ia02
Chirping
- Aug 4, 2015
- 47
- 3
- 59
Greetings,
I'm new to chickens and have been having great fun with these girls, until recently. I started with a group of 5 chickens, about 2 weeks old. They are now 10 weeks old and I am now down to 3. I suspect I may be down to 2 by morning. The symptoms observed before the death of each bird are similar, but the time between the onset of symptoms and death is different. Below are all the relevant facts as far as I can tell. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for reading this long post, I wanted to try to present the whole situation.
I purchased the birds at approximately 2-3 weeks of age at a feed store. At the time of purchase I was told they were vaccinated for Marek's. I kept the birds inside until they were driving each other crazy indoors and they were physically large enough to safely be in the coop, maybe 6-7 weeks old. I then moved the chickens to the coop. The coop was inherited from the previous owner of my home. The previous owner had 3 adult chickens in the coop and free ranging in the yard. Prior to moving the chickens to the coop I cleaned it as well as I could without using chemical disinfectants. Replaced all bedding, scrubbed all food/water related items with soap and water.
A few weeks after being put in the coop I noticed one of the chickens acting odd. The bird was spending most of it's time away from the others, appeared a bit fluffy, had its head tucked often (neck not extended) and eventually was laying down a bit. The symptoms were intermittent though so I didn't think much of it. She was still drinking and I assume she was still eating. This went on a few days until one evening I found her dead. Based on the research I've done I suspected coccidiosis, although the chicks have been on medicated starter feed since they were a day old. At this time the remaining chickens showed no symptoms whatsoever.
Fast forward a week or two and a second chicken starts acting the same way. One morning I found her separated from the others, laying down, head tucked and a bit fluffy. I quickly recognized the same symptoms as the first dead bird, plus a new symptom, labored breathing. Unfortunately this bird died less than 4 hours later. Total elapsed time between the bird appearing 100% normal with no symptoms and death was less than 20 hours.
Since the symptoms so closely resembled coccidiosis (except for an absence of bloody droppings) I decided to dose the remaining three birds with liquid Corid at 2tsp per gallon for 5 days. The remaining three chickens seemed fine for the next two to three weeks.
Now I have a third chicken acting similar to the two that died. She is a bit younger than the others, and has always been the lowest member of the pecking order. Even when she appeared healthy she was a mostly solo bird but is always responsive to humans. She ate well and drank well. She roosted at night and behaved mostly normal. She is an extremely personable and sweet chicken, my favorite. The only potentially concerning symptom would be she rarely stood tall, her head was often tucked. I interpreted this as a showing of submissiveness as she had no other symptoms.
The last few days I noticed her acting a bit less active, but thought maybe she was being picked on by the other dominant two or was just overheated. However, she has seemed a bit weak, perhaps slightly uncoordinated and here eyes were sometimes closed. Tonight I found her, head tucked, laying on the ground, very labored breathing. She was alert but still this is a drastic departure from her normal behavior. Based on this I suspect she may not be alive in the morning.
The remaining two chickens are completely asymptomatic, are growing very rapidly, are very active, etc. I have no reason to believe they are sick, but based on the rapid onset of death from symptoms they very well could be.
Any suggestions of how to proceed or what might be affecting these chickens would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to try to protect the remaining few as best as I can. Thanks so much.
Cliffs notes symptoms:
-the birds are all between 8 and 12 weeks old when they pass
-it has been very hot and humid here in St. Louis, I've done my best to keep the birds cool with fans and shade
-head tucked
-separated from other birds by choice
-laying on ground
-labored breathing
-do not stop drinking, not sure about eating
-one chicken had potential eye related symptoms (one closed eye)
Unfortunate Update:
As suspected, sick chicken #3 has died. At this point I am concerned about my two remaining girls. They appear healthy, are doing all the normal chicken behaviors, and exhibit none of the visual symptoms of the three sick birds. That being said they have undoubtably been exposed to whatever killed the first three so I am still worried.
I'm new to chickens and have been having great fun with these girls, until recently. I started with a group of 5 chickens, about 2 weeks old. They are now 10 weeks old and I am now down to 3. I suspect I may be down to 2 by morning. The symptoms observed before the death of each bird are similar, but the time between the onset of symptoms and death is different. Below are all the relevant facts as far as I can tell. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for reading this long post, I wanted to try to present the whole situation.
I purchased the birds at approximately 2-3 weeks of age at a feed store. At the time of purchase I was told they were vaccinated for Marek's. I kept the birds inside until they were driving each other crazy indoors and they were physically large enough to safely be in the coop, maybe 6-7 weeks old. I then moved the chickens to the coop. The coop was inherited from the previous owner of my home. The previous owner had 3 adult chickens in the coop and free ranging in the yard. Prior to moving the chickens to the coop I cleaned it as well as I could without using chemical disinfectants. Replaced all bedding, scrubbed all food/water related items with soap and water.
A few weeks after being put in the coop I noticed one of the chickens acting odd. The bird was spending most of it's time away from the others, appeared a bit fluffy, had its head tucked often (neck not extended) and eventually was laying down a bit. The symptoms were intermittent though so I didn't think much of it. She was still drinking and I assume she was still eating. This went on a few days until one evening I found her dead. Based on the research I've done I suspected coccidiosis, although the chicks have been on medicated starter feed since they were a day old. At this time the remaining chickens showed no symptoms whatsoever.
Fast forward a week or two and a second chicken starts acting the same way. One morning I found her separated from the others, laying down, head tucked and a bit fluffy. I quickly recognized the same symptoms as the first dead bird, plus a new symptom, labored breathing. Unfortunately this bird died less than 4 hours later. Total elapsed time between the bird appearing 100% normal with no symptoms and death was less than 20 hours.
Since the symptoms so closely resembled coccidiosis (except for an absence of bloody droppings) I decided to dose the remaining three birds with liquid Corid at 2tsp per gallon for 5 days. The remaining three chickens seemed fine for the next two to three weeks.
Now I have a third chicken acting similar to the two that died. She is a bit younger than the others, and has always been the lowest member of the pecking order. Even when she appeared healthy she was a mostly solo bird but is always responsive to humans. She ate well and drank well. She roosted at night and behaved mostly normal. She is an extremely personable and sweet chicken, my favorite. The only potentially concerning symptom would be she rarely stood tall, her head was often tucked. I interpreted this as a showing of submissiveness as she had no other symptoms.
The last few days I noticed her acting a bit less active, but thought maybe she was being picked on by the other dominant two or was just overheated. However, she has seemed a bit weak, perhaps slightly uncoordinated and here eyes were sometimes closed. Tonight I found her, head tucked, laying on the ground, very labored breathing. She was alert but still this is a drastic departure from her normal behavior. Based on this I suspect she may not be alive in the morning.
The remaining two chickens are completely asymptomatic, are growing very rapidly, are very active, etc. I have no reason to believe they are sick, but based on the rapid onset of death from symptoms they very well could be.
Any suggestions of how to proceed or what might be affecting these chickens would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to try to protect the remaining few as best as I can. Thanks so much.
Cliffs notes symptoms:
-the birds are all between 8 and 12 weeks old when they pass
-it has been very hot and humid here in St. Louis, I've done my best to keep the birds cool with fans and shade
-head tucked
-separated from other birds by choice
-laying on ground
-labored breathing
-do not stop drinking, not sure about eating
-one chicken had potential eye related symptoms (one closed eye)
Unfortunate Update:
As suspected, sick chicken #3 has died. At this point I am concerned about my two remaining girls. They appear healthy, are doing all the normal chicken behaviors, and exhibit none of the visual symptoms of the three sick birds. That being said they have undoubtably been exposed to whatever killed the first three so I am still worried.
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