Water poop, sitting with ruffled feathers and head down?

[gingers5]

I am new to having chickens. Have only had them since May, started with four Black Jersey Giants and one leghorn roo and have added 19 black sex-links all from my husbands grandfather. They all seemed in perfect health but we had a tremendous heat wave come through Tennessee in late June and had the two biggest hens die within a week of each other. One was a Jersey and one was a black sex-link. I currently have one Jersey presenting with a pasty butt, that I have discovered is just water poo. She has clean eyes, walks with a bit of a balance problem but stays to herself mostly. She keeps her feather ruffled and the last two days has been sitting with her head bowed from time to time. Comb and wattles are red, no coughing or sneezing, but still "looks" for food. I also have a sex-link that i discovered 5 days ago to be hoarse with a sneeze? She seems to have funny breathing she seems fine but today when I fed her it looked like something was in her nose...tissue growth? I have a lot of money invested in these hens and have no vets in town that see chickens? I have read awful things about horrible diseases, but neither of them have "enough" symptoms to identify. I have bought Sulmet to give them but have waited because I know it does not treat everything? I thought maybe coccidiosis at first, but think since there are no hens with red poop that is ruled out. They are all over a year and a half. They all free range from morn till night. I have layer pellets and a scratch mix I feed them in the morn and afternoon. I know they drink stagnate water where they get out of the heat during the day I have seen them do it....I could put them in a coop if needed...I always change water daily clean out coop once a week and think they are going through a molt too. I only get about 5-9 eggs a day out of 20 hens. Seems small to me. One of the hens hatched 6 chicks they are around 6 weeks old I am afraid of them getting sick too. I have 3 gallon water buckets they all share so I know the chicks have been exposed if the 2 hens are sick. HELP I do not know what to do. I know it is a ton of information but know you need to know everything to make the best decision on what to do. Do we need to just destroy all and start again? SO Sad!

 

[DTchickens]

On the hen with the ruffled feathers, watery poop (probably experiencing weight loss as well I'd be willing to bet by her description) one of the main things I can possibly think of would be a possible worm infestation. It happens, when was the last time you wormed? Excessive walking due to anxiety is another area I have seen display similar symptoms, but in the type of setting you describe I would not expect such. If you think worms and worm, might as well de-lice while you are at it as those too can cause many of the same things to happen.

First thought on the other hen is CRD, does she also have bubbles in her eye?

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[ggohllynx]

CLICK ON MY PROFILE ....MINE WERE DOING THE SAME ...I FOUND OUT AND HAVE COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS AND PICS OF WHAT TO DO ...

 

[gingers5]

She may have weight loss, I cannot catch her, she watches me, I know she is keeping an eye when I come near her. She looks fatter than all my other hens. I have not wormed or vaccinated any of them. I am assuming they were not before we got them either. At our local co-op is where I got the sulmet. I don't think I saw a wormer...can you give me a name and dosage and how long I need to with hold eggs for our consumption. I need a dosage for chicks too. The hen I have separate with the hoarse "talk" and sneeze, seems clear for anything else. Eyes are good, comb and wattles red, no runny nose or eyes, poo seem firm most of the time and has laid 2 eggs in the last 4 days(which I threw out) thought I heard another hen sneeze when i fed them this afternoon. I am literally sick to my stomach. We have 5 children that handle our chickens, I am worried about them getting sick and we gave eggs to several of our friends. Should we not be eating the eggs at all? If it is CRD, what am I to do? I have not separated the Jersey, she has not given me reason to till today, but am wondering if she could be bogged with worms we have had tons of rain and she is always under our porch where it is very damp.

 

[gingers5]

Thank you for the post...i am willing to try anything. I have put a picture of her as my profile pic so you can see her. She "looks" fine but she keeps to herself and is a quieter hen. She is so beautiful. but is not doing the face plant all the time yet....she may get to that point by tomorrow...I am going to try the tylan to see if that works.

 

[DTchickens]

Gingers, for wormer I use Safeguard and Ivomec; Ivomec takes care of worms and lice. It comes in a few forms, it can be found in the Cattle section of any Co-op or TSC. I got a generic brand called "Agri-mectin pour-on for cattle" at TSC for 12.99 per 250ml bottle. I use a eye dropper and administered 1 drop per bird applying directly to the skin (people have different dosages, I was told 1 drop per 2 pounds, others said 5-6 per large fowl. I used 1 drop for birds ranging from 2 pounds to nearly 8-9 pounds and it all shared the same results).

Safeguard can be found in the goat/Equine section, it comes in a paste, liquid, and tablet form. If you find the tablets, I've heard of people using 1/4 of the tablet per bird. If you use the paste/liquid mix 1 part Safeguard to 3 parts water and administer 1/2cc/ml per adult bird. For younger birds, use about 1/4 of a cc; another mixture is 9 parts water to 1 part Safeguard and administer 1cc per large fowl and 1/2cc per small fowl. Safeguard is the only wormer that gets everything, even the cecal worm which is a parasite that causes Blackhead; but it has no effect on lice/mites as the Ivomec does.

You're looking at I'd say a withdrawl period of I'd say 20 days if you use both; (I.e. use the Safeguard, wait 10 days and follow up with the Ivomec. Or you could just use Ivomec probably and get away with it, just wait 10 days). You could use diamaceous earth (food grade) to worm/de-lice with too I suppose, I don't think there is any withdrawl period on that as it is all natural, you can find that at TSC usually too in the poultry section. But, I don't think it will be as effective as the Safeguard in terms of worming.

These are the three main wormers I think, most other wormers, like Wazine/Piperazine just target roundworms and are considered worthless by most as others work better and are the same cost/slightly more expensive.

The following link is information on CRD, it also has treatments, just click the highlighted words to be taken to the other pages. http://www.ultimatefowl.com/wiki/index.php?title=CRD

God bless,
Daniel.

p.s. On eating eggs purely because the birds are sick, I would not worry about it. Most poultry diseases cannot be passed from birds to people, and even so cooking the eggs kills it. If your bird doesn't have a runny nose or anything, it may not be CRD. Also, you mention a lot of rain which sparks another possibility in my mind; check and make sure the feed hasn't molded. I have seen moldy feed display similar characteristics in a bird and kill it before anyone has ever really been able to catch it. Most people lose the birds before they cure them, so on an exact cure no clue; but people have mentioned it being a bacterial infection from the mold, and suggest perhaps something like Yogurt which has good bacteria in it would aide in helping the bird.

The Poultry Wikipedia link has quite a few diseases listed there, and cures; you might give them a look over and try matching symptoms.

 

[clogan98]

Do you have to de-worm a chicken? Is there a schedule, like yearly? Or is it something done only if they contract the worms and you need to treat for it?

 

[DTchickens]

Do you have to de-worm a chicken? Is there a schedule, like yearly? Or is it something done only if they contract the worms and you need to treat for it?

That opinion varies among breeders; some worm only when a bird shows visible symptoms. Some worm once a year (either spring, before breeding season, or fall, some choose summer during the molt as birds usually aren't laying then anyway), some worm twice (Spring and fall), some worm monthly (I don't agree with this plan, I think it will do more harm than good in the long run). It is up to you what method you choose, but I think it good to worm at least once a year as a bird may have worms which are subtracting from the nutrients and still not show many if any symptoms until it has become a large infestation.

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[gingers5]

Thanks Daniel for the wormer schedule, that would have been my next question. I think I will go with the drops to put on the hens and roo. I am going to get them this afternoon. I am gonna try to catch Beauty and isolate her to make sure she is eating. I feel much better after your posts, I was beginning to think we might have some horrendous disease like Newcastle or that Merks thing... She still is off balance and I see her standing around our pool pump...maybe the humming noise is comforting, she still searches for food but does not scratch. I really thought she would have died by now. I hope it is still not too late. I am still monitoring the laying hen with the sneezing and hoarse "talk" she has been quiet everytime I visit her. She is not sneezing any longer, that I have heard, and still no runny nose or eyes. Poo still looks normal mostly so I don't know whether to release her back with the others or not? It has been 6 days so she would be approaching the 7 days it takes for that to spread if that CRD is the case. What do you think? Do I keep her up for another several days or put her back out in a day or two?

 

[soler]

btw, just for the record, i had an 8 week old chick that was having trouble standing, the poop looked completely normal. I took a sample in to be tested at my regular vet ($25) and she had cocci and roundworms! After 3 days on corid (sulmet only treats a couple of cocci strains) she is now standing, and walking again. I would have never guessed cocci with her symptoms. I thought botulism, marek's, neurological disorder. It's very hard to diagnose them!