Thinki my hen is dying of coccidiosis

[micstrachan]

I’m so sorry for your loss. I, too, had a sick hen die when/because I tried to help her. It hurts and I am truly sorry.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear you lost her.

 

[Riche Bronson]

I tried the under the tongue and she immediately died in my arms. She first threw up a light yellowish liquid which was the sulphuric treatment, then released a forceful light yellow bowel movement. Threw her head back and forth and squawked and died within a minute of treating her. I knew I should have left her alone.

Aw hon, I’m so sorry. I got up this morning and jumped straight on here to check on you two girls- hoping your girl was still here with us this morning (and hoping you’d checked back in here).

Listen, you tried hard for her, and that’s what matters most! That’s all you could do! Thing is- we ALL could have been wrong about what was ailing her, and none of us have any idea how bad off she was either. The best we can all do is try, and collaborate ideas. No one has all the answers, all the time. Chicken symptoms are only so broad, and they could have been the symptoms of ten different things! And she may have had some ailment that no matter what you did it wasn’t going to help! None of us were there to see her, so it’s hard to guess... It’s hard to guess when you’re right there with them! You can’t blame yourself tho, or feel bad that you “should have left her alone”. Hindsight is always 20/20- and who knows, maybe if you’d just “left her alone” she’d have passed anyway. At least she died knowing that she was loved and cared for, and she died in your arms- so she wasn’t alone.

Isn’t it crazy how attached we get to these goofy things? You’ll walk away from this whole sad dilemma bruised, wounded, and hurting- but you’ll take away a little more knowledge and experience than you had before, to help one of your girls the next time something comes up, and your learning moments are also teaching moments. That’s how we all become more knowledgeable, and better chicken keepers. Sometimes the lessons are tough tho.

Hang in there, and don’t beat yourself up. You did everything you could do, and your heart was in the right place, that’s the most important thing. Xo

(Also, those “likes” on your sad announcement posts aren’t actual “likes”, so as not to offend anyone- they’re just acknowledgements.)

 

[Farm Femmes]

Don't ever feel bad about providing care to a chicken, even if the chicken dies. There is just too little info out there about chicken illnesses for anyone to be an expert, and even if you can "match" every symptom to a syndrome or disease, the poor chicken may die of an unrelated weakness or injury. We just all have to do the best we can for them, and that's all we can do. Then we have to move on to taking care of the rest of our flock, and do the best we can for them, too.

Thank you for sharing the details. That will help some of us who have birds with similar symptoms.

My vet, who is a solid chicken vet, has shared this with me: when you look up symptoms on the internet, add "Merck" before you do your search. That will help you find the Merck manual for poultry symptoms and treatment.

Thank you so much for your words of consolation. It it feels awful to be so ineffectual.
This morning I went to Lowe’s at 7 AM and got AgLime and a hand spreader. All I could afford. I kept everyone inside and my daughter and I raked up a 1/4 acre yard of dirt and spread 6/8 of a 40 L.B. bag on it. Then we covered the ponds with clear hurricane shutters. Let the girls out. Gave them feed with Rooster Booster and egg shell with Tumeric. Gave them water with garlic. Cleaned all coops, sprayed with Lysol, all I had to disinfect on hand. Hope it works. Spread lime in coops over wood chips and on the muck in the bottom of the small runs they have to stretch out in in the morning while waiting for me to release them. I have eucalyptus oil coming in the mail to spray for mites in the coops as well. I hope these things help. Do you think I need to mix the essential oil with water before I spray it?

 

[Farm Femmes]

Aw hon, I’m so sorry. I got up this morning and jumped straight on here to check on you two girls- hoping your girl was still here with us this morning (and hoping you’d checked back in here).

Listen, you tried hard for her, and that’s what matters most! That’s all you could do! Thing is- we ALL could have been wrong about what was ailing her, and none of us have any idea how bad off she was either. The best we can all do is try, and collaborate ideas. No one has all the answers, all the time. Chicken symptoms are only so broad, and they could have been the symptoms of ten different things! And she may have had some ailment that no matter what you did it wasn’t going to help! None of us were there to see her, so it’s hard to guess... It’s hard to guess when you’re right there with them! You can’t blame yourself tho, or feel bad that you “should have left her alone”. Hindsight is always 20/20- and who knows, maybe if you’d just “left her alone” she’d have passed anyway. At least she died knowing that she was loved and cared for, and she died in your arms- so she wasn’t alone.

Isn’t it crazy how attached we get to these goofy things? You’ll walk away from this whole sad dilemma bruised, wounded, and hurting- but you’ll take away a little more knowledge and experience than you had before, to help one of your girls the next time something comes up, and your learning moments are also teaching moments. That’s how we all become more knowledgeable, and better chicken keepers. Sometimes the lessons are tough tho.

Hang in there, and don’t beat yourself up. You did everything you could do, and your heart was in the right place, that’s the most important thing. Xo

(Also, those “likes” on your sad announcement posts aren’t actual “likes”, so as not to offend anyone- they’re just acknowledgements.)

I finally cried after reading your post. Thank you. I have been stuck on getting the yard cleaned up with lime and the coops and taking care of the other girls and I spent all night researching what to do next that I hadn’t even felt anything but a weary ache and a tearing impervious fear for the others.
Thank you. She survived a bad possum attack once and witnessed the drowning of her rooster friend. She was a tough old girl... and I am very, very grateful she was in my arms when her time came.
And I am so very grateful to the ladies and gentlemen of the Backyard Chicken Forums. I couldn’t do this without you.

 

[Riche Bronson]

Wow! You’ve been busy this morning! Over achiever! You’re making me feel like a lazy bum! I think everyone understands exactly how you’re feeling today. Most of us have lost a chicken or two, that we just couldn’t help. It’s not a good feeling, for sure- I completely understand.

Yeah, I would definitely mix it with water. Essential oils are SO strong.. and you don’t want to go crazy with it, and stink the place up for days. I think it’s 1 ounce in a gallon of water for a disinfectant.. but if you’re doing inside a coop, and don’t want to get it soaking wet, you can do perches and hard surfaces with eucalyptus mixed with cheap vodka in a spray bottle- so it’ll evaporate and not leave moisture in the coop. You mentioned “muck”. If there is wetness, puddles, or wet poop in their coop, I’d definitely scrape that out of there- get you a compost pile going. Wet soggy areas, poop plus chickens is a *disaster* waiting to happen! That’s how so many parasites complete their life cycles- and end up inside of your girls- in one way or another. And you also mentioned lime- I hope you bought the agricultural lime that’s meant to be fed to animals as a calcium supplement? Are they drinking out of the ponds you mentioned? Anyway, if you’ve recently wormed them all, don’t worry too much...chickens are going to have worms (as long as their feet touch dirt!)- they just have to be controlled- not completely eliminated (that’s a futile battle anyway) and it sounds like you’re being very proactive!

Edit- Oops, it looks like I replied to the wrong post! Anyway, it sounds like you had a rough night... Those are the absolute WORST. Losing pets is always so painful. But, you took that time to get proactive, do some research, and look out for the other girls, and that’s the best thing you can do! Sounds like your little girl had a long, very eventful, but (I’m sure) still a happy little chicken life! At least she’s out of pain and misery now.. and happily scratching and pecking in the great beyond. I think you did a fantastic job- and your girls are lucky to have a caring, proactive, and kind chicken Mom like you. Hang in there now! Xo

 

[Farm Femmes]

Don't ever feel bad about providing care to a chicken, even if the chicken dies. There is just too little info out there about chicken illnesses for anyone to be an expert, and even if you can "match" every symptom to a syndrome or disease, the poor chicken may die of an unrelated weakness or injury. We just all have to do the best we can for them, and that's all we can do. Then we have to move on to taking care of the rest of our flock, and do the best we can for them, too.

Thank you for sharing the details. That will help some of us who have birds with similar symptoms.

My vet, who is a solid chicken vet, has shared this with me: when you look up symptoms on the internet, add "Merck" before you do your search. That will help you find the Merck manual for poultry symptoms and treatment.

That is really good information to have. Thank you for you kindness and concern for poor Foxy, and for my well being too. Sometimes even our families are more callous about our animals and our hearts than folks who don’t know us at all. But we know the love of our girls, don’t we?

 

[Farm Femmes]

Wow! You’ve been busy this morning! Over achiever! You’re making me feel like a lazy bum! I think everyone understands exactly how you’re feeling today. Most of us have lost a chicken or two, that we just couldn’t help. It’s not a good feeling, for sure- I completely understand.

Yeah, I would definitely mix it with water. Essential oils are SO strong.. and you don’t want to go crazy with it, and stink the place up for days. I think it’s 1 ounce in a gallon of water for a disinfectant.. but if you’re doing inside a coop, and don’t want to get it soaking wet, you can do perches and hard surfaces with eucalyptus mixed with cheap vodka in a spray bottle- so it’ll evaporate and not leave moisture in the coop. You mentioned “muck”. If there is wetness, puddles, or wet poop in their coop, I’d definitely scrape that out of there- get you a compost pile going. Wet soggy areas, poop plus chickens is a *disaster* waiting to happen! That’s how so many parasites complete their life cycles- and end up inside of your girls- in one way or another. And you also mentioned lime- I hope you bought the agricultural lime that’s meant to be fed to animals as a calcium supplement? Are they drinking out of the ponds you mentioned? Anyway, if you’ve recently wormed them all, don’t worry too much...chickens are going to have worms (as long as their feet touch dirt!)- they just have to be controlled- not completely eliminated (that’s a futile battle anyway) and it sounds like you’re being very proactive!

I did get AgLime. I was up all night researching the different kinds and how people do it. And they do drink from the ponds some but I keep their water jug filled with ice packs and frozen bottles of water and lots of Poultry Cell so it tastes better to them than plain pond water. I try to entice them some away from the pond. But now I’m going to keep them covered for awhile and maybe worm again in a week to be sure they all get nothing but deworming water. Demi king the runs are really hard because they are small and permanently affixed to the coops. So I have to move the entire coop to do it and every time I move it, it stresses the joints and I fear it coming apart faster. I need new coops, truly. I wish I had about $1,000 to get a nice new one or the ability to build one. I’m tempted to try but I know I’d mess it up 25 times over and ruin the thing and waste my money. So....
Cheap vodka? That’s really funny! I’m in recovery for 14 years and I would not have a problem going into the liquor store and getting vodka for my girls!! I once bought a small bottle of gin to use for a girl who’s leg was injured to keep her still and warm. Gin will keep a bird still and warm let me tell you. Just a few drops in lots of water.

 

[OliveGrace]

I didn’t read this until after she died. Jesus, I knew I should have left her alone. Thanks for try to help poor Foxy.

So sorry for your loss. That must have been traumatic! You did everything you could. It sounds like she was miserable and at least now she is out of pain. You are very brave.