New rescue chicken in cage may be sick and passed something to my flock that killed one this morning- HELP!

[alisoncrary]

Three days ago we were driving through a rural neighborhood and found a chicken sitting in the creek. She seemed very stressed but let us pick her up; she was missing most of her tailfeathers but otherwise looked healthy, so our theory is that a predator went after her and she escaped, minus those feathers.

We brought her home and put her in a large cage in our chicken yard so that she could interact with them through the hardware mesh of the cage but stay separate for about a week. She did have a poopy butt, so we soaked her in epsom salt and cleaned her up, and it seems to be normal since then.

This morning I found one of my girls dead This girl was about 4 years old, but has had a history of a chronic bumble foot that we could never eliminate even with debridement over the years (she came to us with it when we adopted her). We are wondering if she was just immune-compromised due to the chronic bumble issue and couldn't fight off a possible new virus or something? She did have a poopy butt when she died but I did not notice it previously so I think it may have come on pretty quickly.

I've separated the rest of my flock from the new chicken's cage for now- from observation it looks like two of those six have slight poopy butts. These girls don't love to be handled unfortunately so I'll have help later this afternoon to get them cleaned up. Anything else that I should look for or do? Thank you in advance for any ideas- we love our girls and don't want to lose any more..

 

[nuthatched]

Unfortunately, this is why any new birds must be completely quarantined from an existing flock for a month.
There's no telling what/if she has anything to pass to the others.
Ok, moving on. It could be coincidence, so what type of symptoms are you seeing?
What is their diet?
Have your birds ever been wormed?
What breeds?

 

[Debbie292d]

You can get those six easier after they roost at night, and that's a good idea to get them cleaned up too.

I'd put them all on vitamin water like Poultry Cell.

Some illnesses are airborne, some can go up to 5 miles (Marek's), but that doesn't mean that's what happened as you've sort of explained how the one that died may have died.

Probiotics can help clear up poopy butts, like sugar-free Greek yogurt, or powders you put in water.

What is their diet? Something they ate can cause poopy butts in chickens.

So sorry about the loss of your hen.

 

[alisoncrary]

Unfortunately, this is why any new birds must be completely quarantined from an existing flock for a month.
There's no telling what/if she has anything to pass to the others.
Ok, moving on. It could be coincidence, so what type of symptoms are you seeing?
What is their diet?
Have your birds ever been wormed?
What breeds?

I didn't know that, but I can keep her separate now... we were just trying to help her.

Their diet is layer pellets from CAL Ranch, mixed with oyster shells. they get scratch daily and share a handful of mealworms, plus our produce when we have extra. They normally have run of a large yard but have long since eaten all of the vegetation there so it's just dirt.

I have never used a true dewormer- I did DE last year but from what I'm reading now that is not as effective as I'd thought. Just reading some prior posts now on worming..I don't typically worm our other livestock without knowing there are worms- are they usually visibly in chicken poop?

They are a mix of breeds that we bought at 6 months old from someone on FB. 1 Sussex, 1 Barred Rock, 2 Americana mixes, and two reddish/orange hens. If the person we bought them from is correct they would all be about 3.5-4 years old now. We've only lost one other in 3 years, and she was rather small and sickly when we got her.

 

[alisoncrary]

You can get those six easier after they roost at night, and that's a good idea to get them cleaned up too.

I'd put them all on vitamin water like Poultry Cell.

Some illnesses are airborne, some can go up to 5 miles (Marek's), but that doesn't mean that's what happened as you've sort of explained how the one that died may have died.

Probiotics can help clear up poopy butts, like sugar-free Greek yogurt, or powders you put in water.

What is their diet? Something they ate can cause poopy butts in chickens.

So sorry about the loss of your hen.

Good idea, thank you. I will pick up the poultry cell and yogurt today. Our neighbor's are ranchers with a lot of chickens as well so that's good to know that some illnesses can travel that far.

Their diet is layer pellets from CAL Ranch, mixed with oyster shells. they get scratch daily and share a handful of mealworms, plus our produce when we have extra. They normally have run of a large yard but have long since eaten all of the vegetation there so it's just dirt.

And thank you, she was one of our friendliest hens and will be missed..

 

[Debbie292d]

I didn't know that, but I can keep her separate now... we were just trying to help her.

Their diet is layer pellets from CAL Ranch, mixed with oyster shells. they get scratch daily and share a handful of mealworms, plus our produce when we have extra. They normally have run of a large yard but have long since eaten all of the vegetation there so it's just dirt.

I have never used a true dewormer- I did DE last year but from what I'm reading now that is not as effective as I'd thought. Just reading some prior posts now on worming..I don't typically worm our other livestock without knowing there are worms- are they usually visibly in chicken poop?

They are a mix of breeds that we bought at 6 months old from someone on FB. 1 Sussex, 1 Barred Rock, 2 Americana mixes, and two reddish/orange hens. If the person we bought them from is correct they would all be about 3.5-4 years old now. We've only lost one other in 3 years, and she was rather small and sickly when we got her.

DE does nothing for worms as you learned. We've used it for over 20 years to keep the fruit flies and pantry moths out of our two macaw parrot cages, so when we got chickens, we started using it in the coop to keep mites and lice out though. So far, so good there! After 8 years of them free-ranging with squirrels and chipmunks who carry them, we've yet to get them in the coop.

 

[kyleen]

@Wyorp Rock any thoughts?

 

[alisoncrary]

DE does nothing for worms as you learned. We've used it for over 20 years to keep the fruit flies and pantry moths out of our two macaw parrot cages, so when we got chickens, we started using it in the coop to keep mites and lice out though. So far, so good there! After 8 years of them free-ranging with squirrels and chipmunks who carry them, we've yet to get them in the coop.

that's good to know- do you just sprinkle it in the coop?

 

[Debbie292d]

that's good to know- do you just sprinkle it in the coop?

Yes. We saved a parmesan cheese dispenser which works nice. I wear a mask and make sure the chickens are out of the coop, then do the whole thing about once or twice a month.

 

[alisoncrary]

Yes. We saved a parmesan cheese dispenser which works nice. I wear a mask and make sure the chickens are out of the coop, then do the whole thing about once or twice a month.

what a great idea, thank you!