Suddenly Sick Hens

[hollyandherhens]

Hi all, I am hoping someone may be able to offer some advice... This morning I let the free-range flock out for breakfast this morning and two ladies just didn't come out. They are obviously unwell but I am at a loss. Their external condition appears good... Bright wattles and combs, shiny feathers, good eyes and plenty of weight in them. But they are hunched over, hiding, not eating or drinking and not moving around.

The only physical indication I am picking up on is my black hen has one eyelid closed and it is white. Their feces appears within the normal range but is cecal only. I have inspected it and found zero evidence of worms. They also have zero everywhere of external parasites. I have them isolated and feeding them electrolyte water by syringe.

They are at least 4 years old. One is an Isa Brown and the other is most likely Araucana cross with possibly Dorking. Their usual diet is barastock darling downs with cracked corn sunflower and sometimes hemp added. I usually soak the mix and add livamol and ceyenne pepper a couple times a week. I live on the Sunshine coast, Queensland and it's been quite hot the past couple weeks. I will try attach the photos I have. Please note; The black hens comb is much redder than the photo shows. Any help offered us greatly appreciated

 

[nuthatched]

Hi there, have you checked their crops? Any wheezing, sneezing, mucus?
It's strange that there's 2, they must have gotten into something together or they both have it if it's an illness.
This won't help your sick birds but is worth thinking about in the future.
I looked up the feed, the problem with whole grain or pellet/grains feeds is they require the birds to eat all of it to get the claimed nutritional benefits, most birds just pick out the tasty stuff they like and leave the rest, which results in deficiencies. They can also get high in carbs and fat and low in protein. the stated protein of the feed is 15% which is pretty low, they could use protein boost, fish, eggs, meat, yogurt, whey, something like that. or maybe a chick or grower feed.
Considering that there's corn and boss in the feed, they don't need any more added, as those things aren't great for them (like potato chips). what's the cayenne pepper for?

 

[hollyandherhens]

Hi there, have you checked their crops? Any wheezing, sneezing, mucus?
It's strange that there's 2, they must have gotten into something together or they both have it if it's an illness.
This won't help your sick birds but is worth thinking about in the future.
I looked up the feed, the problem with whole grain or pellet/grains feeds is they require the birds to eat all of it to get the claimed nutritional benefits, most birds just pick out the tasty stuff they like and leave the rest, which results in deficiencies. They can also get high in carbs and fat and low in protein. the stated protein of the feed is 15% which is pretty low, they could use protein boost, fish, eggs, meat, yogurt, whey, something like that. or maybe a chick or grower feed.
Considering that there's corn and boss in the feed, they don't need any more added, as those things aren't great for them (like potato chips). what's the cayenne pepper for?

Thanks for your suggestions their crops seem normal and there isn't any wheezing or sneezing happening. I'll take your suggestions into feed into account... I give them the livamol to help provide extra vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, protein and fatty acids. The ceyenne pepper is a natural dewormer but I tend to use it in the prophylactic way, to prevent worms. It also helps deter rats from the food.

 

[nuthatched]

Thanks for your suggestions their crops seem normal and there isn't any wheezing or sneezing happening. I'll take your suggestions into feed into account... I give them the livamol to help provide extra vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, protein and fatty acids. The ceyenne pepper is a natural dewormer but I tend to use it in the prophylactic way, to prevent worms. It also helps deter rats from the food.

It might keep rats out of the feed but does absolutely nothing for worms, unfortunately.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Pictures of the poop? Only cecal droppings is strange... Perhaps the poop just looks like cecal because of something they ate which is making them sick? Or did they just poop one or two cecal poops and have since stopped pooping at all, in which case they likely have a blockage? In any case, it does seem like they've ingested something they shouldn't have... I don't know how much space they have to free range, but I'd look for anything new they could have dug up or gotten into.

 

[hollyandherhens]

It might keep rats out of the feed but does absolutely nothing for worms, unfortunately.

They still have the usual medicated worming routine. This is just a little something extra. Even though they don't have pepper receptors, I think they still like the added flavour to the mix... Unlike me

 

[hollyandherhens]

Thanks for the suggestions Razzle-dazzle they have made it through the night and don't appear to have declined or improved. I'll inspect their hospital beds in a moment.

Pictures of the poop? Only cecal droppings is strange... Perhaps the poop just looks like cecal because of something they ate which is making them sick? Or did they just poop one or two cecal poops and have since stopped pooping at all, in which case they likely have a blockage? In any case, it does seem like they've ingested something they shouldn't have... I don't know how much space they have to free range, but I'd look for anything new they could have dug up or gotten in