Chick-agoMeg
In the Brooder
- Jan 22, 2021
- 1
- 2
- 29
Hello Everyone! I am sorry to say this may be long winded, but if you make it to the end of my post I would really appreciate any ideas or help you may have for me. Also, I'll be honest... my chickens have had problems and I know many were my fault. I've been a bit embarrassed to post here because I've read many BYC threads where someone blasts the asker for getting chickens without being willing to take them to the vet or practicing poor husbandry. I've tried to do the best I can with my chickens and I would deeply appreciate if anyone who responds to this kept it kind.
I live in Chicago and the only vet in the area who will care for chickens has a mandatory $500 blood test/exam before any other work will be done because chickens are considered an exotic pet here. Unfortunately, though I love my chickens, I will not be taking them to the vet for that cost. However, I am not a farmer and these chickens are my pets that I care about. My daughters love them and we spend lots of time with them. They will eat out of our hands and come when we call <3 Please do not equate my inability to pay for a minimum $500 vet visit to uncaring feeling.
I have a small backyard flock of chickens that I started in April. After years of reading and (what I thought was) ample research, I drove over 2 hours from my home to a "reputable" chicken farm and purchased 6 black australorp chicks. Three months later, it was clear we had four males and two females. I drove the roos back to the farm and kept the pullets, Miss Debbie and Grace. At the farm I purchased two additional pullets for our flock, a Cinnamon Red Queen (basically a Rhode Island Red) named Honeywell and a Barred Rock named Astrid.
Black Australorp 1- Miss Debbie
Black Australorp 2- Grace
Barred Rock- Astrid
CInnamon Red Queen- Honeywell.
The farm I purchased from does not vaccinate or give chicks medicated feed. The books I had read leaned "natural" and I did not know enough about Marek's to make a better decision, therefore my chickens are not vaccinated (oh how I wish they were). Another giant thing I missed in my reading was biosecurity and making sure to purchase healthy birds. I asked for pullets and took the two chickens the farmer handed to me.
Quickly I learned that Astrid came to us with deformed toes and bumblefoot, Honeywell had bumblefoot, Astrid had scaly leg mites, Honeywell and Astrid had severe lice infestations that quickly spread to Grace and Miss Debbie. For awhile I thought my coop set up caused the bumblefoot, but now I know the chickens came with these things and did not get them from us because I have a photo of my daughters holding the chickens the day we got them with their feet sticking out, and now that I know what I am looking at, I see they had these issues on day 1. I treated the bumblefoot successfully. I treated the lice and coop with spinosad which solved the problem. Astrid has had two separate bouts of bumblefoot since, which I assume if from her deformed toes and strange way of walking. She seems to do well with treatment. Astrid and Honeywell both started laying at 14 weeks of age, their eggs are lovely. Their combs and wattles are bright red and large. They seem happy and curious.
Very quickly after Astrid and Honeywell joined our flock, Miss Debbie declined. She had poop like I had never seen in any online chicken poop guide- explosive diarrhea that smelled exceptionally foul, with very watery white urate and tiny solid tube-like dark matter. She barely moved, though she ate and drank normally. She couldn't stand up easily. Her feathers looked puffed up and dirty, her vent was dirty, and she was losing balance. I checked for crop issues and there were none. I dewormed the whole flock with Ivermectin (Astrid and Honeywell had roundworms that expelled with the treatment, Grace and Miss Debbie had none.) I dewormed for tapeworm with Safeguard paste, which made no difference and I saw no tapeworms in their poop. I had Miss Debbie in my basement in her chicken hospital when I realized her eyes were turning gray and she was blind. That's when I realized it was Marek's. She seemed to be suffering so we culled her
At this point I realized there was no way my other three did not also have Marek's, but they were fine and there was nothing I could do about it. I thought perhaps they had enough natural immunity to deal with it or had a strain that was not so deadly or problematic.
This whole time, the other three seemed happy and fine. Grace had never laid an egg, but I figured that was because she matured more slowly and would not lay until closer to 16 weeks (something I read about this breed). Unfortunately after Miss Debbie left us, Grace began showing similar signs, though not completely the same. Her eyesight and balance are fine. Totally fine. But her comb is shrunken and pale and her feathers are rough looking. She has no zest for life and just kinda stands around. She never laid an egg. Her poop is greenish yellow and again, tiny tube-like solids (though it smells like normal chicken poop and is not explosive nor watery). I isolated her for awhile but she actually seems to do better outside in the coop and free-ranging with the other two- she will eat and drink with them, but not when she is isolated. I figured she was surviving if not thriving, and I wouldn't cull unless I had to.
I've been feeding them scratch and peck brand feed their whole lives- chick starter feed through 16 weeks and then layer feed. Their snacks are scrambled eggs, oatmeal, or grubblies dried worms. As many people do, I put ACV in their waterer until later I read that it is a bad idea to do that with a metal waterer. Just this week I began syringe feeding rooster booster and putting Sea Kelp in the feed in case she is vitamin deficient.
Just today she started coughing, but I think that was my own fault. I am afraid that when I syringe fed her the rooster booster she inhaled some? It was just 1cc. She seemed to swallow and I followed guides I have seen on here, but her breath was gurgly soon after her treatment this morning.
So here are my questions about Grace. Does this sound like Mareks? It is driving me crazy not to know what is going on with her. Is she suffering? Is it cruel to let her continue living this way? Would it be better to cull? Is there some other solvable problem this may be that I don't know about? Other things I've considered are perhaps I started laying feed too early and damaged her kidneys, or perhaps the ACV in the metal waterer poisoned her.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Black Australorp, normal weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Puffed up feather, standing still/ barely eating or drinking, slow, dirty vent, no egg laying, strange poop, coughing as of today.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? A very long time, a slow decline.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? no
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. no
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. a very small amount
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. after the rooster booster her poop began to look more normal though slightly greasy. Before it was small, tube-like, and greenish yellow.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Dewormed with Safeguard and Ivermectin, Spinosad for lice, rooster booster and sea kelp.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? totally myself.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use: Outdoor self-made coop with large run, pine shavings throughout, and daily access to backyard which is snowpacked and grass.
I live in Chicago and the only vet in the area who will care for chickens has a mandatory $500 blood test/exam before any other work will be done because chickens are considered an exotic pet here. Unfortunately, though I love my chickens, I will not be taking them to the vet for that cost. However, I am not a farmer and these chickens are my pets that I care about. My daughters love them and we spend lots of time with them. They will eat out of our hands and come when we call <3 Please do not equate my inability to pay for a minimum $500 vet visit to uncaring feeling.
I have a small backyard flock of chickens that I started in April. After years of reading and (what I thought was) ample research, I drove over 2 hours from my home to a "reputable" chicken farm and purchased 6 black australorp chicks. Three months later, it was clear we had four males and two females. I drove the roos back to the farm and kept the pullets, Miss Debbie and Grace. At the farm I purchased two additional pullets for our flock, a Cinnamon Red Queen (basically a Rhode Island Red) named Honeywell and a Barred Rock named Astrid.
Black Australorp 1- Miss Debbie
Black Australorp 2- Grace
Barred Rock- Astrid
CInnamon Red Queen- Honeywell.
The farm I purchased from does not vaccinate or give chicks medicated feed. The books I had read leaned "natural" and I did not know enough about Marek's to make a better decision, therefore my chickens are not vaccinated (oh how I wish they were). Another giant thing I missed in my reading was biosecurity and making sure to purchase healthy birds. I asked for pullets and took the two chickens the farmer handed to me.
Quickly I learned that Astrid came to us with deformed toes and bumblefoot, Honeywell had bumblefoot, Astrid had scaly leg mites, Honeywell and Astrid had severe lice infestations that quickly spread to Grace and Miss Debbie. For awhile I thought my coop set up caused the bumblefoot, but now I know the chickens came with these things and did not get them from us because I have a photo of my daughters holding the chickens the day we got them with their feet sticking out, and now that I know what I am looking at, I see they had these issues on day 1. I treated the bumblefoot successfully. I treated the lice and coop with spinosad which solved the problem. Astrid has had two separate bouts of bumblefoot since, which I assume if from her deformed toes and strange way of walking. She seems to do well with treatment. Astrid and Honeywell both started laying at 14 weeks of age, their eggs are lovely. Their combs and wattles are bright red and large. They seem happy and curious.
Very quickly after Astrid and Honeywell joined our flock, Miss Debbie declined. She had poop like I had never seen in any online chicken poop guide- explosive diarrhea that smelled exceptionally foul, with very watery white urate and tiny solid tube-like dark matter. She barely moved, though she ate and drank normally. She couldn't stand up easily. Her feathers looked puffed up and dirty, her vent was dirty, and she was losing balance. I checked for crop issues and there were none. I dewormed the whole flock with Ivermectin (Astrid and Honeywell had roundworms that expelled with the treatment, Grace and Miss Debbie had none.) I dewormed for tapeworm with Safeguard paste, which made no difference and I saw no tapeworms in their poop. I had Miss Debbie in my basement in her chicken hospital when I realized her eyes were turning gray and she was blind. That's when I realized it was Marek's. She seemed to be suffering so we culled her
At this point I realized there was no way my other three did not also have Marek's, but they were fine and there was nothing I could do about it. I thought perhaps they had enough natural immunity to deal with it or had a strain that was not so deadly or problematic. This whole time, the other three seemed happy and fine. Grace had never laid an egg, but I figured that was because she matured more slowly and would not lay until closer to 16 weeks (something I read about this breed). Unfortunately after Miss Debbie left us, Grace began showing similar signs, though not completely the same. Her eyesight and balance are fine. Totally fine. But her comb is shrunken and pale and her feathers are rough looking. She has no zest for life and just kinda stands around. She never laid an egg. Her poop is greenish yellow and again, tiny tube-like solids (though it smells like normal chicken poop and is not explosive nor watery). I isolated her for awhile but she actually seems to do better outside in the coop and free-ranging with the other two- she will eat and drink with them, but not when she is isolated. I figured she was surviving if not thriving, and I wouldn't cull unless I had to.
I've been feeding them scratch and peck brand feed their whole lives- chick starter feed through 16 weeks and then layer feed. Their snacks are scrambled eggs, oatmeal, or grubblies dried worms. As many people do, I put ACV in their waterer until later I read that it is a bad idea to do that with a metal waterer. Just this week I began syringe feeding rooster booster and putting Sea Kelp in the feed in case she is vitamin deficient.
Just today she started coughing, but I think that was my own fault. I am afraid that when I syringe fed her the rooster booster she inhaled some? It was just 1cc. She seemed to swallow and I followed guides I have seen on here, but her breath was gurgly soon after her treatment this morning.
So here are my questions about Grace. Does this sound like Mareks? It is driving me crazy not to know what is going on with her. Is she suffering? Is it cruel to let her continue living this way? Would it be better to cull? Is there some other solvable problem this may be that I don't know about? Other things I've considered are perhaps I started laying feed too early and damaged her kidneys, or perhaps the ACV in the metal waterer poisoned her.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Black Australorp, normal weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Puffed up feather, standing still/ barely eating or drinking, slow, dirty vent, no egg laying, strange poop, coughing as of today.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? A very long time, a slow decline.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? no
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. no
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. a very small amount
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. after the rooster booster her poop began to look more normal though slightly greasy. Before it was small, tube-like, and greenish yellow.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Dewormed with Safeguard and Ivermectin, Spinosad for lice, rooster booster and sea kelp.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? totally myself.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use: Outdoor self-made coop with large run, pine shavings throughout, and daily access to backyard which is snowpacked and grass.
Hang in there.
