Britannia Ovens (esp Range cookers) your experience

[drawlins]

EDIT - Firstly my apologies - I just realised I posted this in the wrong forum but I don't know how to move it to the clinic,

I'm really worried about one of our three buff orpingtons. She has been broody for about a couple of weeks, all normal - but tonight when cleaning the coop I noticed her sitting in the nest box and whirling her head in a circular motion. At first I thought she was clearing an irritation either inside or out, but then it became obvious she's not well.

When I got her out the nest box, her balance is quite poor and shes doing a lot of visual orientation if you like - looking all over the place as if to get a reference point on which way is up. I think she might have really bad vertigo. When I turned out the coop light after cleaning then monitored on a camera we have in there - she started whirling again, flapping wings and generally panicking.

I can't tell if it's a seizure or if she's simply really dizzy. She occasionally turns her head completely upside down, which seems to trigger the episode - if I then steady her and calm her down it seems to help a bit.

She's isolated in a dog cage in our kitchen, with the lights on dim - and seems to have settled down a bit.

Interest in food, water and being broody seems normal as far as a broody is concerned- she is trying to behave normally. But she has trouble aiming her pecks - if I try and give her a raisin, it takes a few attempts before she gets it out of my hand. I've done a lot of reading posts but it seems 50% of all illnesses can cause wry neck etc. I've checked her ears - they look fine, her crop is about 1/3 full (till she ate some more), and her abdomen feels fine. Her comb is upright, with a very light purple tinge, probably not enough to be called cyanosis.

Any help would be really appreciated as I'm pretty worried. Thank you

Edited May 15, 2020 by drawlins

[The Dogmother]

Without seeing her, it sounds as if this could be wry neck or star gazing... you need to get some Vits into her, specifically Vit E and selenium as it is caused by a deficiency in these. Give her nettex's NutriDrops asap and feed dark greens such as dandelions, spinach or broccoli. You should see a remarkable recovery, but do keep her isolated form the others until she's better. This isn't contagious.

[Beantree]

Sounds like 'star gazing' to me as well. Problem is they get very disorientated and panic and can injure themselves, so keep the lights very dim, almost dark, and treat as DM advises. 

We've had an Orpington with this, so perhaps there is a genetic issue. Unfortunately the internet wasn't then what it is now, so she was PTS before serious injury.

[The Dogmother]

1 hour ago, Beantree said:

Sounds like 'star gazing' to me as well. Problem is they get very disorientated and panic and can injure themselves, so keep the lights very dim, almost dark, and treat as DM advises. 

We've had an Orpington with this, so perhaps there is a genetic issue. Unfortunately the internet wasn't then what it is now, so she was PTS before serious injury.

Yes, there c an be a genetic pre-disposition, but not always. Brooding can bring it on if they aren't eating properly. If she isn't rearing chicks, I would pop her in a broody cage when this is sorted; it's the kindest thing to do, otherwise she might starve herself.

[drawlins]

Thank you for your help everyone. Just wanted to give an update with some sad news

Over the weekend I’ve slept next to Victoria while she was in the kitchen. Her head flailing got progressively worse and more violent until about 7am Sunday morning when it was literally continuous except when I held her head still - it would have continued until complete exhaustion. I had her laid next to me on my makeshift bed all night, and she was also breathing very heavily with open mouth. I couldn’t bear to see her suffer this much and decided that it was the right thing to do to put her to sleep. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but at least she is not suffering anymore; we buried her in the garden near the coop where her sisters can be nearby.

I will never forgive myself if we've done something to cause this. I had started her on LifeGuard seaweed, mixed with tuna for selenium. I hand-fed this over a few hours with a tiny spoon as she wasnt voluntarily eating in the last 24 hours. The local poultry suppliers didn't have nutridrops or similar in stock and tried the local supermarkets but they are out of stock of vit E for humans too, maybe because of coronavirus.

We feed a mixture of pellets and a small amount of "nice bits"- but for pellets which form the biggest bulk of general food we use VermX layers pellets - these say they are fortified with all the main vitamins including E. Overall I don't know if she was broody long enough to get deficient? - about 10 days I worked out. We make sure to get broodies out and about once a day to stimulate eating/drinking and going to the loo etc. In the water they have a couple of days of apple cider vinegar a week, and vermX liquid three days a month.Outside of that just fresh water every day.

I’ve looked at a lot of wry neck videos online and it doesn't feel like it was the same in some ways. I’m worried she might have had Mareks or Newcastle disease - when she had an episode her feet would curl, wings outstretched and she'd make noises in distress. It was so hearbreaking, I feel like I've failed her when she depended on me most.

RIP Victoria xx

Edited May 19, 2020 by drawlins

[The Dogmother]

I'm sorry to hear your news. Without seeing her it's difficult to be sure... it could have been wry neck, but equally might have been just a seizure. You did the right thing by culling her.

You mention a herbal gut conditioner, may I ask what you worm them with?

Edited May 19, 2020 by The Dogmother

[Cat tails]

It doesn’t sound like the Marek’s I have had.

VermX isn’t a wormer. It’s a herbal remedy which is supposed to make the gut less inviting to worms. But once having worms, it doesn’t get rid of them. I would stick to a normal layer pellet and see if you can worm them with either Flubenvet or something like ivermectin.

[The Dogmother]

No, that doesn't sound like Marek's

[mullethunter]

You certainly didn’t fail her. It sounds like you did everything you could for her and ended her suffering when the time was right. 

[drawlins]

Thank you everyone for your replies, it's good to hear that. I'm also glad in a way that it doesnt sound like Mareks, perhaps one less infectious disease that could affect the others.

We certainly don't rely on VermX for protection against worms - we use twice yearly Flubenvet treatments for that. we also have Ivermectin as an anti-mite/louse where needed.

VermX liquid just seems like a blend of potent vegetables/spices and I just think it gives them some variety and cant be a bad thing. They do really gulp the water down, even when it's in low concentrations so they must like the taste! Beyond that though, I can't see it really having much medicinal or protective value. I use the (probably overpriced!) VermX pellets because they seem to be good quality and have a full nutritional/trace vitamin report - many farm suppliers foods etc only have the basics.

 

[The Dogmother]

👍 so long as you're aware; there has been a rash of people with poorly birds and it turns out that they usually aren't worming, and/or mistaking herbal conditioners for wormers.

[soapdragon]

Don't feel that you failed her...you didn't. It sounds as though she had wonderful care...such a shame that, ultimately, it didn't do the trick. This is the worst part of keeping animals but you have the best bits to think about too!

[drawlins]

Thanks again everyone.

I had a phone appointment with the vet today and he agreed that the prognosis is generally poor when torticollis gets to that stage. He says it could be any of a number of virus diseases or possibly lead/zinc poisoning - but without a post mortem there’s no way of telling for sure. It’s unlikely to be poisoning as they are in a very controlled garden environment.

It was good to hear from a vet that it was the right thing to do at the time. He says keep a close eye on the other two, which I will definitely be doing!