This forum may have saved my hens

[CentArk Ruuster]

This is my first post, I'm a lurker, but I came home tonight and found one of my 3 new Barred Rock pullets dead in the nest box of my chicken tractor (I had moved them out of the coop because the older hens are mean to them. ) And this morning I had noticed that my oldest girl (5 years old) was a bit lethargic and had a runny nose. When I went out to check on them tonight when I got home from work, I found the dead pullet, still warm, with the other two in the box, and when I opened the coop dorr my old girl was at the end of the roost right in front of me and i noticed a gurgling sound in her breath. So I logged on and did a search for the runny nose and breathing noise, then noticed a reoccuring post about cedar shavings........ I just put new shavings down Sunday, have always used cedar, never knew it was toxic! I went right out and got my sick girl at put her in the tractor (best I can do till morning) And I'll remove all the shavings at first light. Do you guys think she'll be ok or do I need to treat her with meds? Also, will it be ok to just remove the cedar, or do I need to do some other cleaning before I replace it with pine?


Thanks so much for all the information here!

 

[CarriBrown]

Wow! I'm sorry to hear about your girls. There have been plenty of us here making mistakes and learning from each other.
I would vacuum after removing the cedar chips. Cleaning it farther may be toxic as well.
As far as meds for your girl, I really have no idea what you can do for her. I asked that your post be moved to another section of the board so hopefully someone will see this and have an answer for you.

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

She may be better tomorrow, If not get back on here for advice on treating her.

Cedar shavings are a NO NO, especially in small confined spaces.

I do use them sparingly. to help deture bugs, I buy the big bags of pine shavings at our local farm store and a bag of ceder shavings from Walmart.

When I change My Coop Bedding I put in 4 big white buckets of Pine and 1 bucket of ceder. BUT my coop is very big with 15 foot tall ceilings.
"LOTS OF SPACE FOR THE ODOR TO DISPURSE"

GOOD LUCK AND WELCOME

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

CentArk Ruuster, sorry to hear about your hens, but very glad the great community was able to come to your aid (and that the search feature worked)!

Can you do us a favor and keep us posted along the way? Let us know what you did and what happened and when it happened. It is real world experiences like this that help us all learn and get better at finding and fixing problems!

 

[CentArk Ruuster]

Thanks for the fast responses. I did also email the state Ag Vet to see if they need to do a necropsy on the dead pullet. I'll update tomorrow.

Thanks again!

 

[CentArk Ruuster]

Update. Found another pullet dead, well, on last breath this morning, she seemed fine last night. The remaining pullet ran up the ran and into my arms when I opened the tractor door. I put here in a seperate pen, she's still ok tonight, poop looks fine, eating & drinking really well, no signs of illness. My old hen, other than the gurgling breath and occasional sneeze seems fine, comb is bright red, she's eating & drinking well. Hoping it's just a reaction to the Cedar. I cleaned the coop out this morning & just finished putting down Pine shavings. Should I keep the old girl separated still? Or should I wait to see if her respiratory junk clears first? Oh, and the state livestock & poultry vet wants to necropsy the dead pullets, so maybe I'll get some sort of idea of what is happening.

 

[chickflick]

I'd keep her separated until she feels better and make sure it's not contagious.

 

[paisleycj]

Walnut shavings are toxic for horses. I found that out the hard way, getting some mixed oak/walnut shavings for bedding from a woodworker I know. They'd probably be toxic for chickens too, wouldn't they?

 

[gumpsgirl]

How are the remaining chickens doing now???

 

[CentArk Ruuster]

All the new girls (2 Buffs, & 2 Black Australorps) are just fine as is the remaining Barred Rock pullet, but my old girl is getting worse, she's very lethargic & the congestion is much worse. Her nose was clogged with snot, so I cleaned it up with a warm wash cloth. She's having to breath through her mouth some and just sits on the ground with her eyes closed unless I stir her. Going to try to find a livestock vet tomorrow, it's got to be a infection of some sort. I've moved her into the garage in a large plastic dog crate with some pine shavings in the bottom with fresh water & feed, it's going to get cold tonight and don't want her on in the tractor getting too cold.