Bird not well

[chickenfan]

I have a young copper black marans that came into lay 3 months ago, laid about 20 eggs, then stopped laying 2 months ago. This seemed surprising and I have been worried what caused it. She is now looking unwell with her tail dropped and has lost weight. I will take her to the vet tonight, but feel it is unlikely that anything will be diagnosed as they have little poultry knowledge. She has been wormed, but doesn't have anything obviously wrong to me. Does anyone have any idea of things I could check myself or any suggestions?

 

[chickenfan]

The only thing the vet diagnosed was that she is underweight. I just feel there must be a cause for this.

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Chickenfan. Presume she isn't eating and her crop is empty? We have two at the moment with impacted crops due I think to eating moulted feathers. If her crop is mushy and her poos creamy and slimy she has the onset of sour crop due to food rotting in the crop. This is treated with a water only diet for at least 24 hours until the crop is flushed through. In bad cases we administer Epsom Salts -as instructions for human use then 5ml of solution down the back of the throat by syringe slowly. You need to be sure she doesn't breath it in, so her head must be tipped up. If her crop is full and hard in the morning it is impacted. 3ml of cod liver or olive oil then a good crop massage as often as you can coupled with a water only diet -you don't want her eating food and making the crop worse.

So if her crop is empty and she isn't eating there is only the option of force feeding. Soak feed pellets to soften them and roll into small balls. About 20 balls with 10ml water twice a day will just keep her going until she sorts herself. We have done this on many occasions and they just snap out of it. Perhaps it is the handling that helps?

We have two Wyandottes at the moment that have been bullied off the feeder and drinker, even though we have extra feeders and drinkers in the run, and have just lost the will to keep going. They have we think been eating fallen feathers and now both have impacted crops and no appetite. We are giving them water and massaging to keep them going but were rather too late spotting the problem due to a very rushed 8 weeks moving house. All our birds have moulted at the same time (except one who moulted in July) and they are all rather run down anyway.

Hope that's given you some direction Chickenfan. Presume you have checked for red mite in the coop and Northern Fowl Mite, which are very difficult to spot but will bring a bird down almost overnight.

 

[foxy]

Couple of things you have mentioned, in lay 3 months from POL. Also nothing obviously wrong. I am sure you have checked through the post by Chris for any parasitic evidence. In this case observe her droppings over a few days, this can give you an indication of any other organs affected by consistency and colour etc...

Temperature - check for unusual heat under wings, to identify whether there is an infection present.

Vent..does this look normal for a young pullet..should be moist and healthy looking. Check her feathering, are there any signs of moult/new feathers (also are any of your other birds going through the moult? )

Comb and face..pale or normal. Finally look at her eyes..are the pupils normal and reacting to light.

Mouth and crop - any lesions in the throat or discoloration? - crop normal tension and capacity for time of day/evening

Unexplained weight loss in chickens, especially birds recently at POL, with all the usual suspects eliminated..i.e. worms and external parasites, dysfunctional crop due to impaction (from the environment and not ill health) ..does leave you with simply she is not thriving due to an underlying problem which could be genetic or there is a virus.such as Mareks or Lymphoid Leucosis causing the weight loss.

A further examination by an avian specialist will probably be the only way to know for sure I am afraid.

 

[chickenfan]

Thank you very much for all these useful tips, Chris and Foxy. Now I feel I have something to work on and to check her for so am very grateful.