Poorly chicken - complete novice

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EeyoreBlue

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Hi, we 'acquired' our chickens as a tenant in one of the houses along from us did a 'moonlight flit' and left them to fend for themselves. Hence we purchased a coop, food, feeders etc, and have been looking after them since new year. I have no idea what breeds they are, but have 6 hens and 3 cocks, and 4 chicks of about 4 weeks old. Prior to us getting them, they's just lived in stables and barns, and not really been kept well at all.
Anyway, one fo the hens has gone off colour. She's lethargic, her comb and wattles are dull, and she's got diarrhea quite badly. Her stools are just really water, no firmness to them at all and her vent feathers are caked up. I've just noticed this morning that her crop seems to be a bit swollen (just from looking, I've not yet had a feel). I separated her last night from the rest of the flock, and have booked her in to see a vet later today. Unfortunately our vet isn't really a poultry specialist, so I thought I'd ask on here for some ideas, to help the vet out.
I'll try to take photos and upload them later so you can see what she's like, but any help would be gratefully received. As I said, my husband and I are complete novices!
Just for info, our hens are not so much 'free range' as 'ferral'. We live next to a farm, and they have complete free reign so wander all over, and lay eggs everywhere too! They do have a run, but it's not huge, and they're used to freedom, hence they are out most of the time and come home to bed and eat!
Thanks for any assistance.

EeyoreBlue
 
Hi EeyoreBlue.
Well done for taking the birds in at such short notice. How long have you been looking after them?
I'm afraid that prospects for the poorly girl aren't great; by the time they show signs of illness, they're often heading downhill fast. My first reaction to the symptoms that you describe is that they may have been gorging themselves on long grass in your garden, causing a blockage in the crop which your vet may hopefully be able to remove. If you have long grass in your garden, I'd suggest mowing or strimming it asap before any of the others get the same problem.

When you have the chance to feel her crop, do bear in mind that it should have food in it when she goes to bed at night, but that it should have emptied by the morning. It also sounds as though you'll need to clean up her back end in some warm water. Not sure how she'll take this if she's not used to being handled though.

Do let us know how you get on though. All the best.
 
Hello EeyoreBlue. So pleased you have taken the birds in. Perhaps you will be able to photograph them and we can guess at the breeds.

I thought exactly the same as Icemaiden, based on the symptoms. But they should be used to grass perhaps if they are used to freedom and she is pooing a lot of something mainly liquid, so I think it is perhaps 'sour crop'. If the crop is full but slushy and warm that is most likely. If it's full and firm first thing in the morning it is probably a 'crop impaction'. It's unlikely to be worms onset so quickly, but for best chance of survival the vet may give a wormer anyway.
 
Thank you Icemaiden and Chrismahon. We've had them since New Year, but they're really only starting to get used to coming to us now. I suspected crop impaction when I saw her this morning, as her crop looks to be swollen. I've decided not too handle her too much until I take her to the vet at 4, as she's not used to it and I don't want to over-stress her.

What is the best way to clean her back end? How will I ensure I don't damage her feathers with water?

Thanks for the suggestion of posting photographs to identify them, that's a good idea. We've looked online, but couldn't find anything we were confident enough to say Yes, that's them!

I'll open a new thread on the general forum, and post pics on there.

I'll update later on what the vet has to say.

Once again, thanks for your assistance.
 
Well, I've taken her to the vet, and unfortunately, we saw a vet whom I'm not greatly confident in (long story, but never mind). Anyway, she has said that of more concern is the diarrhea (it's a luminous green colour), and that the crop impaction is as a result of the diarrhea. Anyway, she didn't do anything to the chicken, but sent me home with some antibiotics (Baytril) and some lactulose (instead of liquid paraffin), which we've to administer twice a day.
She said not to try to massage the crop as it will only make it worse (crop feels quite solid). Apparently the lactulose will loosen the crop and she'll pass it through.
Vet said it might be coccidosis, but wasn't really sure.
Generally the gist of it was try this and wait and see.
Hopefully, it'll work, but if not, at least I'll know I've tried.
EeyoreBlue
 
Our poorly girl passed away overnight.

I wish we could have done more for her.

EeyoreBlue
 
Sorry to hear that EeyoreBlue. You did all you could and as previously said, they go downhill very quickly and it is often too late to help them. The luminous green indicates internal infection, so something to watch out for in future.
 
Sorry to hear about your poorly girl. I know it will be difficult to worm your chickens effectively as to do this they really need to be shut up in a run for a week and only eat pellets medicated with Flubenvet, but I expect a bad worm infestation could probably have contributed to her problem and the same will be true of others. To find out more about worming chickens, go to the main Poutrykeeper website (link at the bottom of the page) where there is lots of information. I don't suppose any of them have ever been wormed (should be every 6 months) so if you could work out how to do this effectively it would help the whole flock.
http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/worming-chickens
Agree about the vet -sounds as if she was shooting in the dark a bit to me.......
 
I was advised to use Verm-x for them, and gave them this a couple of weeks ago over three days, as advised on the dosage instructions. I've not herad of Flubenvet, but will look it up on the internet, as it may be better for my girls and boys.

Thanks for all your words of advice and encouragement.

EeyoreBlue
 
Verm-X is not an effective wormer EeyoreBlue. Several years ago it was advertised as such but the labelling has since been changed. Best to worm them with Marriages layers pellets with Flubenvet added. Keep the chicks away from layers pellets. They can't tolerate the high levels of Calcium until about 18 weeks old. The chicks should be getting 'grower' or 'rearer' pellets at 6 weeks onwards but at this age should still be on chick crumb.
 
Totally agree with Chris on this, EeyoreBlue. Vermex is worse than useless against worms because it gives you a false sense of security whilst not effectively dealing with the worms. It is now sold more as a gut tonic, though why healthy chickens should need this is beyond me. If you read the link I posted above, it will explain all about Flubenvet, which is the only off-prescription wormer licensed for use with poultry that involves no egg withdrawal. It's very safe and easy to administer so long as you can ensure each bird eats her full dose of it on treated pellets. Small birds eat less than larger ones so each gets the proper amount for her own body weight. But if they have the chance to fill up on other stuff, they may not eat enough to be effective, hence the need if possible to confine them for the 7 days of treatment.
As Chris says, you can buy ready-treated pellets or you can buy a little tub of Flubenvet powder on the Internet (sites such as Medicanimal and Amazon will have it) and then treat a weighed amount of your usual pellets. This is easy to do and the remaining powder can be stored for the next time. A bag of pellets is likely to be wasteful as it inevitably won't contain the exact correct amount so some will be left that may not be fresh in 6 months time when its time to do them again, or else one bag won't be quite enough so you need to open a second bag and so on. A pot of powder has enough to treat 20 birds.
As yours are not likely to have been ever wormed, they may benefit from a second go three weeks after the first, to eliminate any worms that may have hatched in their gut after the first lot of adults were killed. If the chickens have been free ranging on the same ground for a long time there are bound to be lots of worm eggs from their faeces in the soil, which are eaten by earthworms, then the hens eat the earthworms and get the eggs inside them, and so the cycle goes on. It helps if you can pick up the poo if they are kept in a run but I do see this won't be practicable if they all free range. All chickens get worms, its a fact of life, and a severe infestation can even cause death, but keeping the levels low helps them if they're challenged by any other health problem, they can resist infections etc better if their gut isn't compromised by worms taking the nourishment from their food.
Don't treat the chicks until they're about 16-18 weeks old.
 
Thanks all for your replies. I went to get Flubenvet at the weekend but the local store didn't have it, but are expecting a new delivery today, so I'll get it this week.
I'm in the process of changing their food from a mix, to pellets, so once this is done, I'll lock them in the run, and give them the Flubenvet.

The run isn't really big enough, but now that we're three birds down, plus the one with the chicks, that means only 7 in the run rather than the original 11, so I'm sure they'll manage for a week.

Darling husband has decided to build them a proper, more secure run, and did the measuring up last weekend. He'll get the materials and make a start this weekend, and hopefully finish BH weekend.

So I might wait until then before worming them.

I think we've decided that if we're about, they can be freerange, but if we're not there, they can stay in the run. Hopefully this will mean they may feel more secure in their surroundings, and start laying eggs in the nest boxes rather than the farm next door!
 
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