What's wrong with my Buff Orpington?

[Sally PB]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[mittenchicken]

Just wanted to give an update on Big Bird(our BO). I know it's been a while, and I probably should've given an update sooner, but I really wanted her to get completely better after worming her. As of now, she is still acting the same, if not a little bit better. Her poops are getting a little more solid, and she still has the same amount of energy. Although she is still the first one to roost at night, she isn't doing it as early as before. Her comb color fluctuates throughout the day, where it'll look mostly normal one moment and then pretty pale the next. I've been alternating between electrolytes and probiotics in their water each day, which seems to help all of them.

I think that worming all of them actually did help a bit, I did some research on how other people wormed them with Safeguard and did the same with our chickens. The rest of our chickens are having very normal poops and have a lot of energy, which is good. I don't really know what we should do with Big Bird at this point, because her condition seems stable, but of course I will keep watching her like a hawk for symptom improvements or worsening.

I know I've said this many times already but I want to thank you all again for your efforts, it really means a lot. Being new to the chicken game has really been a learning experience, so I really hope to learn more about these kinds of things to be a better chicken owner

 

[azygous]

None of us, including people who've been keeping chickens for over a decade, stop learning about chickens. Not even getting into all the diseases and disorders chickens are subject to, their psychology and behavior are complex and interesting and entertaining. There is always something new. Never a boring moment with chickens.

 

[mittenchicken]

Update 2: This morning, Big Bird died suddenly. After about two months of not laying and looking pretty ill, last week her comb had gotten a lot more red, her feathers had become softer, and she had started laying very healthy eggs; she even layed one yesterday. I thought she had gotten better and was just going to keep getting better. But, as much as I hate to admit, she probably had never completely recovered from her mystery illness, as she still retained some signs of weakness, like early roosting and being the last one to come out in the mornings. I had started feeding her some wet chick starter in the mornings while she was on the roost to make sure she was getting enough nutrients, because when she was at her worst she sometimes would stay in the coop up to two hours after I would let our other chickens out, and it seemed to help her. As for our other chickens, they seem to be healthy and are not showing any visible signs of illness, but I'm still very nervous that one of them will meet the same fate. We cleaned out the coop right after we found her dead and are planning on burying her sometime this weekend, but I am convinced we should do some kind of necropsy.

We've had very bad luck with all of the buff orpingtons we've had, and she was the last one to go. We started out with three; one of them died at around two weeks old from a respiratory infection, the second turned out to be a rooster and had to be rehomed because of our township's policy, and now Big Bird is gone at only 11 months old. I really don't know what happened, it could have been an illness, poison, or some kind of heart attack.

I'm currently very emotional, so I'm sorry about the dump of information I just gave, I just really needed to let some of my emotions out one way or another. I really hope something like this doesn't happen again anytime soon, so I'll continue to work hard to make sure the rest of our chickens stay healthy.

 

[JCinNM]

Hugs! So sorry for your loss. Perhaps it was one of many birth defects that didn’t get better as she became an adult. I always recommend necropsy to eliminate things that can be transferred from one animal to another.

 

[azygous]

Yes, absolutely, a necropsy is very important. Listen to your inner voice on this. I know you realize this death could have consequences for your other chickens.

From your string of bad luck, I get a hint of avian virus at work in your flock. You could do a home necropsy, looking for enlarged liver and white pea size tumors on organs. But a lab necropsy can test for pathogens and pin point what caused this.

Are these chickens all from a hatchery source or did they hatch from your flock or a private breeder?

 

[mittenchicken]

I will look into getting a necropsy for her. The lab I found in my state does them, but I'll have to see how exactly it's going to work with the shipping and such. When we found herd dead, her comb was extremely pale, almost white, and there was liquid coming out of her mouth. Could that have been a sign of some kind of seizure or heart attack?

As for where they came from, we got all of our chickens from Tractor Supply, where they get all their chicks from hatcheries. Since this is our very first flock, I don't think there was a possibility of them getting avian flu from another flock unless it came from the hatchery.

 

[micstrachan]

I’m sorry for your loss. My first thought with the white comb is a hemorrhage, possibly fatty liver.