Sick chicken

[grower]

I need someone with more experience than I have to help me decide what to do with my sick chicken...

I have a small flock of mixed chickens, all around 6-7 months old and not yet laying. For about a week now, I had been hearing one of the chickens making a little "huh" sound from time to time, as if it had something caught in its throat, but wasn't sure which one it was. 3 days ago I noticed one hen pecking around the goat trough. The goats normally eat sweet feed (like you feed horses) and some loose goat-specific minerals from a low trough. When I called the chickens to eat some scratch I was throwing out, all of them came but the hen with the white feathers on her wings. But she seemed happy enough, pecking around the goats. Yesterday, I saw this same hen just standing with her eyes closed and feathers fluffed up, and her beak partly open. Occasionally she would close and open her beak. If I nudged her, she would open her eyes and look at me, then close them again. This morning, I started throwing out the scratch close to where she was and she ran over to me as if she would eat, but then just kind of looked down at the ground and didn't get any, again with her beak partly open. I picked her up, and she felt way too light! She's lost a lot of weight. I picked what I thought was a small straw from the corner of her mouth, and it was dried snot, I think. She had some dark scum dried to the top of her beak and around her nose. I put her back down and washed my hands thoroughly.
Could this be bird flu? Or does it sound like something she may have swallowed or snorted?

Thanks for the help.

[deanne]

Is her comb pale looking? Like a light pink instead of red?

[grower]

She's not very old, so she doesn't have a lot in the way of comb or wattles, so I had to go back and look. But, yeah, it's pink.

[grower]

Her skin looks healthy...not blue or gray. She seems to have no crop. Her eyes are still bright, but she seems weak.

[deanne]

I would separate her from the others to see for sure whats going on. Watch her breathing, and if she starts wheezing, then you need souble terramycin. Keep her on that for a couple days.If she has blood in her poop you need to feed her powdered milk for a day or two, and give her lots of water.I could tell more If I could see her.

[grower]

She is not wheezing. She's weak. I picked some dried gunk off her beak/nose/mouth area. I went out just now to get a picture of her, and she has some more little bits in her mouth...like she's been trying to peck something to eat, but it just stuck there. I'll post the picture as soon as my daughter gets it uploaded.

Thanks for the help!

[skyking]

are they getting plenty of grit and gravel? I'd massage or knead her throat all the way down to her craw.It sounds more like an obstruction to me . I had a rooster that had the same thing.Obstruction.Could be wire or other things .Chickens like to pick and peck all sorts of things.

[grower]

It sounds more like an obstruction to me . I had a rooster that had the same thing.Obstruction.Could be wire or other things .Chickens like to pick and peck all sorts of things.

I'd say the same thing except for the crusted nasal secretions. These are free-range all day, locked up at night. BTW, can't load the pic.

[grower]

Finally! I think I've got this posted... well, maybe not. I'll try again.

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/ad102/brooksofjudah/1257787192.jpg

http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/%3Ca%20href=%22http://s926.photobucket.com/albums/ad102/brooksofjudah/?action=view&current=1257787192.jpg%22%20target=%22_blank%22%3E %3Cimg%20src=%22http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/ad102/brooksofjudah/1257787192.jpg%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22Photob ucket%22%3E%3C/a%3E

http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/%3Ca%20href=%22http://s926.photobucket.com/albums/ad102/brooksofjudah/?action=view&current=1257787192.jpg%22%20target=%22_blank%22%3E %3Cimg%20src=%22http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/ad102/brooksofjudah/1257787192.jpg%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22Photob ucket%22%3E%3C/a%3E

[Nicho1]

Grower, I won't be a bit of help since I'm new at chickens myself. I just wanted to share in the concern. She's surely a pretty, little bird. Maybe the other could verify as to whether you should try to open her beak and look in. Maybe you could see if there's something there? And water? Could you use a syringe with no needle and just try to give her a drop or two at a time?

Please keep us posted here. I sure do hope she makes it.

[deanne]

She looks pretty good to me, not pale looking like I have seen before death.
Like I said I would keep her separate if possible, and keep an eye on her. Maybe someone else can pick up on something that my girls have never had before.

[deanne]

Sorry I can't be of any better help to you.

[grower]

No, you don't know how much I appreciate you just having a look at her.
I'll put her in the chicken crate and try keeping her hydrated with an eye dropper, and see how she does.
Thanks.

[Summerthyme]

I think if you want to try to save her, you need to get some terramycin (tetracycline- sold in powder form for livestock) and probably some electrolytes into her. Mix up the terramycin as indicated (it will take some math- most packages tell you how much to add to 100 gallons of water! LOL!), and give her as much as she'll take (eye dropper or syringe, if she won't readily drink) UP TO 1-2 cups daily.

What I'd do if it seemed impossible to get her to drink enough would be to make the terramycin solution about 10X stronger, and instead of trying to get 500 mls into her throughout the day, get 50 mls into her (maybe divided into 3 "treatments") and offer the electrolytes free choice. (basic electrolytes- 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tablespoon sugar in a quart of water)

Please DO isolate her, because most stuff birds get is contagious. Watch her droppings for signs of coccidiosis, etc. And if she doesn't improve within a couple days treatment, consider putting her down, rather than having her infect the entire flock.

(on the off chance that it is one of the common "bird flu" type bugs (that's common, and most are pretty mild and self limiting), it wouldn't hurt a bit to add some elderberry juice or syrup to the electrolytes, or even put 1-2 ccs down her with a syringe.)

Summerthyme

[grower]

Thanks, Summerthyme.
I mixed up the electrolytes with about a tsp. of elderberry juice, and went looking for the hen. She was lying on her side in the grass, taking slow, shallow breaths. She was nearly limp when I picked her up. I gave her 5 mm of the liquid and put her in the chicken cage on a bed of hay. She at least swallowed the liquid. If she's still alive at bed time, I'll dose her again.

[deanne]

How's she doing today?

[grower]

Well, when I checked on her at bedtime last night, she had died. I took her down the road to dispose of in the bushes, as I did not want the dogs to eat her. Then I used some hand sanitizer. I hope she did not have anything catching. More than likely, she picked up something indigestible. My oldest son does his blacksmithing in the yard, and youngest son has one of those air-soft pellet guns that shoots little plastic pellets, so she could have quite easily picked up something in the yard that she couldn't digest.

I'll keep my eye on the others, and if one of them starts acting poor, I'll get some antibiotics to put in their water.

Thanks for all the help.

[deanne]

I'm so sorry. If you lived close to me I would give you one of mine.

[Nicho1]

So sorry, grower.