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[queen of danes]

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on what may have caused me to lose 2 of my girls. I lost Punky 6 weeks ago and McNugget tonight.

 

I had both for around a year. Symptoms were:

 

• Generally under the weather
  Stopped eating and sat fluffed up. No poops.
  Hung their necks twisted to the right and jerked their head/necks violently periodically
  Shrivelled up and dehydrated combs.

 

They were free range chux. Both were isolated from the flock when symptoms were noticed.

 

McNugget had exactly the same propblem a month ago and our vet thought she may have a blockage in the gizzard. Gave castor oil 3x a day which worked a treat and also Baytril as a precaution. Within a couple of days she recovered and was fine. This time, however, she didn't do well and I had to make the decision to put her out of her misery.

 

I am concerned that it might be something infectious - even though there were 6 weeks between the illnesses. I have 14 other ex-bats and don't want to lose any more to this - whatever it is.

 

Any ideas anyone?

Debs

[Guest]

sorry to hear that, did you worm them regularly and what did you use?

[queen of danes]

Thanks for your prompt response. Yep, I've been giving them a pelleted wormer every couple of months - think its called Verm-x or something similar. Trouble is, you never know who eats it!

 

One thing I do worry about however is that we have a family of crows which also feeds from their trough - wondered maybe if they'd caught something from them.

[Guest]

was their breathing rattley/croaky? I was wondering if it might have been gapeworm with the neck stretching you described. FR chooks are especially susecptible to it as they pick up the parasite from worms.

 

I don't think verm x is effective against gape. I worm our girls every 3 months with flubenvet.

 

If it was gape though I would have expected your vet to pick up on that

[Redwing]

I'm really sorry I cant add anything constructive

 

I hope you get it sorted out and sorry about your girls

[queen of danes]

Thank you for responding everyone - I really appreciate it.

 

Poet: I didn't notice any breathing difficulties particularly. One thing I forgot to mention though was that McNugget did leak some nasty brown mucus type liquid from her crop when I took her to the vet tonight. Yuk. I have also noticed that one or two of the girls do get the odd purple patch on their combs periodically, though this does come and go quickly.

 

Thank you for your worming recommendation. I will look into that as my lot do eat lots of earthworms. I thought they were good for them but maybe not!

[Chucky Mama]

I would advise that you switch your wormer to Flubenvet. Worms may well have had nothing to do with your girls illness but Flubenvet is a very effective wormer endorsed by the uK Veterinary Medicines Directorate.

[Guest]

I wonder if it is/was sour crop? Battery hens suddenly exposed to a diet of rich grass could develop crop problems couldn't they Try them with some probiotic yoghurt or bokashi bran and someone else on here talked about a gel, Daktarin or something?

 

Does their breath smell and their crop feel squishy, like a water filled balloon?

[queen of danes]

Thank you chucky Mama and Poet. I did mention sour crop to the vet as what was coming out of McNugget was pretty disgusting and stinky! He said if it was Sour Crop, Baytril would be the med for that, which I was giving anyway. I dunno, maybe I just got to them too late or was unlucky. They are free range, on grass, so maybe the spring growth was just too tempting for them.

 

I will review the wormers now - though Verm-x does say on the packet that it deals with all intenstinal parasites - I chose it because it was natural and there was no egg withdrawal period. What's the situation with Flubenvet? Do you have to chuck out the eggs whilst using it?

 

Will get some yoghurt tonight anyway - I've heard that mixing it with oatmeal goes down with relish!

 

Thanks again. x

[Guest]

hate to question your vet but sour crop is a fungal problem, baytril is antibiotic NOT an anti fungal medication

 

there's no egg withdrawal with flubenvet.

[queen of danes]

Hmm, that's interesting! That may explain why the Baytril it didnt work then! I will make sure I point that out to him.

 

I really struggled to find any vet in the Bristol area who is knowledgeable about poultry. The one I go to seemed to know a bit more than most because he keeps chicken himself so I thought he was my best bet. However, I would have expected him to know about sour crop and to be honest, I feel a bit let down now.