sick hen

[NestingHillsSC]

Try this!! https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/743295/hens-with-swollen-eye-face-help-please#post_10448681

 

[casportpony]

I'll comment more on your post later... If you want to try to save her, I think she needs fluids, not food. Once hydrated, then you could feed her.

This link explains how to tube feed/water
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...cken-and-give-subcutaneous-fluid#post_9911290
And this is another good one:
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?t=7933

Emergency care:
http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/cam/07_emergency_and_critical_care.pdf

This is from the link above:

FLUID THERAPY
Oral Administration
Oral administration is the ideal method of giving fluids.
This method is more commonly used in mildly dehydrated
birds or in conjunction with subcutaneous (SC)
or intravenous (IV) therapy. Oral rehydration (30 ml/kg
PO q 6-8 h) also may be used in larger birds (eg, waterfowl)
that are difficult to restrain for parenteral fluid​

therapy.

And chapter 15 here:
http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/chapters.html

 

[sophiesmith]

I am very sorry about your chickens.

 

[Belly Belle]

Sadly our little Belle has just passed.

 

[Belly Belle]

We miss you so much Belle.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

So very sorry for your loss.

Of the four chicks in my original flock - all came from a northern California hatchery and I picked them up as they came off the postal truck at our local feed store - three of them died, two of completely mysterious circumstances. One was about seven months old, fine in the morning and keeled over dead in the afternoon.

The second one died at just past a year old; her symptoms were a bit like your hen's but no loss of feathers and she didn't lose her balance, just became very quiet and stopped moving. We took her to the vet several times and all communicable/avian diseases were ruled out. They never figured it out. We syringed water into her beak to try to keep her going but to no avail.

The third one developed egg yolk peritonitis. I wrote about it on my blog: http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/trouble-in-chicken-paradise/ and http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/1000-days-of-autumn/

The fourth hen has flourished and went on to raise my next batch of five chicks, all of which came from MPC and have been perfectly healthy. I just think there was something wrong with the stock from that hatchery although, of course, I could not prove it.

"Regular" people may not understand how sad the loss of a pet chicken is, but everyone here on BYC knows what it's like - they are just like any other pet with their little personalities and behaviors. I'm so very sorry you had to go through this, but it sounds like you gave her a wonderful home for the duration of her life.

 

[casportpony]

Sadly our little Belle has just passed.

We miss you so much Belle.

Very sorry for your loss. RIP, Belle.

 

[Belly Belle]

We miss her very much. She was so beautiful and such a boisterous girl (and sometimes laid some enormous eggs). Which is what makes me wonder what happened even more. I believe the breeder we got her from was very good. I looked all around for different local breeders and her webpage had a real personal touch to it with ratings for different chicken breeds so you can know good chickens for your environment and you. We spent a lot of time with them as we picked out the chickens and asked lots of questions. So if all things started out ok then what happened and are we going really wrong somewhere?

I do have to ask - though at the moment I can't bare the thought of it - but we currently have a lone chicken outside. When our last one passed away at the end of October, we thought we might pick up a new one in the spring as we knew we were going to be away for 3 weeks in December and it didn't seem right to bring a new chicken here for the winter when we had no previous winter experience with chickens (ours at least had a few months prior to get their strength up for it). So we're ill equipped on many levels for new chickens. Obviously one is that it is winter and not getting better yet, we're new to chicken keeping and I am uncertain if we're doing harm to our pets through inexperience so am loathe to rush to pick up more and especially at this time of year, and we have no second coop to separate the old from the new as we didn't expect this to happen right now. But of course I know that having a lone chicken is hard on the chicken. So can anyone shed any light on the best way forward?

And thanks for all of your kind words for Belle. She was a wonderful girl and I will miss her.

 

[DraigAthar]

I guess it depends on how attached to your remaining chicken you are. Obviously, it's best for the chicken to have company. They are very social animals and being alone stresses them. If you are unable to get more chickens now, you could re-home her where she's be part of someone else's flock and start fresh yourself in the spring. But if she is more like a pet to you then that would be very difficult for you. Not to mention that if your loss of Belle was due to a contagious disease, it's not very responsible to pass your remaining chicken, who might be a carrier, off to someone else. Similarly, you might be exposing any new chickens you get to said disease. So you're right, it's a conundrum.

I do think you need to not be so hard on yourself, though. You sound like a responsible pet owner, and you think of your chickens as pets so you are probably doing things right. Chickens are livestock that have been bred for a very long time to produce eggs at a rate much higher than any bird in the wild ever will. Selective breeding has brought us to modern chickens, and it has also brought us to some of the realities of the weaknesses that chickens have. They are highly prone to respiratory diseases, for one. Hens are prone to reproductive problems, too. It makes sense, given that they have been bred into little egg-producing machines. I don't think anyone who has kept chickens for any length of time has NOT run in into a sick chicken now and then. I was just reading a long discussion on another thread about how to breed for disease resistance in chickens. The old timers had one cure for diseases in chickens: a hatchet. Any bird that showed any symptoms at all was removed from the gene pool, and over time they had a very healthy flock. But people who keep a handful of chickens in the backyard can't and won't approach their flocks in this manner, and understandably so. But I digress. All I'm saying is, don't beat yourself up over sick chickens. Winter is hard and it takes its toll.

If you decide you want to get a new friend for your lone hen, you might try looking at the forums that are local to you. There's a whole forum here, I think it's called 'where am I? where are you!' where people have threads for each state and region. I'm in NH so I follow all the NH threads. Anyway, someone local to you might be able to sell you an adult hen about the same age as your bird. That way you'd have a companion that is already used to whatever weather you've got, and would integrate more easily with your hen. And you'd have to accept the possibility that you're exposing another bird to an illness, but we take that chance anytime we move birds from one home to another.

I am very sorry for your loss. Belle was very lucky to have had you as her friend.

 

[casportpony]

So very sorry for your loss.

Of the four chicks in my original flock - all came from a northern California hatchery and I picked them up as they came off the postal truck at our local feed store - three of them died, two of completely mysterious circumstances. One was about seven months old, fine in the morning and keeled over dead in the afternoon.

The second one died at just past a year old; her symptoms were a bit like your hen's but no loss of feathers and she didn't lose her balance, just became very quiet and stopped moving. We took her to the vet several times and all communicable/avian diseases were ruled out. They never figured it out. We syringed water into her beak to try to keep her going but to no avail.

The third one developed egg yolk peritonitis. I wrote about it on my blog: http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/trouble-in-chicken-paradise/ and http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/1000-days-of-autumn/

The fourth hen has flourished and went on to raise my next batch of five chicks, all of which came from MPC and have been perfectly healthy. I just think there was something wrong with the stock from that hatchery although, of course, I could not prove it.

"Regular" people may not understand how sad the loss of a pet chicken is, but everyone here on BYC knows what it's like - they are just like any other pet with their little personalities and behaviors. I'm so very sorry you had to go through this, but it sounds like you gave her a wonderful home for the duration of her life.

Did you know that California provides a free necropsy service on backyard chickens, turkeys and waterfowl? They'll even let you use their FedEx number to save on shipping. I use the one in Tulare since it's the one that my avian vet recommended.

Lab Locations

CAHFS is a livestock and avian diagnostic laboratory, not a small animal laboratory. Questions concerning dogs, cats, snakes, and fish should be directed to your local veterinarian.
The CAHFS Toxicology Section may be contacted regarding any poisoning cases in all animal species at this number: (530) 752-6322.
Each laboratory in the CAHFS System performs specific tests. If the CAHFS Lab nearest your location does not perform the test(s) needed for your submission, the specimen may be forwarded to the lab in the CAHFS System that does perform the test.
Business Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM
Emergencies only on Saturday and Sunday.

Davis Laboratory

The Davis facility consists of two laboratory buildings: The John E. Thurman, Jr. Building, and the Kenneth L. Maddy building. Davis is staffed and equipped to provide the full range of diagnostic procedures in the disciplines of pathology, bacteriology, mycology, serology, avian virology, mammalian virology and toxicology for all species of livestock including poultry. It also houses the Equine Analytical Chemistry laboratory, which is staffed and equipped to provide equine drug testing.
The Davis laboratory also conducts tests on specimens forwarded from the other four laboratories, which have not been staffed and equipped to perform them. As the central laboratory of the CAHFS, it provides professional support and supervision of tests and procedures to be used throughout the CAHFS. Discipline specialists at Davis, working with diagnosticians at the other laboratories, develop standard protocols and provide standardized reagents for use in the CAHFS. They also have supervisory responsibility over activities of their specialty, including both monitoring of testing procedures and the training of personnel in the use of such procedures at the other laboratories.
The Davis Laboratory accepts AVIAN, LIVESTOCK, and HORSE submissions. Carcasses may be submitted for necropsy. Submissions for livestock and horse biopsies, serology, bacterial cultures and electron microscopy are also accepted. The Toxicology section of the Davis Lab will accept specimens from all animal species, including domestic animals, wildlife, and sea mammals.
Address
620 West Health Science Drive
Davis, California 95616
(530) 752-8700
(530) 752-6253 (FAX)
[email protected]

Turlock Laboratory

The Turlock laboratory provides diagnostic support for the needs of the poultry industry in the northern San Joaquin valley. It provides diagnostic services in pathology, bacteriology, serology, mycology, and in some aspects of virology. The Turlock Laboratory serves as a point of access to the CAHFS and all of its services except necropsies of large animals. Specimens (except large animals, cats and dogs) will be transported to other laboratories of the CAHFS for diagnostic procedures that cannot be conducted at Turlock.
The Turlock Laboratory accepts all AVIAN submissions including carcasses, serology samples and bacterial cultures. The Turlock Laboratory now performs the Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) Elisa test on ear notch samples.
For USPS mail & deliveries, use our PO Box address.
Address
1550 N Soderquist Road
PO Box 1522
Turlock, CA 95380-2204
(209) 634-5837
(209) 667-4261 (FAX)
[email protected]

Tulare Laboratory

The Tulare laboratory is located in the facilities of the Veterinary Medical Teaching and Research Center, University of California, Tulare. It provides diagnostic laboratory support for the food animal industries and the veterinarians who serve these industries in the central and southern San Joaquin valley. Services offered on-site include pathology, bacteriology, parasitology, mycology, regulatory serology and certain aspects of virology. The Tulare Laboratory accepts all AVIAN, LIVESTOCK and HORSE submissions.
Serology and toxicology samples are sent, as necessary, to other CAHFS laboratories for testing.
Address
18830 Road 112
Tulare, CA 93274-9042
(559) 688-7543
(559) 686-4231 (FAX)
[email protected]

San Bernardino Laboratory

The San Bernardino laboratory provides diagnostic laboratory support for the livestock and poultry industries of southern California, and conducts serological tests required for programs of the Animal Health Branch. It is staffed and equipped to provide diagnostic support in pathology, bacteriology, mycology, milk quality, serology, and some aspects of virology and parasitology. It serves as a point of access for all services offered by the CAHFS.
The San Bernardino Laboratory accepts AVIAN, LIVESTOCK, and HORSE submissions: avian carcasses and biopsies, livestock and horse carcasses and biopsies, serology and bacterial cultures.
105 W Central Avenue
San Bernardino, CA 92408 2113
(909) 383-4287
(909) 884-5980 (FAX)
[email protected]

Your support of the School of Veterinary Medicine makes a difference

Contact us | Animal Health Inquiries | Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube | Online Donation Form
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine • One Shields Avenue • Davis, CA 95616
Copyright

The Regents of the University of California, Davis campus. All Rights Reserved.

Source:http://cahfs.ucdavis.edu/services/lab_locations.cfm​