Thoughts on treating potential illness in large flock

[TJAnonymous]

Yesterday morning I was collecting eggs and noticed a LOT of bloody poop on one of the roosts. I have 50-60 chickens so it's impossible to know which chicken it came from. It's also been REALLY hot with triple digit weather so everyone is rather lethargic anyway.

A couple more relevant points... I've noticed a handful of hens who seemed "croupy" in late spring. I quarantined them as I discovered it (one at a time) and treated them each with a course of Metronidazole. It cleared up the respiratory illness in each one.

About 3+ weeks ago, I noticed a young Rhode Island White was not eating and separated herself from the others. She is not yet laying as far as I know although she may be close. I checked her belly, vent, for mites, discharge, etc. Found nothing abnormal. I separated her for several days but she never got worse and began eating again so I let her out. She has recently stopped eating again and separated herself again. No signs of respiratory infection but something going on with her.

Also about 3 weeks ago, I found another young pullet dead in the nesting box. She had seemed fine & healthy so no clue what she died from. Burned her body.

This morning I found a 2-3 yr old Ameracauna on the floor of the coop. She was leaking yellow fluid from her mouth. Sounded croupy. At first I thought it was sour crop but within a few minutes of finding her I realized this was far more serious. She began convulsing a little and foam & yellow fluid were pouring out of her mouth. She went into death throes and died in my arms.

So now I realize there are some things going on that must be proactively dealt with. Would Coccidiosis cause these types of symptoms? I do have some Corrid. Suggestions on how to treat the entire flock?

@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive

 

[Folly's place]

Diagnostics would be good, rather than shooting in the dark. Corid will treat coccidiosis, but that's not all that's going on. Get fecals to your veterinarian, and talk to your state veterinary path lab about how to submit samples, especially this newly dead hen.
Sorry this is all happening!
Mary

 

[CluckyandPeepsFlock]

This sounds like something more than just Coccidiosis.

A fecal test would be a huge help to figure out the problem.

Sending positive vibes!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yesterday morning I was collecting eggs and noticed a LOT of bloody poop on one of the roosts. I have 50-60 chickens so it's impossible to know which chicken it came from. It's also been REALLY hot with triple digit weather so everyone is rather lethargic anyway.

This morning I found a 2-3 yr old Ameracauna on the floor of the coop. She was leaking yellow fluid from her mouth. Sounded croupy. At first I thought it was sour crop but within a few minutes of finding her I realized this was far more serious. She began convulsing a little and foam & yellow fluid were pouring out of her mouth. She went into death throes and died in my arms.

I'm sorry about your loss.

If you are seeing a lot of bloody poop, then it would be a good idea to go ahead and start the Corid while you get some testing done.

If you still have the body of the hen that died this morning, then wrap in plastic, refrigerate/put on ice (don't freeze) and have your state lab perform a necropsy to find out more about what may be going on. https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Probably hard to do, but if you can give vents a look to rule out the blood isn't due to picking/injury that would be good. Possible you have a hen that prolapsed/got picked and the blood is from that.

As for liquid coming out of the beak, if she aspirated, then it's possible she choked to death.

Do a check on feed to see if anything has gotten moldy/gone rancid, it happens in hot humid weather and of course sometimes mold can be in the bottom of bags you buy from the store.

Earlier in the year you treated respiratory symptoms with Metronidazole and it was effective, do you have Canker (Trichomoniasis) in your flock? Are you finding yellow lesions inside the beak(s)?

A couple more relevant points... I've noticed a handful of hens who seemed "croupy" in late spring. I quarantined them as I discovered it (one at a time) and treated them each with a course of Metronidazole. It cleared up the respiratory illness in each one.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm sorry about your loss.

If you are seeing a lot of bloody poop, then it would be a good idea to go ahead and start the Corid while you get some testing done.

If you still have the body of the hen that died this morning, then wrap in plastic, refrigerate/put on ice (don't freeze) and have your state lab perform a necropsy to find out more about what may be going on. https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Probably hard to do, but if you can give vents a look to rule out the blood isn't due to picking/injury that would be good. Possible you have a hen that prolapsed/got picked and the blood is from that.

As for liquid coming out of the beak, if she aspirated, then it's possible she choked to death.

Do a check on feed to see if anything has gotten moldy/gone rancid, it happens in hot humid weather and of course sometimes mold can be in the bottom of bags you buy from the store.

Earlier in the year you treated respiratory symptoms with Metronidazole and it was effective, do you have Canker (Trichomoniasis) in your flock? Are you finding yellow lesions inside the beak(s)?

I've been scanning the flock the last day or so but don't see any bloody bottoms. I thought maybe I'd visually be able to tell who the blood came from that way but no luck. I haven't seen any more bloody stool since that one incident but considering I have at least 50 chickens in that coop, it would easy to miss if the sand litter gets shuffled. My chickens also share their run with my goats so parasites and coccidiosis are always a concern. I have not wormed anyone in 6 months so that might also be helpful although I haven't seen any evidence of worms in my flock, goats, or horses. My horses & goats are on a rotational worming schedule.

I'm not sure what Canker is, exactly, but I have not looked inside any beaks for lesions.

As for the Ameracauna who died yesterday, I had noticed her the day before in the corner of the duck coop. I thought she was simply laying an egg in there. Many hens, like her, roost in the main chicken coop but "check out" or lay eggs in the duck coop throughout the day. My DH closes up the coops at night so I didn't realize the Ameracauna had spent the night with the ducks. If I had seen her that evening, I'd have known something was wrong. When I opened the duck coop in the morning, she was trampled by the ducks which is what clued me in immediately that something was off. As I picked her up, that's when I realized she was gasping for air, draining yellow fluid from her mouth, and sounded croupy. She was also very, very thin but no other injuries or signs of blood.

She seizured and died in my arms within 5 minutes of me finding her. However because I wanted to be sure she wasn't still alive and suffering, I dispatched her head as a precaution and put her in the burn barrel. There was absolutely no way I could get her to the state lab this week because of work commitments and we are suffering under triple digit weather. I don't have anywhere to freeze and store her at the moment either or I would have.

This morning I found yet ANOTHER hen which has passed away. I do not know what killed her or what she died from. I found her body tucked away under a crate where they typically cool down in the shade. She had a small amount of maggots on her vent area so clearly had been dead for a few days at least.

All-in-all, I've had 4 hens and 1 duckling die under very mysterious circumstances in the past month. None seemed sick, as far as I know, except the Ameracauna. The others who were confirmed sick were all treated and recovered.

 

[LaFleche]

She had a small amount of maggots on her vent area so clearly had been dead for a few days at least.

Or she died of flystrike which I think is more likely.

If you have a drake with your ducks the blood on the poop board might stem from a hen that has been mated by the drake which will leave them torn due to the drake's corkscrewer like penis, chicken hens will die as their innards will be torn by it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/duck-mated-chicken-chicken-injured.1455528/post-24233884

 

[LaFleche]

I've noticed a handful of hens who seemed "croupy" in late spring. I quarantined them as I discovered it (one at a time) and treated them each with a course of Metronidazole. It cleared up the respiratory illness in each one.

Could this have been IB Infectious Bronchitis? And how old were the birds?
IB affects not only their respiratory tract, but also their reproductive system, in already laying hens it leads to wrinkled egg shells and in pullets and chicks it can leave their oviducts scarred and malformed in a way no eggs will ever pass and they can die trying to get their first egg out.

Sometimes their ovaries are affected and they will never lay an egg at all ( false layers).

https://www.msdvetmanual.com/poultry/infectious-bronchitis/infectious-bronchitis-in-poultry

 

[Ridgerunner]

There was absolutely no way I could get her to the state lab this week because of work commitments and we are suffering under triple digit weather.

I've had weeks like that recently. Call your county extension office and see if you can drop the next dead hen off with them to get it to the state lab. It's probably in Fayetteville, I knew the guy that did that but he retired.

I don't have anywhere to freeze and store her at the moment either or I would have.

Talk to the extension office but an ice chest with iced would probably work fine. A refrigerator would work too. You don't want to freeze her, but keep her cold.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Or she died of flystrike which I think is more likely.

If you have a drake with your ducks the blood on the poop board might stem from a hen that has been mated by the drake which will leave them torn due to the drake's corkscrewer like penis, chicken hens will die as their innards will be torn by it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/duck-mated-chicken-chicken-injured.1455528/post-24233884

Never heard of flystrike. Had to look it up. Yikes, that's gross... Not sure if that's what happened here but I suppose I can't rule it out either.

I have never ever seen my drake try to mate with my chickens. He has 6 duck hens which keep him rather busy. He doesn't pay the slightest attention to the chickens at all. Also this particular hen that I found this morning didn't really spend much time in the duck pen area. Basically my chicken yard and duck yard is separated by a fence panel. Sometimes the chickens will fly over the panel and hang out in the duck yard but the ducks cannot (or simply don't) go in the chicken yard.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Could this have been IB Infectious Bronchitis? And how old were the birds?
IB affects not only their respiratory tract, but also their reproductive system, in already laying hens it leads to wrinkled egg shells and in pullets and chicks it can leave their oviducts scarred and malformed in a way no eggs will ever pass and they can die trying to get their first egg out.

Sometimes their ovaries are affected and they will never lay an egg at all ( false layers).

https://www.msdvetmanual.com/poultry/infectious-bronchitis/infectious-bronchitis-in-poultry

With the chickens I discovered were sick and treated with the Metronidazole, it was definitely some type of respiratory illness. They had a cough, sneezing, and sounded croupy as I mentioned.

The Ameracauna that died yesterday was the only one who I witnessed drainage coming from her mouth. She sounded like she had pneumonia and was literally drowning from the fluid.

I collect about 2 - 3 dozen eggs a day, on average. The past month has seen that drop to approximately a dozen /day. I assumed that was due to the extremely hot weather. I have seen a few eggs here or there with a wrinkle but rarely.