[cathyb68]

My 6 week old Aracauna has hardly eaten or drank in 4 days.  Her stool is dark in color and she just lays there.  She does seem to breath heavy.  HELP!!

[joyfull]

that's not good - have you tried syringing fluids into her?
Hillfooter has a recipe on here for an electrolyte solution - I will see if I can find it for you.

[joyfull]

here it is - 2nd post down

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=78909.msg894329#msg894329

[bantam novice]

Good luck with your Chicken, Cathy68.

[cathyb68]

i had been giving her water that had sulfamet in it, but our local co-op told me not give her water with the syringe because she could drown.  I am very concerned about her.  She just lays there.  She will stand up for about a minute at the most then lays back down.  When you turn her over, her breast bone is VERY noticeable.  I just don't know what to do.

[cathyb68]

We have 22 chickens total.  She is one we got when she was a few days old.  All the other chickens seem to be just fine.  I cleaned their coop out on Friday, but i honestly can't remember if she was acting different before then.  I noticed her in the corner of the coop Friday evening when I checked on them.  She was still in the same corner Saturday morning.  I haven't seen any mites/lice on her or any signs of trauma.  Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[kegs]

Have they been wormed recently?   Is there any change today and if not maybe you should take her to a vet to make sure it's nothing contagious?

Let us know how you're getting on and good luck.

[cathyb68]

Started her on worm medicine last night.  Had to feed her with syringe.  Bought meal worms and mashed them up and also fed her with syringe.  She is about the same today.  Her chest seems "puffy" and when you gently massage it, she gurgles and will either start to swallow or vomit almost.  Any ideas?

[ferretkeeper]

Hi

I've had a similar experience, with a chicken just standing puffed up, head under the wing, chickens of different ages, and one who was lying down a lot, moving places but not doing much else, breathing heavily. It has happened maybe three times in all the time I've kept chickens, and I'm sorry to say in all three cases they didn't make it.

When they are so ill they aren't behaving normally I think the illness is already too far gone. I had one young chicken out of a clutch of 10 I got very recently that seemed to be the loner, sitting quietly a little hunched up, but I kept a close eye, watched for bullying cos chickens are sometimes just plain mean to each other.

a lot of the time it was joining in with the others and eventually I couldn't tell which one I was worried about. But then out of the blue, it didn't come out of the house one morning and it never got better.

All the others are fine, I wondered if it was the really horrible wet weather we were having at the time, but I made sure they had plenty of food, corn and even warm porridge with live yoghurt to keep the chill off and help their immune system.

As long as it's an isolated incident I put it down to nature and survival of the fittest, I do keep quite a few chickens and the odds of one becoming ill are more than when I just had a few, but I always wonder if there was more I should have done, noticed earlier...

I can't get a vet to take the idea of a PM seriously so I just have to make my own assumptions and try to give the chooks the best care I can all the time.

I try alternative/complementary products as opposed to reaching for antibiotics every time I see a problem, and for prevention, more often than not they work - Nutri drops, colloidal silver, citrus drops, garlic, cider vinegar, they are all in my chicken medicine cupboard - try your local feed/farm store place or 'happy chicks' for mail order

Good luck with yours

Helen

[cathyb68]

Thanks Helen.   We tried olive oil mixed with water to help dislodge any blockage she has in her crop.  Will try the yogurt/cider vinegar/garlic on her tonight when I get home.  We have gotten some stuff expelled from her, but I am worried that she is too dehydrated now.  Our local co-op told me not to syringe feed her because she could drown.  So we were very careful on how much we did by syringe and I am afraid that she won't recover now.  Will keep you posted.  Thank you to everyone for your advice.  We are new to raising chickens and it very hard when you raise them from babies to see them get so sick.

[cathyb68]

 
Thank you to all of you for your advice.  We are not really sure what was wrong with Simon, but even after all we tried to do to help her, she passed away last night.  My daughter of course is devasted.  Thank you for the kind words and help.

[hillfooter]

Hi cathy 68, sorry to hear of the demise of your aracuana.  In all likelihood there was nothing you could have done and these things happen and are the down side of keeping any pet so don't beat yourself up about it.  It's all part of learning and gaining experience.

I've Just seen this post and it sounds like this bird could have been crop bound or have had sour crop.  How old was she and had she been eating cut grass or veg which might have caused a blockage?  When birds are young (over 5 weeks and less than 16 weeks) they should be fed on growers mostly and care taken when introducing new food.  They need grit in their gizzards to grind it up and things like vegatables and corn should not be fed untill they have been in  a run for a few weeks.  When crop bound their crop (front RHS lower part of neck toward chest) feels hard and pendulous due to an obstruction.  Sour crop is similar but can feel mushy and foul smelling and is when vegatable matter mostly start to ferment in the crop due to a blockage or eating fermenting vegitation.  Their breath often smells rancid.

The standard treatment is to try to dislodge the blockage by getting them to regurgitate it.  Massaging the crop whilst holding them upside down is the usual method.  spooning or syringing cod liver or olive oil down the throats can help.  What i wouldn't do is feed them more solids or alien food and running through the magic potion bag of tricks in hope one might just work.  All successful treatment should be based on proper diagnosis and the medication if any based on that.  Antibiotics where indicated are often the only effective treatment particularly with many respiratory infections.  

For any illness if in doubt keep the patient warm, quiet and isolated and keep hydrated first and foremost and keep the feed simple and don't start force feeding a cocktail of supplements.  Seek advice from a knowledgable keeper or a vet if you are unsure and in all cases wher there is no immediate improvement or any deterioration.

[cathyb68]

She was about 6 1/2 weeks old and she and my 22 other chickens had eaten some yellow squash and cucumbers the week before she got sick.  Her chest felt puffy.  She stopped eating and drinking and we had to give her fluids with a syringe.  We have a small container with grit in their pen and they are on grower feed.  All the other chickens seem to be just fine.  We did worm them all just to be on the safe side.  We tried the olive oil and she was vomitting, but I guess whatever was wrong was just too much for her.  Thanks for the advice since we are newbies to raising chickens.