SL Wyandotte Dying??

[SouthernBYChickens]

My son and I went out today to work with the chickens (8 week olds) and one of the Silver-Laced Wyandottes was behaving very oddly. She could not even hold her head up. She is still standing on her feet, but her head just hangs down, even when I pick her up, she just lets her head hang. She will just stand there and slowly bob her head up and down. She won't even try to run away when we go to get her. I've quarantined her from the others, hoping she makes it through the night. Any ideas as to what is wrong?? Thanks!

 

[bloom chicks]

I am sorry about you SLW. I hope someone with experience can help you.

 

[Bernard P. Fife]

Sorry to hear about the SLW! I did a little research and it could be a case of CoccIdiosis. I think you definitely did the right thing in separating her from the rest of the flock, not only to protect them, but also to monitor her, check her droppings, etc. If she has the cecal form of it, there may be bloody diarrhea. If it is the intestinal form, she will have plain diarrhea. With both forms there is droopiness, huddling with ruffled feathers, and loss of appetite. Treatment is 1 teaspoon of amprolium added to a gallon of her drinking water for five days and make sure she has clean, dry shavings/bedding at all times and I'd clean out and replace all the bedding in the main coop, too. Follow up with some vitamin A and K supplements and I would start giving her and the rest of the flock the ACV with the "mother" in it that your thoughtful and generous friend gave you.

I hope she pulls through!

 

[SouthernBYChickens]

Well, thank you very much Bernard for your thoughtful and well researched info. I checked on her this morning and she seems to be doing much better. My only guess is yesterday while we had the flock out of the pen grazing, she ate something that caused her to have a bout of sickness (almost as if she was drugged up from meds). Either way, we are going to keep an eye on her for another day by herself and if all seems good by tomorrow, she will rejoin her sisters. Thanks for your advice Berney!!

BTW - Waiting till I run out of the regular ACV until I crack open the ACV with mother that my generous and thoughtful friend gave me.

 

[SteveBaz]

I hope its not cocci bc you entire flock may be infected too. I would get an eye dropper and drop not squirt it with vitamin water it may be just dehydrated for some reason. If you have a liquid vitamin like Vita-Sol use that or at the least use sugar water. You may want to feed your girl with proteins like scrambled eggs or a chopped up hard boiled egg if she will eat it. Is she high on the pecking order if not the other birds may be eating all the food before she gets any? Do you put down a constant supply of food for them to eat all day long or just enough each day? Do you put organic apple cider vinegar in the water too it is a way to boost the birds system? I would not think any of my birds are infected with any disease without having more concrete symptoms than a droopy head? If you care enough about your bird I simply would take it to a vet or at the least have a stool sample examined to determine what to do next? Best of luck to your girl.

 

[SouthernBYChickens]

I hope its not cocci bc you entire flock may be infected too. I would get an eye dropper and drop not squirt it with vitamin water it may be just dehydrated for some reason. If you have a liquid vitamin like Vita-Sol use that or at the least use sugar water. You may want to feed your girl with proteins like scrambled eggs or a chopped up hard boiled egg if she will eat it. Is she high on the pecking order if not the other birds may be eating all the food before she gets any? Do you put down a constant supply of food for them to eat all day long or just enough each day? Do you put organic apple cider vinegar in the water too it is a way to boost the birds system? I would not think any of my birds are infected with any disease without having more concrete symptoms than a droopy head? If you care enough about your bird I simply would take it to a vet or at the least have a stool sample examined to determine what to do next? Best of luck to your girl.

Steve - Thanks for your concern and input. I was really surprised she made it through the night. I went out to the garage this morning before work fully expecting to see her lying there dead, but she was actually up on the mason jar with her head up high. She hopped off of it and went to the feeder about as normal as can be. Hope she stays that way. Yes - there is constant food for all. I keep the feeder with feed at all times. This past weekend we did feed them yogurt and spaghetti noodles (which is fun). As of now, I have been putting regular Heinz ACV in their water every time I refresh their water - have done since the beginning. A friend of mine got me a bottle of ACV w/ mother the other day which I will begin using soon. There has been no bloody stools anywhere in the pen/coop thus far so maybe cocci was not the problem. It honestly appeared as if she had taken a drug that made her almost unconscious for a while and could not stay awake. For now - I'm just going to assume she either ate something that messed her up or possibly dehydrated (although I watch them constantly making sure they are offered fresh drinking water and they all seem to get some). Thanks again for your input!!

 

[SteveBaz]

Great to hear. I will go back to protein, protein and more protein. When the system is down yogurt and spaghetti noodles is fun to what but yogurt is a dairy product and helps bacteria to grow and noodles is a carbohydrate and offers little to no food group help to a stronger body but helps with weight gain and some energy. Proteins encourage more energy and helps with variety of very important functions within the body. First and foremost, they are responsible for growth all body cells and structures, like bone, muscle, blood cells. when eating proteins it helps the stomach secretes digestive acids for a better digestive tract. Proteins work the most in the small intestine where, a majority of protein breakdown takes place. Feed the kids eggs and crushed up eggs shells, feed them Linseed and Flax seed the helps with oils. Its easy add rice or oatmeal to the diet and grind up your nuts in a coffee grinder and dump it in the cottage cheese or plain yogurt or the rice or oatmeal but no more than 1/4 or 1/3 cup. I do that a couple times a week as part of the regular diet. Do you have a couple of piggies in the group then put it down at least 10 feet away from each other so they have two food sources. Another way to make sure they get proteins is in a 3 or 4 seed scratch. And throw down a cup or 2 in two different areas of the run so that all the kids get a chance at it. Good luck she will be fine.

​

 

[SouthernBYChickens]

Well, it turns out she is fine. I went to the garage this afternoon when I got home and she had "flown the coop" and was sitting on the porch steps. She has made a 180 from yesterday. So, I take her back to the coop with the others and turns out a GLW is now behaving oddly also. Not as bad as the SLW, but she is just standing there slowly closing her eyes. I've watched them nap during the day and this is different. While all the others (including newly recovered SLW) are hovering around the feeder tearing it up, she is just standing there, opening and closing her eyes. Here are my 2 concerns and let me know what you think. Right now, I have their temporary coop right under a large crape myrtle tree - could the little buds that come off the crape myrtle or the leaves be poisonous to the chickens? OR, I started to remember (after I had constructed their temporary coop near the house) that the Cooks Pest Control man came a couple of weeks ago and since it had been raining, he put out the granules instead of the liquid spray around the house. Is it possible that the chickens could have mistaken the granules as food since they look similar, and by eating them, made them sick?? If I need to move them - so be it. Can't stand to watch them be sick. Thanks in advance for any opinions or advice!!

 

[Bernard P. Fife]

Crepe myrtles aren't toxic, but the granules may be a real threat. Did you put the temporary coop there before or after he spread the granules? If it was after then you very easily could have placed it over a treated area. Glad to hear it isn't cocci. I hear that's a road you never want to go down!

 

[SteveBaz]

I would contact the pest control company and 1 ask if the granules toxic to children, animals , and chickens and 2 please no further treatment in the back area near the birds where they can eat it.