The chicken looks sick and act sick - what can be?

[Toru]

Hi everyone

Thank you for any information you could provide. One of my chickens acts very sick. She is 4 months old. She is Silkie. She keeps away from other. She eats and drinks, but it looks little bit odd the way she does. I checked her body for injuries - nothing. Her throat is clear. Her vent looks normal, but some white poop stuck on her fathers. The poop does not block vent at all. She looks like little ball. I mixed Alban with water two days ago. So far, I did not see any changes with her. Do you have any ideas, what is wrong with her?
Thank you
Toru

 

[azygous]

Noticing a chicken is sick is only the first step in a long process of sleuthing out clues to what may be going on.

It could be coccidiosis if the weather is warm and wet. It could be mushroom or mold toxin if it's warm and humid. It could be an infection from eating contaminated insects or rotting vegetables. It could be external parasites, lice or mites. It could be worms. It could be an avian virus. There are lots of those.

It's a good sign she's eating and drinking. See that she keeps it up. You might add some Poultry Nutri-drench, giving her a few drops a day.

I would gather a random sample of poop and have a vet run a fecal float test for parasites. It will tell you if she has worms or coccidia. If the vet is capable or can send a sample to a lab (expensive) they could look for bacteria that can cause illness.

If your Silkie gets worse and stops eating, I would start her on an antibiotic regardless of not knowing the diagnosis.

 

[Eggcessive]

The Albon is a sulfa antibiotic drug that is good for treatment of coccidia and some other infections, such as intestinal and some respiratory ones. She really needs to get enough of it to help. I would keep at her throughout the day to get fluids into her, and maybe offer some chopped egg and chicken feed made runny with water. Hold a cup to her beak or a measuring scoop. A tsp of plain yogurt daily into the food would help for probiotics as long as she is on Albon (sulfadimethoxine.)

In the meantime, I agree with giving her some NutriDrench 1-2 ml per day. Feel of her crop to check to see if it is emptying overnight, and not puffy or full and firm in early morning. Check her skin around the vent and neck for lice or mites.

Fecal tests are great to do if your local vet will do one on her. Good luck.

 

[Toru]

Thank you very much. She feels little bit better today. I spoke with her breeder. The breeder recommended, first treat her for coccidiosis. Since Silkie is still 4 months old, I should put her back on medicated feed. For first two months I feed my chickens medicated feed. Now they are eating GMO free food. My breeder sad, it is too much organic. Little one not quite ready for that. They need time to build immune system. I will use her advice and yours. I am hoping in next few days she will be back to normal. Thank you again.

 

[Eggcessive]

I doubt if feeding organic non-GMO feed would be bad. I don’t worry much about what kind of feed I use, and I stopped using medicated feed years ago with chicks. Mine just get the age appropriate type of chicken feed. It really doesn’t prevent them from getting coccidiosis. The point is that you are treating her for coccidia, and she should get better soon. Give her a spoonful of plain yogurt for probiotics after her Albon is discontinued to get her gut bacteria back to normal. Good luck.