Young (3-4 months old) roo fading away :( Update - no cocci found, but fading continues...

[Dudu]

I don't really hope for any exhaustive information but thought I'd post.

Out of a litter, we seem to have at least 1-2 who always go downhill with this strange thing and pass away.

They are usually good eaters, though at all other times apart from eating they tend to be either fluffed up and standing head down or just sleeping with the head tucked under the wing.

Age is about 3-4 months, mixed breeds (on the small side).

The other littermates can be absolutely fine (though sometimes the whole litter seems feeling down) but one will begin to act this way.

Now that I am more educated than in the beginning, as soon as I see young fluffed up babies, I immediately treat for Cocci with Baycox.

Then the next thing is deworming with Ivermectin after a few days.

I also give them extra food such as boiled egg, live yogurt, oatmeal, vegetables, with an avian enzyme added.......... NOTHING works - the bird just keeps eating (even greedily) and continues to fade away.

The last one that passed away a few days ago got absolutely skin and bones and continued to eat until his last way.

It is excruciating to see them suffer so badly and not being able to do ANYTHING about it.

I need to add that we have indeed seen some respiratory thing going on (though these usually and ironically are NOT the ones affected), and also possibly Marek's (not proven by results but had several leg problem/lameness/death cases over the last year).

However, the ones fading seem to have no other symptoms that I can think of.

Has anyone seen this before?

I am getting very discouraged - it's like no matter how much energy and effort I pour into trying to save them, nothing helps.

I don't even take poop samples to our vets again because they always used to come back as "cocci" and we do treat for that immediately now.

Thank you in advance for any advice or thoughts, I am really giving up at this point (but I can't really, and tomorrow morning I'll be boiling eggs and mixing their breakfast for them because while there is life, there is hope).

 

[willowbranchfarm]

What are you treating them with for cocci??

 

[Dudu]

Hi!
I am treating them with Baycox (Toltrazuril).

Submitted poop sample today from our most recent baby, we'll see.

 

[Dudu]

The poop sample was done on Thursday and came back clear - no cocci and nothing suspicious otherwise. Just perfect.

My boy is however continuing to fade. Following the advice of one of the members here and confirmed by my vet, I have started treating him with Flagyl for any protozoa (?) that he might have living in his crop. (It helped me save a girl of ours before.) However, with the poop being perfect consistency (not runny, not foamy), that is not likely to be the problem?

Still hoping maybe some of you have seen something like this? He still eats quite well, scratches etc, but then after half an hour he gets all sad and begins to stand in the corner.

If you've seen this before and know what I can do for him, please please share as it's so hard to see it and not even understand what's going on and how to help.

 

[Suzie]

Your post is heart rending - I am so sorry to hear what you are going through with your flock - have you by any chance treated them for lice/mites... I say this as so many chickens are debilitated through infections that are not visible to the naked eye. Mites/lice can kill chickens as can a worm infestation - have you ever wormed your chickens?

Sorry if this sounds boring but so many chicken lives could be saved by treating chickens for ailments that can be treated fairly easily, do you add ACV to their water? Do any of them have raised scales on their legs?

Any further responses/ information you can provide will be helpful to anyone here that has experience with these symptoms you are experiencing .

I wish you and your chickens good luck.

Suzie

 

[Dudu]

Thank you so much Suzie, it's good to have someone respond, I really appreciate.

After I treated the whole litter (him and his brother and sister) for cocci, a week later I dewormed them with Ivermectic (not that I saw any worms but I do have sad experiences now and suspect that immediately).

I didn't spray these babies for mites/lice though cos I handle them so much and I guess if they had any, I'd have noticed? (I do noticed when some of our chickens have them and spray immediately, but these babies never had any). I may however spray them just in case, can't hurt I guess.

I usually don't add apple cider vinegar because everyone seems to do just fine on the water they have, but ironically since this morning I started this. Don't know how it goes together with him taking Flagyl but I guess it should be ok?

Some of our older roosters do have scaley leg mites (which, again, they have due to our ignorance, but we are trying to treat them with vaseline when we can catch them) but those guys live on the farm so they don't meet (this sickie and his brother and sister are with me in the apartment).

My friend today pointed out something I thought was interesting - in a few cases these thin babies have been without very pronounced gender differences - e.g. my girl that was thin for a long time (and was cured with Flagyl, at least for the time being - thanks Jim for the idea!!!) - she has never laid an egg in her life (she is now 1 year 5 months old); another rooster never started to sing and was kind of not very strong from the start; same with another baby recently that passed away with the same problem, and also1 now my poor Lenny - he only attempted to crow a couple of times in his life, while his brother Perkins started at an early age and does it every morning now. But not this boy, and also his comb has been much smaller than that of Perkins.

My partner also pointed out that this particular boy is from a very close pairing of at least half-brother and half-sister (if not brother and sister) while his littermates have a different mom but the same father. So maybe inbreeding played a role here?

I would so like to understand what the heck it is.... At least if it can't be cured, then how to prevent it.... Through breeding, or some special care that we don't know yet, or.....

Thank you so much and thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

 

[Chick1043]

I just had a hen pass away with that same problem! Hope you find out why!

 

[Dudu]

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that... How old was she? Did it progress similarly to what I've seen, too?

 

[Chick1043]

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that... How old was she? Did it progress similarly to what I've seen, too?

She was a year and 4 months. At first I wasn't too worried about it. I figured it was the weather because it has gotten colder. I went outside one day and she was REALLY bad. Took her inside, I kept her in a dog kennel and tried to help her as best as I could. 3 days later she died :/ I'm just glad it was only one of my hens! That was about 1 week ago.

 

[Suzie]

Well, you seem to be doing everything right for your flock... so maybe there could be something genetic about why this has happened, as you are aware it would be very unusual for a female to be of the age she is and never laid any eggs..however, your Roo's problem is mysterious.... could he by any chance be bored/depressed ? Now that may sound really stupid but if he has something to play with... i.e. a cabbage strung up in his coop it may well offer him a distraction - do your chickens free-range or have outside access?

I had a Roo that never crowed and he was extremely gentle - we gave him to somebody who had just lost their Roo ( or so we were told.....) anyway, he ended up being given to another person that wanted to fatten him up to eat..... we heard about what had happened and we rescued him from there and he is now back home with us - he is two years old and has just started to crow!

As you say - while there is hope for them you will not give up.... I hope somebody else here can offer more sound advice as to what the problem may be.

Keep us informed!!!!

Suzie