sickly chuck

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
can anyone please shed some light on our poor girl. She is a well summer bantam and has been healthy and happy until christmas morning when I found her huddle up in the shed with her eyes closed. I attempted to usher her our but she remained where she was and really took no notice of me. I picked her up and she neither opened her eyes nor did she struggle as she normally would so I brought her inside and put her in a box in the dining room. I gave her some fresh water that she made no attempt to drink so i put a spoon to her beak and she eventually drank from the spoon. I continued with this all day and put her back in the shed in the evening with all the other girls. When I went to them this morning she is exactly the same. She refuses food, have tried all sorts to tempt her but she just spits it out but she will take water. She just huddles with her eyes closed and seems very unaware of anything when there is movement near her. The right side of her face around the eye area seems a little swollen but there is no sign of any injury and her mouth is clear. She has not got any sign of mucus from anywhere on her face and she is pooing normally. Any ideas please????
 
Sounds like ILT, Infectious Laryngotracheitis, which attacks the throat making it so raw eating and drinking is impossible. Side effects are swelling around the eyes and a nasal discharge which smells unique -can't describe it. I doubt it actually exists anymore as an active environmental virus, but it can be transmitted from innoculated chickens which shed the virus when stressed. Did you add any hens to your flock about two weeks ago? On the good side it usually subsides after a few days. Important to make her drink though.
 
all our girls have been together since the summer and all came to us at around the same time. she hasn't got any discharge from her nose, ears or eyes and if you open her eyes gently they are clear and bright.
 
Had any visitors who keep hens and picked yours up? You won't necessarily see all the symptoms. Her eyes will remain bright but you may get a bit of runnyness and bubbles.

How about crop bound or sour crop. Has she a full crop or has she sour breath and a mushy crop? Poos are confusing me, as with either of those conditions she shouldn't be pooing normally?
 
We haven't had any visitors picking her up who keeps hens and her facial orifices are completely clean and dry. Her crop is empty but feels normal, not hard nor mushy, just empty. The inside of her mouth and as far as I can see is clear, clean and no sign of reddening or anything. We are completely baffled by this as the only other thing she seems to have thats not normal is a slight swelling, mainly underneath her right eye.
 
Sorry Johnny, I'm baffled as well at the moment. Perhaps the other forum members have some ideas, otherwise I have to suggest a trip to the vet. Just make sure she takes in some water in the meantime.
 
Thany you Chrismahon. I will her with some warm water egg and manuka honey and see if that perks her up a bit.
 
There are a number of things your welsumer could be suffering from, and it is very hard for us to give a diagnosis, only guidance around some of the more common ailments namely in the first instance external and internal parasites lice, worms etc. Saying that, parasites either internal or external are not the cause of illness necessarily, but when a bird is compromised through illness they usually combine to bring a bird down, unless redmite which can kill a healthy hen quite easily. Although this is not the season for redmite, it will be worth checking closely for evidence of infestation, however I doubt they are the cause of the problem, you would have felt them crawling on you by now!

In my experience when a hen looks ruffled, combined with inappetence but no other obvious symptoms. there is usually an underlying cause which is usually difficult to treat successfully I'm afraid.

Things you yourself can look for are temperature...how does this compare to your other hens..check with the back of your hand under both wings.

Comb colour.pale?

Moult..finished, or this years hen

Facial swelling,discharges,sneezing, crackling or ratting in chest

Keel bone..does this feel normal..or sharp? Indicating a gradual weight loss.

Droppings..watery or smelly? indicating a digestive infection..or normal?

This isn't an exhaustive list but information that will help your vet treat/make some sort of diagnosis
 
I think you should keep her indors for few days make sure she drinks.Unwell hen can be an easy target for bulling by others to,so if she unwell keep her in dors an try to make her drink(mixed honney with water is good)maybe she will start to eat,try boiled egg they usually go mad tor this treat.
 
None of the girls have redmite we managed to eradicate this during the summer but always check (daily) for re-infestation and so far nothing. she took a little warm water and manuka honey yesterday and whe developed and runny nose too later in the day but by late evening she had perked up a little and this morning she was standing and had opened one of her eyes (the slightly swollen one) we also noticed she had a slight wheeze by evening yesterday but kept her on plenty of water with intermittant honey with warm water. She has had a little layers pellet this morning with warm water so its more like a mash but she still won't touch solids. We also caught a fresh poo this morning and it seems fairly white and mucusy. Fingers Crossed.
 
Sounds more like a respiratory infection, so you will need to keep a close eye on the rest of your flock as these infections are contagious. Usual treatment is a course of anti-biotics prescribed by a vet.
 
This afternoon she picked up enormously and was scratching and pecking around in her box and trying to get out so we took the decision to put her back with the other girls and as soon as we put her down outside she started pecking around at tit bits and treats we'd spread around for them. Am beginning to think she just wanted to spend christmas indoors with us where it was warm and where she would be pampered. I do hope she doesn't tell the others what it had been like for her otherwise I think we'll be in the chuck house and they will all be in the house.
 
Really pleased Johnny10. If it was an innoculation strain of ILT, puzzled where it came from? Our cockerel had had a minor relapse with it for the last two days. Swollen face, partially closed left eye, loss of visual focus and loss of appetite -nearly 3 years on now. Still a bit quiet today. Brought on by stress caused by sight of another cockerel near his girls -the screen collapsed and he spent an hour trying to get through the mesh to him. Job for tomorrow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top