Help! Chick with convulsions and thick saliva

[Swbertrand1]

We also had our yard sprayed with Talstar but again they were in the garage for a few days after.
She was fine all day yesterday until about 6 pm when I found her. It appeared she’d just started acting weird then.

I don't want to create unnecessary worry or concern, but Talstar is a dangerous chemical where chickens are concerned. Talstar is toxic to pretty much everything.

How do I know it's toxic? We use it at our home and just applied it a few days ago, but only to areas our chickens can't reach, i.e. the front yard, but not the back. However, we lost a chicken when she found a few granules of Talstar in a side yard last year. We are pretty certain she ate a granule or two or three from some that was dropped out of the spreader by accident near where they free-range in the evenings, and it killed her by the next morning.

It's possible that your bird found a wedge of blades of grass that still had some liquid (you said it was sprayed on) Talstar in the "Y" or wedge of those blades of grass.

I've included photos of some pertinent areas of the labeling from a Talstar package that I just pulled from our recyclable trash.

Sorry, but I do NOT know how to treat for poisoning beyond what I've found and been told here on BYC, so I'm not an expert by any means. Here's treatment for ingested toxins on this forum:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal.700526/

NOTE: @Wyorp Rock, @Eggcessive, @aart, @casportpony and others can likely help more in this area IF this is what has happened to your bird.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Have you looked inside her beak for obstruction?
Anything in her ears?

 

[newchickenlady7]

I don't want to create unnecessary worry or concern, but Talstar is a dangerous chemical where chickens are concerned. Talstar is toxic to pretty much everything.

How do I know it's toxic? We use it at our home and just applied it a few days ago, but only to areas our chickens can't reach, i.e. the front yard, but not the back. However, we lost a chicken when she found a few granules of Talstar in a side yard last year. We are pretty certain she ate a granule or two or three from some that was dropped out of the spreader by accident near where they free-range in the evenings, and it killed her by the next morning.

It's possible that your bird found a wedge of blades of grass that still had some liquid (you said it was sprayed on) Talstar in the "Y" or wedge of those blades of grass.

I've included photos of some pertinent areas of the labeling from a Talstar package that I just pulled from our recyclable trash.

Sorry, but I do NOT know how to treat for poisoning beyond what I've found and been told here on BYC, so I'm not an expert by any means. Here's treatment for ingested toxins on this forum:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal.700526/

NOTE: @Wyorp Rock, @Eggcessive, @aart, @casportpony and others can likely help more in this area IF this is what has happened to your bird.

Thank you for the information. We do spray it using a fogger and it was done almost a month ago which if why I wasn’t think it was her problem.
I think I will give the epson salt a try and see how she makes out.

 

[newchickenlady7]

Have you looked inside her beak for obstruction?
Anything in her ears?

I’ve looked the best I can in her mouth when she gasps and I don’t see anything. I haven’t tried looking in her ears.

 

[Swbertrand1]

I’ve looked the best I can in her mouth when she gasps and I don’t see anything. I haven’t tried looking in her ears.

Didn't realize the Talstar was so far back - somehow I thought it had been applied in a few recent days. Wyorp Rock will not steer you wrong; you're in good hands if they're on the thread here.

Anyway, hold her mouth open if you need to. You can hold her under one arm with her neck and head against your chest facing away from you. Gently grasp her closed beak with your thumb and index finger of the hand on the arm you're holding her with, and pinch ever so slightly as you put a little bit of downward pull on her lower beak. She should open her mouth.

Hold it open to inspect (a flashlight in the other hand might help you see a bit better). Realize she is NOT going to like what you're doing, but she'll get over it as soon as you let go of her beak

Use the flashlight to look in her ears too.

 

[newchickenlady7]

Didn't realize the Talstar was so far back - somehow I thought it had been applied in a few recent days. Wyorp Rock will not steer you wrong; you're in good hands if they're on the thread here.

Anyway, hold her mouth open if you need to. You can hold her under one arm with her neck and head against your chest facing away from you. Gently grasp her closed beak with your thumb and index finger of the hand on the arm you're holding her with, and pinch ever so slightly as you put a little bit of downward pull on her lower beak. She should open her mouth.

Hold it open to inspect (a flashlight in the other hand might help you see a bit better). Realize she is NOT going to like what you're doing, but she'll get over it as soon as you let go of her beak

Use the flashlight to look in her ears too.

I was able to look inside of her mouth. I have no idea what I was looking for but the only strange thing was that her tongue was towards the back of her throat. I’m not sure why this would be but I found it weird. And the more I thought about it her tongue hasn’t been hanging out at the end of her beak like a normal birds would be. I also wasn’t able to find her crop so I’m assuming it’s empty.

She’s also been pooping a moucusy poop and a few small dark green poops. Another weird thing I noticed is she quite yellow (could just be her skin color, she does have yellow and black feet). You can see it a little bit in the first pic taken after I first noticed her acting weird. I have been try to get small amounts of fluids in her (electrolytes and epson sat water). She drinks it sometimes better than others. She also showed interest in eating but it was like she knew she shouldn’t try.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have no idea what I was looking for but the only strange thing was that her tongue was towards the back of her throat. I’m not sure why this would be but I found it weird. And the more I thought about it her tongue hasn’t been hanging out at the end of her beak like a normal birds would be.

She’s also been pooping a moucusy poop and a few small dark green poops. Another weird thing I noticed is she quite yellow (could just be her skin color, she does have yellow and black feet).

OK. Can you get someone to help you look inside her beak again. Be armed with flashlight, tweezers, qtips, small scissors or any other tools you may think you need.
See if there's anything wrapped around her tongue - a hair, a string, a long strand of grass, etc. If there's anything, try to remove it.

Photos of the poop?
What do you feed?

Looking at your photo she is sort of yellow. It could be a liver problem, but hard to know. I have a few "sapphire gems" which would be "similar" to your blue rocks - I just looked at my photos to make sure (I'm not a genetics or breed i.d. person)...no, the yellow is not normal. While Plymouth Rocks (and most PR hybirds/crosses) should have "yellow" skin, it shouldn't be orangy-yellow color that's on her face/comb.

Here's one of my Gems.

 

[newchickenlady7]

OK. Can you get someone to help you look inside her beak again. Be armed with flashlight, tweezers, qtips, small scissors or any other tools you may think you need.
See if there's anything wrapped around her tongue - a hair, a string, a long strand of grass, etc. If there's anything, try to remove it.

Photos of the poop?
What do you feed?

Looking at your photo she is sort of yellow. It could be a liver problem, but hard to know. I have a few "sapphire gems" which would be "similar" to your blue rocks - I just looked at my photos to make sure (I'm not a genetics or breed i.d. person)...no, the yellow is not normal. While Plymouth Rocks (and most PR hybirds/crosses) should have "yellow" skin, it shouldn't be orangy-yellow color that's on her face/comb.

Here's one of my Gems.

View attachment 2779912

What a beautiful bird.

She’s made it another night and honestly it’s hard to tell if she’s getting better. Her convulsions don’t appear to be as bad as they were but that could just be her getting tired.
She does act hungry. Any suggestions on a liquid food I could give her? She’s also standing quite a bit more than she did when this first occurred.

We’re going to try and see why her tongue is so far back and try and help her.

As far as her poop she has done a mousousy one and a small pill shaped darker poop within 5 minutes of each other this morning.

 

[newchickenlady7]

We were able to get some tools and investigate her tongue. It doesn’t appear to have anything around it pulling it down from what we could see. There was just mucus. She also smells of throw up, which I can only assume isn’t a good thing.

Not too sure how to help her now.
Is there some other reason a chickens tongue would retract like it is? Or why she would have it extended into her beak?

 

[newchickenlady7]

We made the tough decision to put her down, we felt it was selfish to continue to let her struggle.
Thanks to all for the the help and suggestions.