Lethargic chook

[Vicki Hill]

Hi All,

I adopted 7 ex-battery shavers recently, wormed them when they got here and they've settled in well.  They came from a local farm where they were free-ranging and they are also free-ranging on our 1/4 acre here.  I've noticed, over the last couple of days, that one of the girls is quite lethargic, moving slowly, has a dirty vent and a droopy comb.  Unfortunately I can't verify her age but given her previous occupation I'm guessing she's around 2+ years old.  She is quite a bit larger than the other girls and looks older than them.  I'm fairly sure she hasn't laid since we got her.  Given the weather is already quite cold here I'm not sure whether to attribute most of her symptoms to her age (for a battery hen) and the time of year and everything that comes with that (off lay, moulting etc).  I have done a bit of research on her symptoms and the only thing I can find is internal/external parasites but she (and the coop) seems all clear.

The other girls are all very energetic and seem a picture of health.  At the moment we're getting between 3 and 6 eggs per day.

Any ideas?

[Vicki Hill]

Sadly our girl died this week. "Roosterbang" (as our 5yr old named her) did hang in there for much longer than I thought she would. We ended up isolating her and put apple cider vinegar and a bit of garlic in her water, just in case it was parasitic - maybe that helped her carry on so long, who knows. All other chooks are doing really well though so I'm still stumped. Thanks to all of you for your advice and sharing your experiences.

[Janette Williams]

HI Vicki, Im really sorry to hear this- I know how hard it is to lose one of the girls.
Janette

[Vicki Hill]

Thanks Janette - it was hard. It amazes me how quickly I've got attached - I only got them a few months ago. I'm just glad hubby was happy to be the undertaker - not sure I could've done that as well.

[Kristen Morse]

Hi there, from experience there can be a couple of things that cause the droopy lethargic thing, one is coming into the moult, they really look unhappy for a few days before the feathers start to drop - obviously this isn't fatal but is worrying. The other one is coccidia - not sure if I have the spelling right, the birds build up an immunity to the type of parasites on the land they are on and just about everyone has it in their soil too by the way, so it is not nessacarily a sign of dirty practices, but if they have a move or a shock - and being sold is a big shock to an animals system, they can be more prone to the parasite. We had a lovely 3yr old gold laced wyandotte hen that my daughter raised and showed at annual club show - She never looked well after the show and went downhill to the point when the kindest thing to do was to euthanaise her despite isolating her and worming her and special feed rations, and we have been told this was caused by coccidia. She was apparently so shocked by the show experience that the parasite loading killed her. I worm with Aviverm and garlic regualy so did not think my hens were carrying parasites but of course if you run hens in a backyard for some years you will build up a parasite loading in the ground. This is why poultry farmers rotate their pasture. That is not always possible in the urban environment when where you put your coop is the sometimes the only place it can go. I personally recommend that you use a worming treatment at least once a year as well as the garlic for this reason. Not every thing is killed by garlic and birds grazing over the same ground year round will have a recurrent parasite problem.

[Janette Williams]

Without a medical opinion I dont really know if you need to isolate her- my vet said it could be a number of things from a ovarian infection or infection of the vent or something she had ingested and only an autopsy would tell. Its a pity you dont have a specialist vet- I now know we have a bird/chicken specialist just up the road which is good for the future (although I didnt spend the money getting an autopsy at the time because my other birds seemed fine).

[Vicki Hill]

Thanks Kali and Janette - I was dreading these replies but part of me thought that may be the case. Unfortunately, our local vets don't handle live birds (have already phoned around and am pretty disappointed as they really only offered autopsy - maybe that's the way with rural vets?) so I had hoped there would be something I could do to help her. Do either of you know whether there is any point me isolating her? If she does go, I'd rather she had some company at the end, if that doesn't compromise the other chooks at all.

[Stacey]

I had this same thing last week. She was my oldest chook - probably 4 years old and ex-battery. Rapid decline over a few days, seeming very elderly, but eating (though less). And yes, she died. But my other chooks are right as rain. Poor old thing - I euthenised a previous chook who got really sick because it was miserable to see, but this one was okay and just didn't wake up one morning.

[Vicki Hill]

Thanks Stacey - I'm hoping it isn't hard on her, whatever it is. I spent quite a while out watching her today and she spent a lot of time sitting in a sunny sheltered spot under the lemon tree. I was half expecting to find her there later in the day, 'gone'. But she's still trucking on so I will wait it out and see how she goes. She doesn't seem in pain, just slowing down, so I will keep my fingers crossed.

[Janette Williams]

I confer with Kali, we had a hen who after a couple of days of lethargic behaviour did the same thing. The vet said that in future if I noticed it happen to any of the other hens to take them to the vet as soon as possible. Apparently eating right until the end is common, but unusual behaviour like lethargy is a sign that something is very wrong.

[Kali]

I am afraid whenever this kind of thing has happened with my hens they usually die, so brace yourself, someone else might have nicer suggestions to make
sorry