UPDATE!! POSSIBLE PARASITE! HELP!! Sick/stressed/wobbly pullet.

[tamraclovw]

Hello, today I picked up 10 new 18 week old pullets. 5 each of Golden Buff and Barred Rock. 200 were picked up by a big truck yesterday, and delivered to a local farmer, then I picked up mine today. After a very stressful 2 days, I let mine into my hen house & run, and left them with only my Avian Aqua Miser nipples. My 11 chicks (8 weeks old now) have always used them from day 1, and I figured they would show the new girls the ropes.

By this evening, I saw a few of the new girls drinking, but when I put them all inside the house, I noticed one who could not jump onto the perch. Then I noticed that she was wobbly on her legs, and lay down a lot. I put her into a small cage in the hen house with her own food and water, in case she got sick overnight, so the other birds wouldn't peck her.

She does not look injured, no bald spots, no blood, no broken leg or wing. Is it probably stress or dehydration? Either of those I figure would right themselves in a day or 2. Do these signs mean something else?

I new at this, my 8 week old chicks are my first flock. Any advice would be appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!
Carrie
Berea, ky (hot already!)

 

[leadwolf1]

First off...whenever you get new chickens, you should quarantine them for 30 days before putting them in with the rest of your chickens...use that for next time

They might not have been able to figure out the waterers and you should supplement with regular waterers until they can get the hang of it. Chickens need lots of fresh water and waiting a day or two can have devastating consequences. Put some electrolyte/vitamins into the waterers and allow the chickens to drink. They may be stressed and a little shocky from their experience. Hopefully, a little vitamin water will perk your girl right up. If not, it could be an illness. I would remove her from the rest of the flock...if she is sick, it is going to spread through the whole coop!

 

[tamraclovw]

Thanks so much. Quarantining is not an option, unfortunately. She looked much better this morning, so I let her out. She was soaked from just spilling her water, but it's plenty warm here, and she'll be fine. I have vitamins in the aqua miser water, I'll add some to the pan for the new chickens.

The shipment of chickens all looked really good, so I'm hoping that this is just from stress.

Thanks again!!

 

[tamraclovw]

Well, 3 days later and she is no better. Upon further observation, her comb and waddle are underdeveloped and a pasty pink color, not red like her same-breed sisters. I've seen her drink from the Aqua Miser, and they have all had a large pan of water for the last 3 days - all with electrolytes. They are all still on grower crumble. I took a video of her today. It's still uploading, but should be live by 5pm EST today (wednesday).

If anyone has any ideas what it could be, please chime in! She doesn't look sick enough to cull (to me) but I don't know anything.

Here is where the video will be in about an hour -

Thanks!

 

[tamraclovw]

Video should be live now!

 

[leadwolf1]

That is really strange. I'm not sure but I think I would cull the bird and have a necropsy done. That's the only way you will know for sure and there is definitely something going on/wrong with her.

 

[tamraclovw]

UPDATE - I called the hatchery, and they said possibly egg bound. I checked her belly and her neck, but no swelling or hard spots in either place. While I had her, I noticed scaly, yellow, oozy skin and feathers falling out. I couldn't see it before, because it's mainly on her body under her wings.





Parasite of some kind? I'm pretty sure I'll put her down to prevent spreading it, but I'll want to medicate the others for whatever it is... Isolation isn't really an option, unless its a dog crate in the barn...

 

[Suzierd]

Does it look like she has scaly leg mites?

 

[tamraclovw]

She doesn't have anything on her legs. Isn't there some sort of broad-spectrum wormer, or parasite medicine I can give her to get whatever it is?

 

[tamraclovw]

Found this document

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/poultry/pfs23.pdf

Looks like it could be any of several of those pests. I'm going to the feed store to get Malathion and Sulphur dust today.