Unbalanced/head tipping up +vent discharge & death

[Sunshade82]

My 4 year old chicken Goldie was unable to walk so I brought her in to check her out. I don’t see any noticable injuries to her legs or feet. When she stands she immediately loses her balance and tips over.
I was watching her last night while she napped and it’s like her head wouldn’t stay down. It kept slowly creeping up until she was looking at the ceiling. (I wish I could attach a video but this picture will have to do.)
Everything I’ve read is saying wry neck so I’ve been giving her vitamin E rich foods (eggs, spinach, sunflower seeds) plus some rooster booster vitamins in her water. She won’t get up but she is eating and drinking fine.
Now chicken #2-Dixie (rip)
The next day Goldie’s twin Dixie was huddled in the corner so I took her in. She had yellowish poop stuck to her vent and her vent looked inflamed so I cleaned her off and applied some anti fungal cream. (Vent gleet?) this morning I applied some more in/around her vent. 30 seconds later she started flapping and killed over.
Now I am unsure of what I’m dealing with. Is it possible I had two chickens suffering from two different things at the same time?
Can chickens die from vent gleet? I feel bad I didn’t catch it sooner (been dealing with sick/almost dying cat for a couple weeks.)
All my chickens have been vaccinated against Mareks as chicks from the nursery…so I’m hoping to rule that out.
If there is something I’m missing please let me know. (3 other chickens have no symptoms)

 

[Lillith37]

I think vaccination against Mareks is good but not 100% effective.

Has anyone shown any respiratory symptoms?

Could they have gotten into something toxic? A toxic plant, mouldy food, compost heap etc?

 

[Sunshade82]

I think vaccination against Mareks is good but not 100% effective.

Has anyone shown any respiratory symptoms?

Could they have gotten into something toxic? A toxic plant, mouldy food, compost heap etc?

No respiratory symptoms. They’re in their protected run 90% of the time but occasionally we let them wander the yard. My husband recently planted some peacock lilies while I was gone but from what I read, they’re only toxic to cats.
Their Food is dry. I have no idea what’s happening.
Btw Goldie was looking better today. Eating and drinking a lot. I noticed she had scooted all the way forward toward her bowl so her chest was leaning on the side. I sat her back so she wasn’t so close to it and she just tipped forward. It’s like she is getting more paralyzed and was propping herself up?
And now she is refusing her dinner.
I’ll post more in the am but it’s not looking good.

 

[Lillith37]

Do you know if they ate any of the lilies? The fact that it’s so sudden and severe and affecting more than one makes me think it’s environmental.

You could send Dixie’s body in for a necropsy which would determine cause.

In the meantime focus on getting fluids into Goldie and any others who become sick. I think you can give charcoal for toxins but I’m not sure where you’d source it or what the dosage is for chickens

 

[Sunshade82]

Do you know if they ate any of the lilies? The fact that it’s so sudden and severe and affecting more than one makes me think it’s environmental.

You could send Dixie’s body in for a necropsy which would determine cause.

In the meantime focus on getting fluids into Goldie and any others who become sick. I think you can give charcoal for toxins but I’m not sure where you’d source it or what the dosage is for chickens

Idk if they ate any. My husband was the one supervising last time they were out. He was watching for hawks, not what they were eating.
I’ll look into the charcoal, thanks!

 

[Sunshade82]

I didn’t think Goldie would last the night, but she did! This morning she is talkative but still can’t walk/stand.
She keeps curling the toes on her right foot so I brought her out to take a look. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her foot, but I wiggled her toes around and they’re limp…like she has no feeling in them. The other foot is fine.
She seems to have more control over her head today. She doesn’t have to prop herself up anymore and her head isn’t bobbing back.
Is there a possibility she’ll be permanently paralyzed in her right foot? Can chickens live like that?

 

[Eggcessive]

If you lose another, send the body to your state vet in South Logan. That link is in this list:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
I would inspect your feed for any mold or bad odor. It can mold quickly if any gets moisture in it. Mareks tends to cause lameness and curled toes in one leg. B complex vitamins might be helpful, 1/2 tablet daily. The only way to know for sure what is happening is to get a necropsy. The body must be kept cold, not frozen, and taken in or shipped overnight. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Sunshade82]

If you lose another, send the body to your state vet in South Logan. That link is in this list:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
I would inspect your feed for any mold or bad odor. It can mold quickly if any gets moisture in it. Mareks tends to cause lameness and curled toes in one leg. B complex vitamins might be helpful, 1/2 tablet daily. The only way to know for sure what is happening is to get a necropsy. The body must be kept cold, not frozen, and taken in or shipped overnight. Sorry for your loss.

Thanks I’ll add some B vitamins.
Their feed is 100% dry. We haven’t had any moisture in weeks. In fact our temps have increased a lot lately. It’ll be in the 90s this week.
Could the heat stress have exacerbated something already there?

So, I know vaccination doesn’t 100% prevent Mareks, but isn’t it odd to have two chickens have the vaccine fail on them? Maybe something happened with their batch at the hatchery?
I just really don’t want my other 3 hens to get sick.

One last thing…should I make Goldie a sling so she isn’t putting so much pressure on her lame foot? Or just let her be?

 

[Sunshade82]

Goldie hasn’t eaten much today. Maybe 1/2 of a scrambled egg. I saw her drink water a few times but even that seems to be slowing down. She talks to me when I go see her, but she barely tries to move anymore.
A couple things I noticed today…
Her poop is mostly watery/clear. It does have some darker green chunks and it has a lot of white sticky stuff in it. Hardly any smell.
Her stomach was growling. Do chicken’s stomachs growl like humans or could that be a clue?

Side note: Goldie and Dixie had not been laying for a while. I was actually relieved by this because before that, one of them was laying soft or really thin-shelled eggs that were getting broken and eaten even after supplementing with calcium. Having them NOT lay was easier than cleaning up the mess daily and worrying about an egg eater. I just assumed they had taken an early retirement and I was ok with that.
But…They both still did the squat when I got close to them. Usually that signals they are laying?
Could they both have started laying internally? yolk peritonitis?
Idk I’m usually good at researching stuff but I don’t know what to do. All these random symptoms and nothing to narrow down what’s wrong.

I’ve always been an animal person. This month has me rethinking that. I have 2 rats getting meds 2x a day for a chronic respiratory illness from the pet store we got them from.(IK)
I have a young cat that got so stressed out from us going on vacation that his urethra swelled shut and he almost died cause he couldn’t pee. $2,000 later and he’s alive but trying to keep his donut/cone on him so he doesn’t rip his stitches is like when a baby first learns to get out of the crib and they are constantly escaping and getting into stuff. It’s been 2.5 weeks of constant supervision Day/night. Plus now he on bougie food that might bankrupt us.
This wasn’t hard enough to deal with so now I have sick and dying chickens.
I can research everything to death and try to do my best to be prepared and informed, but it doesn’t help.
I told my dogs and other cat they need to stay on their best behavior cause I’m about to lose my mind.
Rant over.

 

[Lillith37]

Reproductive issues could be likely. High production laying breeds are susceptible to reproductive illness from a young age. Soft shelled eggs are a warning sign. Any nesting behaviour including squatting without producing eggs are also warning signs. Checking the bird’s weight against body condition and monitoring behaviour, crops, poop and abdomen feeling (squishy, hard, fluid filled etc) are ways of identifying issues early on.

It sounds like you’ve been going through a really rough time and that you love your animals very much. I’m sorry to hear Goldie hasn’t improved much. You could try amoxicillin antibiotics and calcium supplements.