Please help!! We lost a chicken and don't want to loose more.

[athompson211]

We are new to the chicken scene and we love it. We took on 9 chickens from a friend that was moving about 2 months ago. One of them was not acting right so we brought her inside and I started doing research on this site. I first submerged her in water thinking she had an egg stuck. Then I checked to see if she had an egg stuck but didn't find anything. So I gave her a bath and got her cleaned up. While drying her she kinda perked up. We administered probiotics, with a syringe, being careful to get it into the right spot. She would swallow and so we started giving her yogurt on her beak. She seemed to be doing so we put her in a dog kennel and left her with some water for the night. When we woke up this morning and turned the light on she put her head up and looked at us. So we got her out of the cage cleaned her cage and wiped her bottom. Then we gave her a syringe of water. She started going down hill and then passed away while we were holding her. We are sad and puzzled. We are afraid that whatever she had is something the other chickens will get. Can anyone help up to diagnose so we can prevent spread to our other chickens.

Thank you

 

[seminolewind]

It's unfortunate that most chicken symptoms are the same for many of their illnesses. The only way to know for sure is to send a dead chicken for a necropsy. I have a link at the bottom of my posts that Casportpony put together.

Most of what I do is I check for an impacted egg, if their keel is sharp and they are skinny, and if their crop is full during the day and empty in the morning. This tells me if they are eating.

The most common illness is coccidiosis. Most common in chicks under 4 months old, but any age can get it. Worms are frequently causing illnesses and death. And parasites can suck all their blood away.

So, I would make sure everyone is wormed on a regular basis, usually 2-3 times a year. Then treat with Corid or Sulfadimethoxine for cocci. And possibly an antibiotic. Dust or check for lice and mites. That covers most of the reasons for a sick chicken.

If they are laying internally into their abdomen, the area between the legs and back will be heavy. That happens a lot in layers. You can't do anything about that.

Hopefully this can help you. I'm sure others have ideas as well.