Unbalanced/head tipping up +vent discharge & death

[Sunshade82]

My 4 year old chicken Goldie was unable to walk so I brought her in to check her out. I don’t see any noticable injuries to her legs or feet. When she stands she immediately loses her balance and tips over.
I was watching her last night while she napped and it’s like her head wouldn’t stay down. It kept slowly creeping up until she was looking at the ceiling. (I wish I could attach a video but this picture will have to do.)
Everything I’ve read is saying wry neck so I’ve been giving her vitamin E rich foods (eggs, spinach, sunflower seeds) plus some rooster booster vitamins in her water. She won’t get up but she is eating and drinking fine.
Now chicken #2-Dixie (rip)
The next day Goldie’s twin Dixie was huddled in the corner so I took her in. She had yellowish poop stuck to her vent and her vent looked inflamed so I cleaned her off and applied some anti fungal cream. (Vent gleet?) this morning I applied some more in/around her vent. 30 seconds later she started flapping and killed over.
Now I am unsure of what I’m dealing with. Is it possible I had two chickens suffering from two different things at the same time?
Can chickens die from vent gleet? I feel bad I didn’t catch it sooner (been dealing with sick/almost dying cat for a couple weeks.)
All my chickens have been vaccinated against Mareks as chicks from the nursery…so I’m hoping to rule that out.
If there is something I’m missing please let me know. (3 other chickens have no symptoms)

 

[Lillith37]

Do you know if they ate any of the lilies? The fact that it’s so sudden and severe and affecting more than one makes me think it’s environmental.

You could send Dixie’s body in for a necropsy which would determine cause.

In the meantime focus on getting fluids into Goldie and any others who become sick. I think you can give charcoal for toxins but I’m not sure where you’d source it or what the dosage is for chickens

 

[Eggcessive]

If you lose another, send the body to your state vet in South Logan. That link is in this list:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
I would inspect your feed for any mold or bad odor. It can mold quickly if any gets moisture in it. Mareks tends to cause lameness and curled toes in one leg. B complex vitamins might be helpful, 1/2 tablet daily. The only way to know for sure what is happening is to get a necropsy. The body must be kept cold, not frozen, and taken in or shipped overnight. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Sunshade82]

Goldie hasn’t eaten much today. Maybe 1/2 of a scrambled egg. I saw her drink water a few times but even that seems to be slowing down. She talks to me when I go see her, but she barely tries to move anymore.
A couple things I noticed today…
Her poop is mostly watery/clear. It does have some darker green chunks and it has a lot of white sticky stuff in it. Hardly any smell.
Her stomach was growling. Do chicken’s stomachs growl like humans or could that be a clue?

Side note: Goldie and Dixie had not been laying for a while. I was actually relieved by this because before that, one of them was laying soft or really thin-shelled eggs that were getting broken and eaten even after supplementing with calcium. Having them NOT lay was easier than cleaning up the mess daily and worrying about an egg eater. I just assumed they had taken an early retirement and I was ok with that.
But…They both still did the squat when I got close to them. Usually that signals they are laying?
Could they both have started laying internally? yolk peritonitis?
Idk I’m usually good at researching stuff but I don’t know what to do. All these random symptoms and nothing to narrow down what’s wrong.

I’ve always been an animal person. This month has me rethinking that. I have 2 rats getting meds 2x a day for a chronic respiratory illness from the pet store we got them from.(IK)
I have a young cat that got so stressed out from us going on vacation that his urethra swelled shut and he almost died cause he couldn’t pee. $2,000 later and he’s alive but trying to keep his donut/cone on him so he doesn’t rip his stitches is like when a baby first learns to get out of the crib and they are constantly escaping and getting into stuff. It’s been 2.5 weeks of constant supervision Day/night. Plus now he on bougie food that might bankrupt us.
This wasn’t hard enough to deal with so now I have sick and dying chickens.
I can research everything to death and try to do my best to be prepared and informed, but it doesn’t help.
I told my dogs and other cat they need to stay on their best behavior cause I’m about to lose my mind.
Rant over.

 

[Lillith37]

Reproductive issues could be likely. High production laying breeds are susceptible to reproductive illness from a young age. Soft shelled eggs are a warning sign. Any nesting behaviour including squatting without producing eggs are also warning signs. Checking the bird’s weight against body condition and monitoring behaviour, crops, poop and abdomen feeling (squishy, hard, fluid filled etc) are ways of identifying issues early on.

It sounds like you’ve been going through a really rough time and that you love your animals very much. I’m sorry to hear Goldie hasn’t improved much. You could try amoxicillin antibiotics and calcium supplements.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thanks I’ll add some B vitamins.
Their feed is 100% dry. We haven’t had any moisture in weeks. In fact our temps have increased a lot lately. It’ll be in the 90s this week.
Could the heat stress have exacerbated something already there?

So, I know vaccination doesn’t 100% prevent Mareks, but isn’t it odd to have two chickens have the vaccine fail on them? Maybe something happened with their batch at the hatchery?
I just really don’t want my other 3 hens to get sick.

One last thing…should I make Goldie a sling so she isn’t putting so much pressure on her lame foot? Or just let her be?

Sorry that you are dealing with illness in the other animals. At 4 years old, I don’t think they had a bad hatch. Mareks symptoms usually show up much earlier in the first year of life, unless they have recently been exposed by a new bird in the flock who is a carrier. So many things can look like Mareks, so it would be good to rule out other things. Getting a necropsy by your state vet is the best way to know what was going on inside them. If that is not possible, I do home necropsies to look at and take pictures of the organs. Post any here for comments.

 

[Sunshade82]

Thank you for hearing my rant. I was feeling very sorry for myself last night.
Today I brought Goldie out for some time in the yard. She is very happy to be on the grass, nibbling at the blades around her. No change otherwise.

 

[Sunshade82]

The last few days there’s been no change in Goldie. She just sits in her sling all day munching on spinach and tuna.
Today I was changing her food and bedding and she started thrashing around a little. Idk if her nerves are wigging out or if she’s regaining some feeling and trying to move.
I found a vet that does chickens. But her moving around made me hesitate calling to get her euthanized.

(Hopefully the video works)
Is this more than likely her nerves acting out on their own? Or could she be regaining some feeling?
The last week she wasn’t moving at all besides eating and using her head to prop herself up.
Btw I put her on her side and she isn’t twitching anymore.

 

[Sunshade82]

We had Goldie euthanized last week. The day after we had to put our cat down too. A whole month of nursing sick animals and they died anyway .
I have 3 hens left and I’ve decided to integrate them with my mom’s flock. How long do I need to wait before I’m sure it wasn’t something contagious? It’s been over 2 weeks since Goldie became paralyzed and Dixie got sick and died. There are no symptoms of illness in the remaining hens.
At this point, is it safe to assume they didn’t catch what the other two had or that it wasn’t contagious?

 

[Lillith37]

I think vaccination against Mareks is good but not 100% effective.

Has anyone shown any respiratory symptoms?

Could they have gotten into something toxic? A toxic plant, mouldy food, compost heap etc?