HELP MY ARACUNA SEEMS TO HAVE DIARRHOEA!

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Chickenbrain2009

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I have several birds and all the rest seem healthy but I have noticed that my aracuna has got a wet tail, dairrhoea and is off her legs, she spends her time with her wings out if I come up to her.
I am busy at work today, help, can anyone suggest what it is there anything I can buy over the counter to help?

Pam
 
Has she been wormed with Flubenvet ? What's her crop like ? Is her abdomen swollen ? Could be general weakness, or broody. When broody she will poo a huge smelly runny one once a day and cover the eggs with her wings. Is she talking ?
 
Update, I thought she had diarrhoea before I rushed off to work this morning but my neighbour noticed that my other aracuna is limping. I am beggining to wonder if something has damaged their feet. It has been VERY wet recently , i dont know if that makes a difference, although again, my other birds are fine.
I am bringing the first one in to the house in a cat basket, the good news is that she is eating, in fact she seems very hungry indeed when i put some food under her nose.
I have heard of Bumblefoot, although why she should get it when none of the other birds have, I have no idea, and why both aracunas have got bad feet, apparently?

I will have a look and see if there is any sign of swelling or pus and will keep her in the warm.

Pam
 
Cant see any sign of swelling on her foot, how odd.............they cant both have hurt thewir leg surely?
 
both of them? The only thing I can think of is the fact that they are the only birds I have who have been sleeping on the floor. There is straw on the floor but everything has been very damp.
The one I have bought in is sleeping, after eating and drinking. I always think it a good sign when any animal eats and drinks. When I would walk up he would put his wings out as though protecting eggs, until I realised that it was the cockeral. He is sitting over to one side, as though something has been damaged or is sore and it hurts to lie on it. They are both 13 weeks. The female is now in a hutch outside, she is limping.Its most peculiar..
Pam
 
It is very difficult to diagnose the problem without seeing the birds, In this case with two birds with similar symptoms I think it might be a good idea to consult a vet experienced with poultry.
I would be suspicious of maybe a neurological problem possibly Mareks disease in this case, this is only an opinion and only a vet will know for sure.
Good luck with them and please keep us posted! :-)17
 
I dont know any vet round here who has even the slightest idea about poultry. They have been immunised...
 
Where abouts are you?

Any other symptoms you can think off? Weight wise what are they like?

Feathering, are the fluffed up and sleepy? Are they OK apart from the limping and runny droppings?
 
Surrey! Mention chickens to vets around here and they havent a clue.

The one I was just talking about is currently eating. Hes off his feet and lying slightly to one side. He does seem very hungry. I have left a message for the chap who sold them to me. With the one that is limping, it is more of a limp which seems to be caused by pain rather than a weakness. It looks as though it hurts to put one of its feet down. Tends to stand with the foot raised slightly. Doesnt seem sleepy. The other one is more lethargic but that could be because its off its feet. The stools are not really that runny. I thought it was diarheoa because the tail feathers are messy, but that may well be because they have been on the damp ground. I have been hoping that with a bit of nutrition inside the worst affected one he might make an improvement now he is out of the dreadful damp and in the warm. I would be a lot happier if he stood up. Lying slightly to one side, wings out a bit. Cant really see the eyes, but he did drink some water earlier on. Now gone to sleep lying with its head on the ground, but it is in a cat basket! Difficult to gauge weight, I am not that experienced, the one that is not so well seems thinner but then I dont know how long it has been unable to eat. Understandably over the past few days I have been belting down between downpours so havent seen much of them to notice a change in behaviour. They had just started to roost on the perches rather than the floor last Friday. I am absolutely mystified.
 
Wonder if it is a kind of arthritis from the damp bedding? They get messy feathers sleeping on the floor as the poo doesn't drop away, just lies in their feathers.

Perhaps you need an 'on-line' diagnosis Chickenbrain, if you can't see a competent vet. A poultry specialist will be seeing individual cases all the time and will know if something is going around or if the damp weather is causing problems.

Funnily enough one of our Brown English Leghorn Bantams went off her legs for no apparent reason. Found Poppy lying across the pophole doorway in a Mareks pose, one leg out backwards. Brought her in and tried to make her stand, but she couldn't keep her legs together. Gave her a shot of Cod Liver Oil with multivitamins (0.5mL per Kg bodyweight) as we have found it does work wonders sometimes. Then I noticed a full hard crop -corn. Massaged and two hours later she was pooing and standing OK. So check for weakness caused by impacted crop (so not eating). Some food will break up and get through, but all the water will, so runny poos with little nutrition.

Still need to know about the worming Chickenbrain.
 
UPDATE

His head is up and he is taking food and drink well. :-)08

Stools slightly runny and pongy, I might try some pottasium permanganate when I get back from work.
Both legs are tucked under with the feet curled, with wings out to balance and the underside of the bird is messy, where it has been lying in pooh etc. :-)06 I DO hope it will get back on its feet.

The other one is in a seperate hutch outside and still limping with one foot not resting on the ground :? .

Pam
 
I think it needs worming, but it is only 13 weeks old so I was waiting until it was slightly older.

Pam
 
It really could be anything. 13 weeks is quite young and they both have had to deal with changes in environment and extremes in temperature. This could have challenged their young immune systems so it is possible they both have the same illness or different problems.

The unbalanced grower sounds very poorly, I doubt there is much you can do at this stage, as I have already mentioned, could be a number of things and at this juncture would only be best guesses.

How long have you had them, and what is the response of the supplier you bought them from? Have they experienced any health setbacks at the breeders? Prevalence of coccidiosis or other illness. What are you feeding them on? At 13 weeks they probably ought to still be on growers rations.

It might help to phone around a few vets to see if any of them have some experience in poultry, or they could refer you to one that does. Most farm vets will be able to help and this will keep the cost of initial consult down.
 
Bought some Fancy Feed growers, as we had run out of Smallholder with Claude being ill, and it says on the bag to be fed until 18 -21 weeks after which pullets should go onto layers pellets.

I am tempted to say the two problems are unrelated and co-incidental. One is an injury, the other an illness.

There are couple of new on-line vet services started. On had a stand at sevral of the poultry shows and other at the County Show. Try Poultry-vet and Chickenvet or combinations thereof. One markets Beryls Tonic. You pay a subscription and get an on-line service. Don't know any more as we haven't used them. That's where I heard of a Turkey grower accidentally feeding 2000 turkey chicks with crumb containing ACS and killed the lot!
 
Margaid said:
What's ACS Chris?
Click to expand...

ACS is a feed additive, an anti-coccistat. This is added as young stock are particularly vulnerable between the ages of 6 - 14 weeks to coccidiosis. Later on they develop immunity to the disease, although even young birds can develop sub-clinical it is often fatal to growers if not caught in time. Some strains of cocci cause more damage than others.

Here is some information about coccidiosis:

http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/health/the-chicken-vet-talks-about-coccidiosis-in-backyard-chickens.html
 
Thanks Foxy. If it is a feed additive for young stock why did it kill the turkeys?
 
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