Hi,
I have 11 golden comets (4 years old) and know that they're on borrowed time now. I just have a hunch something contagious and possibly preventable/treatable is going on. They are really healthy birds and were doing fine up until the last few weeks.
Things I've noticed and deemed normal due to age:
-Decreased egg production
-Thinner shells
-Someone has been laying an egg with calcium deposits daily (see pics attached). I know this breed is prone to issues at this age so it didn't raise too many alarms.
-Feather loss only around butt and the oil gland on back (multiple have this pattern, we don't have a rooster)
They have plenty of grit/oyster shells, eat a layer feed, & were
wormed and treated with corrid in Nov 2023 (after a float test and the appropriate meds for that type of worm).
I've chalked most of this up to old age but they're now getting the SAME symptoms one-by-one in the matter of days and I want to save them if I can.
I had one die recently after slowing down over 3 days. I brought her to the vet, X ray showed calcium/inflammation around reproductive tract. Lungs and respiratory system looked good, GI tract normal, no mites/lice despite feather loss. I was given Bactrim to give her but she died that day. Vet said unlikely to be avian flu and probably nothing contagious based on the X-Ray. She thought maybe an egg had dropped outside the tract and become infected. There was no clear egg formed on the X-Ray. She said the grayness in the X-Ray could also be an inflamed liver, as it was in the same area and hard to tell. So liver problems weren't ruled out. I thought the egg thing sounded most likely since she'd been straining that area in her last few days. I initially thought she was egg bound but took her to the vet when she didn't respond to epsom soaks.
The next day, another hen started with the same thing. Stopped eating, diarrhea, straining/pushing but no egg. I figured I had these meds, symptoms look the same, they're all the same breed/lifestyle/age so maybe she's having the same issue? I started giving her the antibiotics 2 days ago knowing shes old and may go anyways, so this is a last ditch. She hasn't improved.
A third hen started with the same symptoms today. She has had diarrhea for about a week. But now she's losing her appetite, etc.
I sent a fecal test to the lab today and should hear back in 48 hours. I started corrid two days ago since there's no egg withdrawal and I figured just incase, with the diarrhea.
What is weird is there's clearly this inflammation going on near the lower half but we dont know what the cause is. It almost looks like the inflammation is spreading from the inside of that area and outwards to the skin hence the feather loss. And if vet's diagnosis is correct, why are they all getting sick at the same time if this was a one-off egg rupture situation? What am I missing?
Thank you!!
I have 11 golden comets (4 years old) and know that they're on borrowed time now. I just have a hunch something contagious and possibly preventable/treatable is going on. They are really healthy birds and were doing fine up until the last few weeks.
Things I've noticed and deemed normal due to age:
-Decreased egg production
-Thinner shells
-Someone has been laying an egg with calcium deposits daily (see pics attached). I know this breed is prone to issues at this age so it didn't raise too many alarms.
-Feather loss only around butt and the oil gland on back (multiple have this pattern, we don't have a rooster)
They have plenty of grit/oyster shells, eat a layer feed, & were
wormed and treated with corrid in Nov 2023 (after a float test and the appropriate meds for that type of worm).
I've chalked most of this up to old age but they're now getting the SAME symptoms one-by-one in the matter of days and I want to save them if I can.
I had one die recently after slowing down over 3 days. I brought her to the vet, X ray showed calcium/inflammation around reproductive tract. Lungs and respiratory system looked good, GI tract normal, no mites/lice despite feather loss. I was given Bactrim to give her but she died that day. Vet said unlikely to be avian flu and probably nothing contagious based on the X-Ray. She thought maybe an egg had dropped outside the tract and become infected. There was no clear egg formed on the X-Ray. She said the grayness in the X-Ray could also be an inflamed liver, as it was in the same area and hard to tell. So liver problems weren't ruled out. I thought the egg thing sounded most likely since she'd been straining that area in her last few days. I initially thought she was egg bound but took her to the vet when she didn't respond to epsom soaks.
The next day, another hen started with the same thing. Stopped eating, diarrhea, straining/pushing but no egg. I figured I had these meds, symptoms look the same, they're all the same breed/lifestyle/age so maybe she's having the same issue? I started giving her the antibiotics 2 days ago knowing shes old and may go anyways, so this is a last ditch. She hasn't improved.
A third hen started with the same symptoms today. She has had diarrhea for about a week. But now she's losing her appetite, etc.
I sent a fecal test to the lab today and should hear back in 48 hours. I started corrid two days ago since there's no egg withdrawal and I figured just incase, with the diarrhea.
What is weird is there's clearly this inflammation going on near the lower half but we dont know what the cause is. It almost looks like the inflammation is spreading from the inside of that area and outwards to the skin hence the feather loss. And if vet's diagnosis is correct, why are they all getting sick at the same time if this was a one-off egg rupture situation? What am I missing?
Thank you!!
I love them so much too. Thanks for sharing. That's very good info to have on hand. This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, but also unfortunate that it seems on point. I wasn't familiar with this but felt like there MUST be a sort of poultry virus that can cause these clinical symptoms vs respiratory ones. I hope this isn't what it is but we'll see how she responds in the next couple days to the antibiotics.
this forum is so much more helpful honestly.
