[HarperHen]

Hello, I hope someone can help me.

I have 9 hens, 4 of which are adopted Warrens and Black Rocks and the other 5 are ex batts. The last ex batt to die had a very distended abdomen - almost purple/red in colour, lack of energy, ate and drank very little and looked very sorry for herself. unfortunately she had to be put to sleep. The vet thought that she might have had a tumour.

One of my Black Rock's has the same symptoms and she got better for a while but now they have returned. Her droppings are like clear liquid and they have volume. Her comb can become purple when it gets a little chilly so I put her into a solitary coop to keep her warm. The vent feathers are constantly crusted with white and she wants to huddle on her own.

I have read that there are quite a few strains of Coccidiosis and that some of them don't have blood in the droppings as a symptom. Neither hens had blooming droppings.

Should I purchase Coxoid and treat all of the hens regardless and do without eggs for 28 days or put it down to another tumour? Does anyone think that it's odd that two hens would have the same illness within such a short time of each other or that it could be a shared infection instead?

I aslo have a 3rd hen who has the sneezes and has a rattly chest. Is this related too?

Any help would be great, thank you.

[joyfull]

when did you last worm them and what with?
chickens with rattly chest and sneezing sounds like you also have a respiritory problem so perhaps a course of antibiotics for all of them as respiritory problems tend to be infectious.

[HarperHen]

They all get Verm-x every month and a course of Flubenvet in the last 3 months.

[joyfull]

have you read this post:-

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19629.0;prev_next=prev

[joyfull]

and this:-

http://www.millerhatcheries.com/Information/Diseases/coccidiosis.htm


just to see if the symptoms match.

[geordiechick]

Hi Harper Hen

One of my 3 ex-batts is poorly and she sounds exactly the same as the hen you describe.  Right down to the white around her vent.  What was the final diagnosis?  What did you do to treat her? I have contacted The Chicken Vet website and am getting a poo testing kit for them to diagnose the problem.

 I hope she pulled through.