Weight loss, drooping wings -one other dead in flock

[MightyMama]

Yes, one said they were out, the other said they didn't carry it.

My husband convinced me not to isolate her last night to see how she did. Still alert and happy today, but still drooping her wings.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

So sorry to hear you lost Nugget and that Princess Buttercup is poorly.

My experience is that lice don't kill. They are opportunist parasites that infest sick birds that are unable to take proper care of themselves. People assume they kill chickens because they find a lot of them on dying/dead chickens. Lice live off the feather and skin debris. They don't suck blood, so they don't drain strength from a chicken, but they do irritate them.

Mites on the other hand, live and breed in the coop and crawl onto the chickens at night when they are roosting to suck their blood. Obviously this can cause anaemia if there are sufficient numbers as well as potentially spreading disease from chicken to chicken, so they are a serious health risk.

Whilst it is a good idea to dust your chickens if they have a lice infestation, it is not the primary cause of your problem, just a minor secondary issue in my opinion.
Obviously it is important to know the difference between these two pests and check all the cracks and crevices of the coop regularly for mites, particularly around and under the end of the roost bars and treat with permethrin if you have an infestation and ensure the flock have access to a suitable dust bathing area to rid themselves of any lice.

You are probably doing the right thing to treat for coccidiosis and treat all of them. Have you recently had a wet spell or have they only recently been exposed to dirt that would make coccidiosis more likely? My concern is that they are over the age when coccidiosis would normally be a problem and if there are no that indicate why they would suddenly be susceptible at this age..... like they have just been introduced to new ground and/or the weather has been warm and wet..... my gut feeling is that there is an underlying cause like Marek's Disease compromising their immune system and making them vulnerable to it. That would tie in with them being in poor condition, since you mention that they are skinny despite eating well.

As others have suggested, good nutrition is going to be important to build her back up.

My only concern is that the Corid will knock out the VItamin B thiamine out of her diet right at the time that she may need it most. Whilst normally it makes sense to hold off the vitamins until after treatment with Corid, I'm inclined to suggest giving them at the same time. The Corid should still knock out the thiamine to kill the cocci but she will benefit from the other vitamins straight away to help boost her immune system. I would also consider giving her a concentrated dose of Corid.

Good luck with her and I hope you manage to pull her back from the edge.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[MightyMama]

Have you recently had a wet spell or have they only recently been exposed to dirt that would make coccidiosis more likely? My concern is that they are over the age when coccidiosis would normally be a problem and if there are no that indicate why they would suddenly be susceptible at this age..... like they have just been introduced to new ground and/or the weather has been warm and wet..... my gut feeling is that there is an underlying cause like Marek's Disease compromising their immune system and making them vulnerable to it. That would tie in with them being in poor condition, since you mention that they are skinny despite eating well.​

No wet spell, they only moved out into the run/coop about 3-4 weeks ago. I did have to go back to the farm and replace a rooster with a hen 2 weeks ago, but it was the same farm...so I was told it should be fine to just swap them. It wasn't a chick from the same batch, but only about 2-3 weeks older than the ones I had gotten.

Honestly, I have a feeling they might always have had cocci. This morning cleaning out their coop was a much different experience in that their poop was solid and not a pile of jelly. They've always had jelly poop, which I assumed was normal for chicks.

We also blocked off the nesting box, which is where they've been sleeping, and replaced the 2x2 roost with a 2x4, and it appears like they slept on that all night.

Also, why do people do the shavings in coops? I assumed I needed to, but it was so much easier just lifting out the poop from the DE that I put on the floor.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We all do things differently. I use a combination of shavings for the main flooring of the coop, but place "poop catchers" under the roosting area. This is low cement mixing tubs that have a mix of sand and PDZ in them. I scoop the poop with a cat litter scoop. Currently my roosts are in a ladder style, but will be converting them out soon to one level with "poop boards" underneath.

If you search here on BYC for poop boards, you will see all kinds of great ideas, it is much easier to clean the coop when you can scoop