Weird Chicken Sickness Symptoms

[Dustin11]

I've read thru many other threads and have not found another one where a chicken has had similar symptoms as what mine is currently experiencing. A bit of history, We had a chicken that had these exact same symptoms starting around early-February starting with its comb turning black. At first we thought it was frostbite as we just experienced an extreme cold snap. Over the course of the next 2 months it slowly got sicker before finally dying. A few weeks into its sickness it started to walk very upright much like a penguin would, our chicken isn't there yet, but I want to take care of this issue before it gets to that point. To start, these are the early symptoms its been experiencing:

-Its usual very vibrant red comb is turning black on the tips.
-Its getting lethargic, walking slower, and its been very easy to catch (usually can't catch this chicken).
-Its vent is caked with white and green.
-Directly below where it was roosting there was a pile of white, green, and opaque liquid.
-It doesn't seem to be eating much and I can't tell if its drinking water.

What I've tried:
-Isolated the chicken.
-Gave it water with nutradrench
-Added Corid to its water.

Due to its vent being dirty I'm thinking its not a stuck egg, and due to the time the other chicken with similar symptoms took to die I'm not thinking its cholera or some other quick killing illness. I've not seen any evidence of worms either. Another issue is that no vets with in an hour of me sees chickens despite living in an agricultural/farmland area. Anyone experience anything similar? Really don't want to see the chicken slowly getting sicker.

 

[swamphiker]

Which breeds and about how old are the chickens (both the one that died and the one that is currently sick)?

 

[nuthatched]

Diet? Sounds like worms or reproductive issues.

 

[Dustin11]

Which breeds and about how old are the chickens (both the one that died and the one that is currently sick)?

I'm not too sure on the breed, this is an image of it from a few months ago. We got these birds about 22 months ago and they were egg laying adults already, so I'm also not sure on the age. My best guess is about 3 year old.

 

[Dustin11]

Diet? Sounds like worms or reproductive issues.

Diet is X-cel layered pellets with a freeze dried soldier flies in the morning. They mostly free range though. A 50lb bad of feed was lasting 7 adult egg laying chickens close to 8 weeks. We just introduced some younger chickens into the flock and they were finishing up their chicken grower feed and these adults were eating that as well, but the 1st chicken was sick before their introduction of this new feed.

 

[swamphiker]

From the picture, they are red sex-links, which are high production chickens that frequently die pretty young since egg facilities rotate out their stock every 18 months or so. I've had a red sex-link and Rhode Island red die with similar symptoms within the past year. I suspect reproductive cancers, which are very common in high production breeds, but I didn't do necropsies to know for sure.

I'm sorry for your loss and hope your sick hen is able to recover.

 

[igorsMistress]

The best way to find out what’s wrong is to get a necropsy when the bird dies. Please see this thread

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/➡-necropsy-disease-testing-state-labs-info.1236884/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Its getting lethargic, walking slower, and its been very easy to catch (usually can't catch this chicken).
-Its vent is caked with white and green.
-Directly below where it was roosting there was a pile of white, green, and opaque liquid.
-It doesn't seem to be eating much and I can't tell if its drinking water.

Can you please post current photos of the sick hen, her comb and her poop?

When is the last time this hen laid an egg?

I'd start by giving her extra Calcium for a week. See if she's having troubles pushing out an egg or egg material. Calcium Citrate with D3, 1 tablet daily. You can find it at Walmart, CVS, etc.

I'd deworm if you haven't done so. Check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight and look her over for lice/mites.

If the crop is not emptying, address that symptom. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm -

Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
---OR---
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

For production birds, going on 3 years of age, a lot of times you may start to see reproductive disorders.



Without necropsy, it's very hard to know what happened to the other hen, but some of the symptoms you describe sounds like a hen with a reproductive disorder. Walking upright like a Penguin, slow decline, darkened comb...Cancer, EYP, Internal Laying, Salpingitis, etc. are all common in laying hens. Early February is often when a lot of hens come back into lay after a winter break, sometimes this is when you may see the start of some reproductive problems. But again, unless you investigate further either by sending the body to your state lab or doing an informal yourself, it's hard to know.

We had a chicken that had these exact same symptoms starting around early-February starting with its comb turning black. At first we thought it was frostbite as we just experienced an extreme cold snap. Over the course of the next 2 months it slowly got sicker before finally dying. A few weeks into its sickness it started to walk very upright much like a penguin would, our chicken isn't there yet

 

[Dustin11]

Can you please post current photos of the sick hen, her comb and her poop?

When is the last time this hen laid an egg?

I'd start by giving her extra Calcium for a week. See if she's having troubles pushing out an egg or egg material. Calcium Citrate with D3, 1 tablet daily. You can find it at Walmart, CVS, etc.

I'd deworm if you haven't done so. Check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight and look her over for lice/mites.

If the crop is not emptying, address that symptom. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm -

Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
---OR---
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

For production birds, going on 3 years of age, a lot of times you may start to see reproductive disorders.



Without necropsy, it's very hard to know what happened to the other hen, but some of the symptoms you describe sounds like a hen with a reproductive disorder. Walking upright like a Penguin, slow decline, darkened comb...Cancer, EYP, Internal Laying, Salpingitis, etc. are all common in laying hens. Early February is often when a lot of hens come back into lay after a winter break, sometimes this is when you may see the start of some reproductive problems. But again, unless you investigate further either by sending the body to your state lab or doing an informal yourself, it's hard to know.

I was looking around for fresh droppings today and couldn't find any other than what I plucked off her backside last night. Upon picking her up today I noticed her stomach felt really full and tight, combine that with her not having laid an egg since she has been in isolation (4 days), and the lack of droppings, I thought maybe she was eggbound. This was my first time having to do with to a chicken before, and the results were not exactly what I was expecting. First, I was not able to find an egg, instead I only felt a bunch of water, like my finger was inside of a warm water balloon despite only being roughly 2 inches in. Upon finishing up, there was an audible squirt sound and a bunch of liquid clear but slightly speckled liquid shot out. I set the hen down on the ground and as she began walking a good amount of red liquid began flowing out her backside. Not as dark red like blood would be, it was lighter in color and didn't smear like blood would. This continued for about a minute or two before stopping and in all I'd say at least 1/4 cup of red liquid came out. Not sure what exactly happened, but not a great 1st experience checking for a stuck egg. I monitored her for about 20 minutes and she just kind of laid in her makeshift roost looking at me, probably confused as I was.

No mites, luckily. We had an outbreak of northern foul mites last summer and that was something I hope to never have to deal with again.

I began deworming her 2 days ago with safeguard goat dewormer, we'll see if that improves her condition. Its worth a shot.

I'll check the crop, haven't done that yet.

Below is an image of her comb, you can see the back parts of it have some blackening. Normally her comb would be a very vibrant red.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She may have something reproductive going on like Peritonitis, Salpingitis, Cancer, etc., hard to know.

If she's eating/drinking and not getting picked at, I would put her with her flock and see how she does.