GraceDanielle
Hatching
- Jul 22, 2023
- 4
- 5
- 8
I will start this out by saying 57 of 60 chickens survived and I hope no one has to go through this but if you do I hope this helps!
It all started with my giant frizzle Cochin being tired and spacey. I thought this was super strange, so I scooped her up and took her inside and gave her supplements, (I also offered her omnivore baby bird formula, yogurt, and cottage cheese but she would only eat a tiny bit of the bird formula) electrolytes and probiotics. She is naturally a more slow chicken, but this was even more so than normal. Something just didn’t seem right. I contacted the lady I got her egg from to begin with. She is one I had hatched out. Two days went by, and there was no improvement. Over the two days she would refuse to eat or drink, and then eat and drink like she was starving to death. She had dark green almost black diarrhea and then a completely normal poop…back and forth. Every time she had her appetite back I thought we were going in the right direction and all will be well and then she would take a turn for the worse. On the third day my other giant Cochin was tired/lethargic. I removed her from the flock as well gave her vitamins, probiotics electrolytes. She wouldn’t willingly take anything though. The following morning the second Cochin started having this clearish/yellow liquid pour out of her beak and dark green almost black diarrhea. She passed away within the hour. The first Cochin still was not doing well. Late morning she too was pouring out the clearish/yellow liquid from her beak and had dark green almost black diarrhea. By that afternoon, she passed away as well. I thought maybe this was ascites since it was the same breed. But by that night, one of my Opal legbars was extremely lethargic. The next morning the second Opal Legbar was lethargic. About 30 hours later, the first Opal Legbar passed away. He had the same symptoms: lethargic, clearish yellow liquid coming from his beak, loss of appetite, refusing water, and super dark green almost black diarrhea, plus he was super hot (hot to the touch and panting like crazy). I called every emergency vet I could find reached out to hatcheries turn to google, but couldn’t find anything of what was wrong with my chickens. A third Opal Legbar had an injury a week before this had happened and had to be stitched up and the stitched area had gotten infected and he was on antibiotics (amox/Clav). He had been exposed to all 3 that had passed away but never got sick. So when the second Opal Legbar wasn’t doing well that night I started him on antibiotics knowing it was a Hail Mary. The next day I took the second Opal Legbar into the vet…she had no idea what was wrong with my chickens and advised that when this one died to put him in the refrigerator right away and I could get a necropsy done on him but she understood that the antibiotics seemed to be working since he had almost all his energy back after just 2 doses. Fast forward to today. I ended up with a total of 14 sick chickens…3 that passed away and 11 who got amox/Clav for 2 weeks, twice a day, and they all lived and are doing great! Whatever this was and however they got it I have no idea! BUT if you experience a similar situation I recommend getting antibiotics for them.
A few details of our situation:
• They are all on organic feed.
• Anyone who visits must sanitize their hands and shoes before going near the chickens.
• They get weekly apple cider vinegar water mix offered, as well as electrolytes when it is hot.
• We did have a huge swing temperature when this happened…it went from being in the mid 40s at night and low 50s in the day to over 90 in the day and low 60s at night.
• They free range daily for 4 hours…supervised free range only.
• Their age range is between 15 and 22 weeks old.
• Their only symptoms were lethargic, clearish yellow liquid coming from his beak, loss of appetite, refusing water, super dark green almost black diarrhea, and hot.
• The first one died within 72 hours, the second one within 12 hours, and the third one within 48 hours.
• The only symptom you saw for hours was lethargic.
• The one who went to the vet with the injury had not been in contact with any of the flock due to his injuries so I don’t think anything came from him or the vet.
I am just thankful to be 2 1/2 weeks out from when the last one passed away and that the entire flock is doing fantastic! I am also so appreciative for this website and all the forums that helped me to navigate through this!
It all started with my giant frizzle Cochin being tired and spacey. I thought this was super strange, so I scooped her up and took her inside and gave her supplements, (I also offered her omnivore baby bird formula, yogurt, and cottage cheese but she would only eat a tiny bit of the bird formula) electrolytes and probiotics. She is naturally a more slow chicken, but this was even more so than normal. Something just didn’t seem right. I contacted the lady I got her egg from to begin with. She is one I had hatched out. Two days went by, and there was no improvement. Over the two days she would refuse to eat or drink, and then eat and drink like she was starving to death. She had dark green almost black diarrhea and then a completely normal poop…back and forth. Every time she had her appetite back I thought we were going in the right direction and all will be well and then she would take a turn for the worse. On the third day my other giant Cochin was tired/lethargic. I removed her from the flock as well gave her vitamins, probiotics electrolytes. She wouldn’t willingly take anything though. The following morning the second Cochin started having this clearish/yellow liquid pour out of her beak and dark green almost black diarrhea. She passed away within the hour. The first Cochin still was not doing well. Late morning she too was pouring out the clearish/yellow liquid from her beak and had dark green almost black diarrhea. By that afternoon, she passed away as well. I thought maybe this was ascites since it was the same breed. But by that night, one of my Opal legbars was extremely lethargic. The next morning the second Opal Legbar was lethargic. About 30 hours later, the first Opal Legbar passed away. He had the same symptoms: lethargic, clearish yellow liquid coming from his beak, loss of appetite, refusing water, and super dark green almost black diarrhea, plus he was super hot (hot to the touch and panting like crazy). I called every emergency vet I could find reached out to hatcheries turn to google, but couldn’t find anything of what was wrong with my chickens. A third Opal Legbar had an injury a week before this had happened and had to be stitched up and the stitched area had gotten infected and he was on antibiotics (amox/Clav). He had been exposed to all 3 that had passed away but never got sick. So when the second Opal Legbar wasn’t doing well that night I started him on antibiotics knowing it was a Hail Mary. The next day I took the second Opal Legbar into the vet…she had no idea what was wrong with my chickens and advised that when this one died to put him in the refrigerator right away and I could get a necropsy done on him but she understood that the antibiotics seemed to be working since he had almost all his energy back after just 2 doses. Fast forward to today. I ended up with a total of 14 sick chickens…3 that passed away and 11 who got amox/Clav for 2 weeks, twice a day, and they all lived and are doing great! Whatever this was and however they got it I have no idea! BUT if you experience a similar situation I recommend getting antibiotics for them.
A few details of our situation:
• They are all on organic feed.
• Anyone who visits must sanitize their hands and shoes before going near the chickens.
• They get weekly apple cider vinegar water mix offered, as well as electrolytes when it is hot.
• We did have a huge swing temperature when this happened…it went from being in the mid 40s at night and low 50s in the day to over 90 in the day and low 60s at night.
• They free range daily for 4 hours…supervised free range only.
• Their age range is between 15 and 22 weeks old.
• Their only symptoms were lethargic, clearish yellow liquid coming from his beak, loss of appetite, refusing water, super dark green almost black diarrhea, and hot.
• The first one died within 72 hours, the second one within 12 hours, and the third one within 48 hours.
• The only symptom you saw for hours was lethargic.
• The one who went to the vet with the injury had not been in contact with any of the flock due to his injuries so I don’t think anything came from him or the vet.
I am just thankful to be 2 1/2 weeks out from when the last one passed away and that the entire flock is doing fantastic! I am also so appreciative for this website and all the forums that helped me to navigate through this!
Thank you for sharing your experience, very helpful to others IF situation happens. 
I sent 1 out for necropsy and I will keep you updated.
what kind of antibiotic did you give them? I have 1 hen that is sick right now and I'm very stressed trying to see what I can use.
