The end of March one of my two EE hens died suddenly with no symptoms. Now the other one is showing signs of illness. I went out to check on them this morning and she was still in the hen house on the perch while the four other hens were out in the run. She is about 11 months old. I don't know how much she weighs but all of my hens have always seemed to be underweight - a very prominent breast bone. They are fed organic layer pellets(free choice), flax seed, oyster shell, and sometimes scratch. Since the death of my other hen I have been adding grit to the ground in the run. The floor of the run and hen house is covered with straw. They have shade cloth over the run and a misting fan on during the day. They have an automatic waterer. The hen house is a 4' x 4' converted playhouse and the attached run is 4' x 12'. She seemed fine up until today and layed an egg yesterday. She is the bottom of the pecking order but shows no signs of picked feathers or other injuries. She is laying on my lap and very lethargic. She will have her beak open for some time and then slowly close it. She also has her eyes closed mostly but will open them occasionally. Her breathing seems slightly labored but with no sounds.
AS I WAS TYPING THIS SHE HAS DIED. She started flapping her wings and arching her head backwards and I knew it was the end. I held her close and she continued to struggle. She expelled - from her vent - a clear liquid with streaks that resembled mustard in color and thickness. I would like to try to figure out if I am doing something wrong. When I brought her in the house, I was getting her to drink water with some acv in it but she wouldn't eat. I'm guessing I have some kind of parasite or disease making its way through my flock. When I ordered my chicks, I requested no vaccines and I have never treated them for worms. The only preventive measure for parasites that I take is adding DE to the run and the hen house floor. The hens will dust bathe in the DE and dirt. The reason I asked for no vaccines and don't use wormers is that I like to try to keep things as natural as possible. I figured that I have a small number of hens in an adequate space with a lot of fresh air and I shouldn't have many problems with disease. I don't think there are any other chickens in my immediate area to spread disease. Am I just being naive? I don't want to stick to ideals that cause my hens suffering and death. Please let me know what kind of preventive measures you take with your hens and if you have any ideas at all what might be happening with my birds. The remaining four are all alert and behaving normally. I have checked them all for mites and haven't found any. I really can't afford to have a necropsy done. Thanks for reading this and for any response you might have.
Stephanie
Replies
Yes, the death was caused by a common repiratory pathogen called Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Dr. Scholten said that the treatment for it is vitamin E and tylosan antibiotics.
Stephanie
The cause of death was respiratory. Exact cause is still unknown at this point. I have path slides that I am reviwing, in will also get some avian path people to look at them as well m
Stephanie I would like your permission yournpermission to post the radiographs as well as the pictures of the lesions and the path slides when I am done. I think that it would be interesting for all, as well as showing what the anatomy looks like there are unshelled eggsmin various levels of progression that seen as well
Nathan J
Although I haven't read anything about lung problems caused by DE (diatomaceous earth) in chickens, I know that it can cause some problems in humans. I wonder if the DE could have caused some lung damage(particularly if they are dust bathing in it) or possibly helped to open up their lungs to infection. Perhaps Dr. Scholten might have some knowledge on this.
My condolences on your loss,
Kevin
I suppose you never know...
Do you by chance have bark scorpions at your place? The reason that I ask is that I have lots of experience with chicken vs. bark scorpion situations, as they seem to like our house and property as much as we do. It is often said that chickens are "immune" to the sting of a scorpion. However, I've discovered that chickens are very much like humans in that some are extremely sensitive to the sting and others aren't slowed down at all by them.
I have a theory that in areas where bark scorpions are prevalent, a chicken's death that is preceded by apparent respiratory distress and no noticeable injury is often the result of a bad reaction to a scorpion sting. Think about where a chicken would likely get stung by a scorpion...chicken is scratching around, sees a funny crawly thing, decides funny crawly thing would taste wonderful, pecks at funny crawly thing...well, you get the picture. Then think about the paralysis that can result from a sting if one is sensitive to it. I had a chicken that I didn't get Benadryl into quickly enough die in my arms in a fashion similar to the one you described.
I've watched it happen on several different times...it seems to go down like this:
1) Chicken is stung
2) Chicken instantly starts scratching at its face and shaking its head
3) Respiratory distress kicks in within seconds, with gaping beak and labored breathing
4) Chicken starts shivering, sometimes violently; this usually stops after a while when the reaction gets to the "its too late" stage
5) Chicken can either continue moving around, has to sit down on its haunches, or is laid out flat
Anyway, its all beside the point if you don't have scorpions around. Food for thought, I guess.
I have never seen a scorpion around here in the ten years we've been in this house. But I was told by an E.R. doctor that a large, painful, swollen area I had on my leg was a scorpion sting. So we probably have at least a small population. This hen did not have the immediate acute reaction that you describe. She was just listless and quiet at first. That's when I brought her inside and then the labored breathing started a little while after that. She didn't scratch at her face, shake her head, or shiver. Thanks for the new information. Now I will know some possible symptoms for a scorpion sting. What dose of Benadryl do you give to a standard size chicken?
Stephanie
2 mL seems to do the trick for a heavy breed chicken, (by heavy I mean a 6 or so lb. broiler) 1 mL for a smaller breed like Ameraucana or Leghorn. I suppose you'd want to give maybe .75 mL to a banty.
My Cuckoo Marans, Flower, had to be in the "chicken hospital" for a week before she would even start walking.
I do not vaccinate my birds because like Chris said, once you get one that's been vaccinated for Marek's all of your future birds need to be. I do not feed them medicated feed either. Natural methods are a great way to prevent disease, but in my experience, if a bird gets sick in spite of your best efforts, often the only thing that works are non-natural medicines. Especially for people that are new to chickens and may not notice something is wrong until it is REALLY wrong, as chickens are so excellent at hiding symptoms. I do keep a wide spectrum antibiotic on hand as well as a few different wormers and hope to not need them.
I would recommend the Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow as a resource for helping to figure out what might be wrong with your birds. The fact that they all seem underweight seems very suspicious to me, luckily the necropsy should help that issue get sorted out.
Stephanie
What you are describing are signs consistent with a respiratory issue/ infection.
If you would like I would be willing to do a necropsy on her at no charge. While I am not a veterinary pathologist I am a veterinarian. Depending on what lesions are found I could do some basic impression smears of tissues to look for pathological agents.
Respectfully,
Nathan J. Scholten D.V.M.
602.494-4674. Reference this message to the front desk to get in touch with me. I am going into SX in about 20 min and won't be able to take calls for about two hours.
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