Advice please on poorly hen

[Nataliec]

Hi, I have lost 4 hens in as many months, now worried sick about my flock. My first hen to go was an eight week old Legbar who I raised with two others from a day old, she went very lethargic, fluffed up, took her to the vet and sadly had to be pts. The next one was a four year old hybrid who had the same symptoms but not as bad, took her to vets, she had antibiotics then the next day went down hill very quickly and died before I could get to the vets. The third girls had different symptoms swollen belly, thought she was egg bound again took her to the vets, they xrayed her, nothing showed up, thought it could be an infection given antibiotics, she improved for a week then again was very poorly, wobbly and sadly had to be pts. The fourth was about 3 weeks ago, same symptoms, lathagic, fluffed up, although eating was very skinny although she was a small girls (also a fox attack survivor from several years ago) sadly she was pts. As you can imagine I'm at my wits end and really worried, one of my young girls 4 months old tonight is lathagic, fluffed up, not eating. I've bought her into the house in a pet carrier she has water and food, although not touching it, at 8.20pm this evening she laid a shell less egg, she still lethargic and she has small runny white poo. I will be phoning the vet tomorrow morning, I think I'm going to see if she will do a home visit to also look at the other girls. Does anyone have any ideas, do you think I could have something contagious spreading amongst them? Any advice on anything I can do for the poorly girl. I've kept chickens for 10 years and never had so many go in such a short space of time. Apologies for the long post. Natalie

[kitla]

It certainly sounds suspicious, do you trust your vet's knowledge about chickens? some vets are well meaning but dont have much experience at chickens. Did they suggest a cause? I'd be tempted to treat the whole flock with tylan antibiotic in the water, and give the coop, run, feeders & waterers a really good cleanout & disinfect, also check thoroughly for redmite. Also check your bags of feed & corn, could they be stale or have got damp? so have toxins in, or are there any plants they've been pecking at that are poisonous? Do you use slug pellets in the garden etc. You say one of the poorly hens laid a soft egg, did the others do that? or were their eggs abnormal/thin shelled before they got ill? As for your poor ill girly, are her comb & wattles especially pale? is she sort of gasping? is her vent pulsing alot ? (looking for clues) Try giving her some lightly scrambled egg to keep her going. I'd also check the poop of your other hens really closely for worms or anything odd.
Keep us posted.

[KarenE]

I agree with Kitty. It sounds suspiciously like an infection doing the rounds - losing that many girls like that would be incredibly bad luck if it were all natural causes (as in, their time) and my gut instinct would be a respiratory problem, coccidiosis or as Kitty suggests, something to do with their food if its gone mouldy.

Unfortunately by the time they are showing signs of sickness, it's usually too late to treat successfully. So I'd also be tempted to tylan the whole flock. Is there any signs of a respiratory illness eg bubbles in the eyes, crackling, hissing and gurgling sounds as breathing? Breathing heavily or gasping.

When were they last wormed, and what with? Have you checked for red mites and other pests?

Have you checked the crops and poos of the healthy ones? Was there any sign of blood in any of the poos?

Have the sick ones been laying lashes?

Do they free range or are they confined to a run?

Has there been anything different introduced into their environment over the last few months? Different food/treats/in the coop or run/garden/plants/paint etc

Seperate the sick girl immediately, and any others who are showing signs of not being 100%, and then disinfect everywhere, includingntheir drinkers and feeders, using virkon or if you don't have it jeyes fluid (but worth getting some virkon in). What do you use for the run covering? Swap/dig it out if you can, and use stalosfan f on it, then replace with new covering and stalosfan that as well.

Also I'd be tempted to introduce some bio security eg a disinfectant footbath to be used on entering & exiting the chicken areas until further notice, to stop whatever it is spreading, and also try and stop wild birds from entering the chickens area as they may be bringing something in. Are you in a bird flu area?

And also I would be tempted to ditch the food you've been using (unless its brand new and brought in after all this started) and get some new stuff, just in case that is the source of any bacteria.

Hate to have to say it, but the only way for sure to know would be to have your vet do a post mortem... it might be worth it to give you some peace of mind.

Good luck, let us know how things are and if youc an answer the qwuestions by me and Kitty, we may be able to narrow things down a bit more - if you don't have vey savvy chicken vets, as not all vets are very knowledgable about poultry

[kitla]

How is your hen Natalie?