Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[BDutch]

Good vibes and lots of love for your sick bay.

 

[Perris]

I'm really worried. Piou-piou was foraging when suddenly she began thrashing around for a minute then looking really unwell. I took her back to the cage and she did it again. We can't feel anything stuck in her trachea and it's impossible to get her to open her beak, she struggles like crazy. Now she is standing on the roost shaking with her wings wide open. She doesn't make any noise breathing. I'm scared she swallowed some kind of poison.View attachment 3506213

Zimmet had a funny turn that sounds similar a couple of weeks ago; she stumbled and then thrashed around on the ground for a few seconds, and then tried to get up but couldn't. I scooped her up and took her into the utility room and popped her in the old washing up bowl, and she sat quietly for an hour or so. Then she jumped out and proceeded to eat the dog's dinner, and has been fine ever since. I have no idea what happened and assume / hope it was just a one off and not a foresign of a deeper problem. Hopefully it will be similar for Piou-Piou.

 

[ManueB]

Zimmet had a funny turn that sounds similar a couple of weeks ago; she stumbled and then thrashed around on the ground for a few seconds, and then tried to get up but couldn't. I scooped her up and took her into the utility room and popped her in the old washing up bowl, and she sat quietly for an hour or so. Then she jumped out and proceeded to eat the dog's dinner, and has been fine ever since. I have no idea what happened and assume / hope it was just a one off and not a foresign of a deeper problem. Hopefully it will be similar for Piou-Piou.

Yes, I think I remember you mentioning this.
Unfortunately Piou-piou is no better. I just posted in the disease forum in case anyone as an insight on the cause.

This morning Gaston's eye is swollen so I'm afraid infectious disease is confirmed. It doesn't stop him from the usual rooster jumping around stuff so he must not feel too bad.

 

[Perris]

They all respond differently in my experience; some have stronger constitutions than others. My advice would be to be very, very careful if you choose to medicate; many times people make their birds worse by intervening. Good intentions can be lethal.

 

[ManueB]

They all respond differently in my experience; some have stronger constitutions than others. My advice would be to be very, very careful if you choose to medicate; many times people make their birds worse by intervening. Good intentions can be lethal.

For Piou-piou, I'm really not sure she has the same infection. It does seem like a strange coincidence, but her symptoms are so different.

For whatever infectious disease they have I think the only available medications would be antibiotics and I would certainly not use them in this case, not knowing what they have, and knowing that if it's a bacteria or mycoplasma response to antibiotics is hazardous.

I was more thinking of supportive generic care like adding vitamins or using specific plants.
I already added thyme +oregano and cinnamon to their feed but I always hesitate to do it regularly because they don't like strong tastes and they tend to eat or drink less. It's the same with vitamins or herbal supplements.

I have used before very diluted ravintsara eo topically on chickens. I will do it for Gaston.

 

[BDutch]

I was hesitating to write this reaction because I don’t like to be the messenger of a possible very sad news. But not saying this is maybe even worse.

Nervously flapping wings and falling down is one of the symptoms of the bird flu. And the uncontrolled movements seem to be spreading too. Of course I do hope its not that. Do look up some video’s of bird flu in wild birds. Look if you see any resemblance. I saw one with cranes when the bird flu affected other kind of birds then chickens.

I also know that chickens do/can survive if they live in a natural setting like you have. But bringing new birds in right now? That maybe isn’t a very good idea.

PS. If it is avian flu, antibiotics won’t work. And where I live, I am obliged to report it to the authorities. Going to a vet with a chicken with avian flu suspicions is a no go.
Keeping it a secret and no contact with other poultry keepers is in my country the best way to give these birds a chance to survive.

 

[Perris]

Supportive generic care sounds perfect. Hopefully it's not AI but given that disease's endemic status now, I think BDutch is right to raise it as a possibility. Even if it is that, it's not an automatic death sentence; some birds recover (if they're not slaughtered by keeper or authorities).

 

[ManueB]

I was hesitating to write this reaction because I don’t like to be the messenger of a possible very sad news. But not saying this is maybe even worse.

Nervously flapping wings is one of the symptoms of the bird flu. And this flapping and uncontrolled movements seem to be spreading too. Of course I do hope its not that. Do look up some video’s of bird flu in wild birds if you see any resemblance. I saw one with cranes when the bird flu affected other kind of birds then chickens.

I also know that chickens do/can survive if they live in a natural setting like you have. But bringing new birds in right now? That maybe isn’t a very good idea.

Well I'm not expecting good news at this stage for Piou-piou . Although my experience with Brune has taught me not to dig the hole before the chicken actually dies.
Bird flu is extremely unlikely where we are, we're in the green zone, more than five hundreds of km away from the affected areas, and the risk in France has been lowered to moderate at the end of April (though they did find four cases right after that following three months with none).

It's too late not to bring the birds in, there was a ten days preorder. I know it's a terrible idea. They are vaccinated against Marek's, IB and MG, I can only hope the vaccines or their good health will help them. I'm not even sure it makes sense to quarantine them as all the places we could put them in have been visited by Gaston and Merle yesterday.
On the hopeful side Cannelle is doing great and she has laid again today after a ten days pause for the second day in a row. Gaston is acting 100% normal but he has turned into elephant man in two hours .

 

[MaryJanet]

Well I'm not expecting good news at this stage for Piou-piou . Although my experience with Brune has taught me not to dig the hole before the chicken actually dies.
Bird flu is extremely unlikely where we are, we're in the green zone, more than five hundreds of km away from the affected areas, and the risk in France has been lowered to moderate at the end of April (though they did find four cases right after that following three months with none).

It's too late not to bring the birds in, there was a ten days preorder. I know it's a terrible idea. They are vaccinated against Marek's, IB and MG, I can only hope the vaccines or their good health will help them. I'm not even sure it makes sense to quarantine them as all the places we could put them in have been visited by Gaston and Merle yesterday.
On the hopeful side Cannelle is doing great and she has laid again today after a ten days pause for the second day in a row. Gaston is acting 100% normal but he has turned into elephant man in two hours .

It's a difficult situation. I hope it all works out to the best

 

[RoyalChick]

I was so hoping to wake up to better news. So sorry this is happening.
I feel there is nothing much to be done at this stage except supportive care like flyids maybe with some honey for energy etc.
In supportive care I would include mental health - so think carefully whether isolation is better or worse. Of course with your tribe that is a complicated decision.
Stay strong.