Sick Peahen

[Navajo Brahmans]

Can someone tell why I have lost 4 peahens? I was given 2, one looked old old and never really healthy and vanished one day, I presumed fox. The other was her chic and very healthy, at 12 months aprox she laid a egg in the top of a giant fig tree, she sat on it for 3 months only coming down very briefly once a day to gobble some food, she got bad diarrhea. We eventually caught her and found her another female and a male. The other female was young and healthy, we locked them up together and wormed them. After 6 weeks we let them out and the first night the new young female died I was shocked because she showed no signs of illness. It was not a snake or poison, I saw them all fly up the tree together safe in my yard. Then my peahen got sick and the vets said she had a respiratory problem. Less than a month ago I bought a 6 month old very healthy Peahen and now she is not eating and has diarrhea, I cant believe it. I cant loss another one! I have had my male for 3.5 months and he is healthy and over this time I have lost 3 peahens and have another sick one. Has anyone got any ideas please.
Kind regards,
Cherry

 

[Dany12]

Histomonosis .... metronidazole 250 is a good medication !

 

[KsKingBee]

Histomonosis .... metronidazole 250 is a good medication !

That is as good of a guess as any. It is a quick killer of peafowl. If the OP has noticed any yellowish poo that would be good confirmation too. 250mg of metronidazole, Fishzole in the pet store, down the throat for three to five days will usually take care of it. Good worming practices killing the cecal worms will keep histomonosis from developing.

 

[casportpony]

Can someone tell why I have lost 4 peahens? I was given 2, one looked old old and never really healthy and vanished one day, I presumed fox. The other was her chic and very healthy, at 12 months aprox she laid a egg in the top of a giant fig tree, she sat on it for 3 months only coming down very briefly once a day to gobble some food, she got bad diarrhea. We eventually caught her and found her another female and a male. The other female was young and healthy, we locked them up together and wormed them. After 6 weeks we let them out and the first night the new young female died I was shocked because she showed no signs of illness. It was not a snake or poison, I saw them all fly up the tree together safe in my yard. Then my peahen got sick and the vets said she had a respiratory problem. Less than a month ago I bought a 6 month old very healthy Peahen and now she is not eating and has diarrhea, I cant believe it. I cant loss another one! I have had my male for 3.5 months and he is healthy and over this time I have lost 3 peahens and have another sick one. Has anyone got any ideas please.
Kind regards,
Cherry

Welcome to BYC! It would be best to take your sick one to a vet ASAP.

 

[Navajo Brahmans]

Histomonosis .... metronidazole 250 is a good medication !

Thank you Danny I appreciate your suggestion, she is at a specialist bird vet now, they did find a few cecal worms, even though iI wormed her with Ivomec. They say she also has coccidiosis, my other Peahen had no parasites and had a respiratory condition

 

[casportpony]

Thank you Danny I appreciate your suggestion, she is at a specialist bird vet now, they did find a few cecal worms, even though iI wormed her with Ivomec. They say she also has coccidiosis, my other Peahen had no parasites and had a respiratory condition

You are not the first person to report that cecal worm eggs were found after using ivermectin. Sadly it is no longer an effective poultry de-wormer. For cecal worms, capillary worms, and gapeworms your best bet is a wormer like Safeguard (fenbendazole) or Valbazen (albendazole). Talk to your vet about having routine fecals done and I'm sure they will come up with a good treatment plan for you and your flock.

 

[Dany12]

An adult peacock don't die from cecal worm eggs .... worms or coccidiosis .... but they can die in 3 days from histomonosis !We have no time to have tea ... we must act!

 

[casportpony]

An adult peacock don't die from cecal worm eggs .... worms or coccidiosis .... but they can die in 3 days from histomonosis !We have no time to have tea ... we must act!

That simply is *not* true! Plenty of adult peafowl have died from coccidiosis and/or worms. I'm not saying that blackhead is not serious, it sure is serious, and it's probably a good idea to treat for coccidiosis, worms, blackhead, and E. coli.

 

[casportpony]

Here is a hen that had coccidiosis *and* capillary worms:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...k-without-stumbling-and-toppling-over.941155/

Her story changed how I evaluate and treat sick birds.

 

[Navajo Brahmans]

The vet rang and you were right Danny she died of of Histomonosis growths on the liver and apparentley they get it from worms. My male is totally healthy but now I am really worried about getting another girl. But at least Histomonosis may explain why the other female died over night without any signs of illness. I only had this female for 3 weeks before she died, the vet says she bought the illness with her.

Histomonosis .... metronidazole 250 is a good medication !