[madmare]

Every month or so my friend  loses a chicken to the same problem.  The chicken becomes unable to eat gets a swelling on the side of its face and is in obvious pain.  If left they would just sit there and literally starve to death.  So they end up at the vets being put to sleep.  
This has been going on for a few years now.
Has anyone else encountered this and have an idea of what it may be?
For some reason, don't know if its just lucky but the cockerel has always been ok.
The hens are housed in a nice little brick built outbuilding of which they are shut in at night.  It has perches for roosting and some nest boxes.  On the floor of the house is woodshavings which are swept up daily and in the nest boxes are straw.
The door is left open during the day so they can go out into a nice grassy run.
If it had been just one or two got this we would have put it down to an injury but it seems to eventually get them all over a period of time.  There has never been 2 sick at the same time though and sometimes it can be a couple of months before another succumbs or it can be as little as a week.

[Foxy]

difficult to diagnose could be a number of things. It sounds like there is a infection possibly viral and some of those birds are "shedders" of the infection, so what may be happening is the infection is just going round in circles new birds becoming infected, then dying, older birds succumbing to the infection or secondary infections.
May be a good idea to send a bird off for a post mortem. I would be tempted to cull all the birds and start again. Would completely disinfect the house with a strong antiviral disinfectant, like Virkon. Would need to know what the cause is as may need to move birds to fresh ground as well for a while as the ground around the henhouse may be "sour "therefore a breeding ground for infection.
Hope this helps am really sorry must be a very distressing situation to keep losing birds like that.

[Aunt Sally]

Has your friend not asked the vet for an opinion when a hen is put down  :?:

[mickwood]

sorry if this is hijacking the thread but foxy what did you mean by the ground going 'sour'? Can this be prevented? (just possibly identifying a future problem and ensuring it doesn't happen here!)

[madmare]

Vet has been asked an opinion but said without doing a post mortem which friend cannot  afford at the moment they can't tell her.
I would also be interested as to what you mean the ground is "sour".  Do you mean infection has got in the soil and as the hens peck about they are getting infected?

[mumsy]

When the ground is used all the time without rotation, then it can go sour.............if no other ground available to rotate, then dig over, sprinkle with lime (gardener's lime), water in, & bark/chip the top.  Munty is more of an expert on these matters.....hope this helps.

[mickwood]

Cheers for that, how long would an area take to 'go sour'?

[mumsy]

I guess it depends on how many chooks you have, I had two & I'd say about a year, but they had quite alot of space, now I have five & lime every six months...........the chooks need to be out of the run when you do this btw.  If you can sprinkle the lime & leave for a week or so then all the better, if not, then water in & then the chooks can go back in.

[mickwood]

Thanks for that!! Think I'll scratch that one up as an annual job for me!

Learn new things everyday on this site!!  

[Kate and her Ducks]

Was pottering on the internet trying to find out about blue legs and found something about Swollen Head Syndrome that might fit this. Can't get the link up but if you google it should come up.

[Aunt Sally]

Was it on the poultry site Kate ?

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/13/avian-rhinotracheitis-swollen-head-syndrome

[Kate and her Ducks]

That wasn't the site but certainly to diease I found, thanks for finding a link

[Aunt Sally]

It's a site I often use for reference Kate  It's very good and also in laymans terms..

I use this one to.  Its excellent but it is far more vet based.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp

[Kate and her Ducks]

Oooh, I like that one :oops:
Information overload :shock:  Always great to know where these resources are. Thanks Aunty Sally

[MontyTom]

Just a couple of quick replies:

When the ground goes sour it really stinks!  I usually take off top crust and compost if this occurs.  Lime is good but have found running on bark very good in enclosed runs during winter months - it rots down nicely.  Keep rain off it where possible though; I use transparent polycarb cover for this.

As regards the facial swelling, I had a dorking hen this year develop a large, what I thought was an abcess, by the side of her eye/beak.  She carried on mostly as normal and now it has begun to reabsorb.  Very strange but no others have suffered similar problems.

Also, not being cynical but if this is happening a lot, just cull quickly and move stock onto fresh ground for a while.  Vets must cost a fortune and I agree with Foxy about localised contamination.

All the best.