lice.

Necropsy Findings
The bird has moderate breast muscle atrophy (indicative of weight loss) and weighs 779 grams.
Low numbers of lice are present within the feathers.
Thick mucus and caseous exudate is present along the choanal cleft and throughout the oral cavity. Thick mucus is present at the
opening of the glottis, in the mid trachea, at the level of the syrinx, and extending down both bronchi to the level of the hilus. Small
white plaques are present in the caudal air sacs.
Inspissated yolks are present in the coelomic cavity. A small fibrinous core is present in the distal oviduct at the level of the shell
gland.
The crop contains a small amount of feed, bile-stained fibrous material is present in the gizzard, mucus is present in the small
intestine, and the cecal pouches contain green pasty contents. Intestinal scrapings show large numbers of tapeworms and cecal
scrapings show small numbers of cecal worms.
No lesions are noted in any other tissue or organ system.

Comments
The underlying cause of the upper and lower respiratory exudate is not clearly evident. Differential diagnoses include trichomoniasis (protozoal), infectious coryza (bacterial), and aspergillosis (fungal). Trichomoniasis is often associated with contaminated
environment and pigeons are chronic carriers. Infectious coryza is a bacterial infection that can cause severe sinusitis but does not routinely go deep into the respiratory tract. Aspergillosis occurs by inhaling aerosolized fungal spores from the environment. The
chronic salpingitis likely led to retrograde movement of yolks back up the oviduct resulting in the internal layer status. The external and internal parasites may have contributed to lowering the overall health and well-being of this bird.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since this report I have treated all hens & my roo with

• Poultry Protector spray - Potassium Sorbate.
• Equimax- Dewormer
• Sav-A-Chick Electrolyte & Vitamin supplement
• Cleaned the coop & treated with spray & DE agent dust

I think if I would have treated her with a Tylan 50 at the start - there was a chance of her beating this respiratory infection. I blocked the area underneath the coop that she liked to hang out in in case there was some dead mice or something unseen that could potential have contaminated the environment.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for posting the report.
You now have a bit of a clearer picture of what was going on and how to treat.

You may find that you need to also deworm with Safeguard (Fenbendazole) or Valbazen(Albendazole) to take care of the roundworms. Equimax should take care of the tapeworms.
A follow up fecal float with your vet will let you know if you need to use another dewormer.

Poultry Protector and DE may not be effective against and active infestation of Lice, so keep checking to see if the still persist. If they do, then Permethrin spray or powder to treat housing and birds should take care of those as well.