HELP whats wrong with our chick?

Our Golden Phoenix hen that is about 8 weeks old was fne this morning. A while ago my son noticed she was sitting looking sickly. he picked her up and she gasps for air and fluid comes out of her mouth. She just sits and when we pick her up fluid comes out of her mouth. Any ideas on what is wrong with her and what we can do?

Also, she had runny white poop.

She died. Now we are afraid that whatever she had will spread to the rest of our flock. Any clues what it may have been??

I'm really sorry about your chicken, that is very sad. I doubt that it is something that your other chickens would get. Keep an eye on them. My thought when I first read your post that she may have been blocked somehow, possibly intestinely. What do you feed your chickens? Have you fed them anything different as of late? I would think that if it was contagious, that your other chickens would be exibiting symptoms as well. Have you checked them for lice or mites? A bad infestation of these can kill chickens. They can literally suck the blood right out of them. It is usually recommended to check at the feather shaft next to their skin, especially around the vent area. I have lost chickens before with no rhyme or reason. I have usually chalked it up to genetics. Just like with people, there can be heart or other internal problems that we just cannot be aware of. The other symptoms of having water come out of her mouth and loose stools does sound peculiar though. Could she have gotten into any plants outside that could have been poisonous. Night shade plants are bad for animals. Hopefully someone else here will be able to give more insight. Sorry again for your loss. -Jaime

Thanks Jaime.
We ran out of chick starter and gave them some of the hen scratch. Don't know if that could have caused this. She showed no signs until this afternoon. I've been searching and searching and the only illness I can come up with that has some of the symptoms she had along with the quick onset is Fowl Cholera. I hope that is not what she had.

chicks can start on chicken grower at 6 weeks of age. I'm not sure what the difference between these two would be. Might be something to think about. Was the chicken food a mash or was it a pellet? I looked up the cholera. Doesnt seem like a match.

Pullorum is an infectious bacterial disease that might be a cause. The only reason I thought of it was you mentioned "white droppings" and another name for it is "White Diarrhea". This is a brief descriptions:

"Pullorum disease is highly fatal to young chicks or poults, but mature birds are more resistant. Young birds may die soon after hatching without exhibiting any observable signs. Most acute outbreaks occur in birds that are under three weeks of age. Mortality in such outbreaks may approach ninety percent if untreated. Survivors are usually stunted and unthrifty. Infection in young birds may be indicated by droopiness, ruffled feathers, a chilled appearance with birds huddling near a source of heat, labored breathing, and presence of a white diarrhea with a "pasted-down" appearance around the vent. The white diarrhea symptom instigated the term "bacillary white diarrhea" that was commonly associated with this disease at one time. Gross lesions may be lacking in some adult birds."

I saw that one too, but the reason I was thinking the Fowl Cholera was because she had watery discharge from the mouth. And white runny is also a symptom of Cholera. She "spit up" a lot of fluid though, it wasn't just a small discharge. When we'd pick her up it was almost like she was throwing up.

I dont think it could be this pollerium. It usually affects chicks at about 48-72 hours. The bird has been healthy for eight weeks, and had a very rapid demise from the sounds of it. It seems like it would have to be something that happened to her today. Have her bowels been normal up until today?

Have you tried to reseach what the symptoms would be for a blockage?

Sorry about your chics . I will leave advice up to those more knowlegable .

Pullorum can affect chicks at any age--even adult chickens, it's just that it's highly fatal in chicks under 2 weeks. But it is passed from an infected hen to the chick through the egg. Like AE. I hate thinking of all the things you can bring into your home just through hatching eggs.

OK, so when you gave them hen scratch, did they have grit? make sure they do or the others could have the same problem. they need to be able to grind the grains in their "craw" with grit or any kind of small pebble/rock...

Tamara will sandy dirt work for grit ?

Mine are still on starter but they have a large planter bowl full of dirt inside pen ,they like to sleep on it sometimes .

no, sorry to say that some chickens will over eat the sand and die from it...

The hen scratch has some larger pieces of corn as well as ground corn, millet (I think) and sunflower seeds. I can't remember what else. But it is your basic hen scratch incredients. We have been giving it to them for a few days though. The local feed store only carries medicated chick starter so we have to go to Tractor Supply where we found unmedicated chick starter. We haven't been able to get there yet to get some so we have been feeding them the hen scratch and oats and some table scraps.

What about the white runny poop? Would she do that if she had a blockage? Could swallowing a bee or wasp cause this? I have noticed some bees and wasps flying around.

We moved their pen last night to a fresh spot in the grass to get the remaining chicks that were with her off the grass where she had been. Looking through the grass I didn't see any unusual poop. She pooped the white runny when we took her out of the pen and put her in a basket. Otherwise on the ground area where she had been we didn't see anything unusual.

This was my daughters hen. She had 3 Golden Phoenix and one died right after we got them, now this one. All she has left is the roo. And we are afraid we might loose more if this is something catchy. I sure hope not.

a white runny poo indicates a dump that is part urine.... normal for chickens, they don't have a urinary tract, everything comes out the same hole...

check Judy's thread for lots of tip to increase their protein. you just changed their diet drastically, and unless they ahve a good free range spot and are good foragers [i don't think phoenix are], then you dropped thier protein considerably. the sack should have a label on it. i don't buy hen scartch anymore, i buy my grain separate and mix [have lot of chickens], and mine tend to just eat the milo.

their isn't much protein in a scratch, it is just a filler/finisher and a way to decrease boredom and give them some excercise.

try putting some boards down in your garden. wait for sprouts or bugs to show up, then call them over and let them dig.

or use some extra seeds you have, sprout them under someting for the chickens to eat.

i really think the poo is OK, but Judy's chicks had gapeworm, and that is serious, you might want to look up those symptoms, see if it fits...

tf

One problem with determining when a bird (any species of bird) became ill is that nature has programed them to hide illness. The reason for this is that the flock will leave or turn on sick birds. A sick bird attracts predators so the others don't want them around. You may think your bird became ill yesterday evening when in reality it could have been feeling sick for a while and yesterday is when it got so bad it could no longer hide it.

MollyD

Was the bird panting or shaking its head that is a sign of gapeworm? tf is right white poo is just urine

Could the fluid have been phlegm; birds with gape worm have trouble breathing and cough up phlegm. What did you do with the bird? This might be hard to do and I know this bird was a pet but if you cut it open you can see the worms in the trachea or send the carcass to the diagnostic lab at Texas A&M. They are the ones that diagnosed my birds. Living in Conroe you are not that far away. If it is gape worm you need to treat your whole flock ASAP

Smedgekles--I remember when you lost the first Golden Phoenix--it must be so hard for your daughter. How are the rest of your chickens doing?

how is your DD handling it? other chicks OK?

Hi all, sorry it has been a few days, been busy, my daughter had her dance recital yesterday and leading up to that was busy.

We think that the chick had a blockage and tried to drink a lot of water to clear it but the water just didn't go down so when we would pick her up it was coming out by the tablespoon fulls. If I had to guess I'd say she spat out a good 1/2 cup of fluid. The other chickens so far are acting normal. We have them back on chick starter. When they were on the hen scratch we also gave them oats and some boiled egg as well as other scraps. They also were on a grassy area where they hunt and peck around. She may have also gotten a wasp or bee. They are flying around and I see them chasing them sometimes. The kids were complaing the other day that bees were flying around them in the pool. Don't know why they like the pool water so much......the bees that is not the kids.

We have a box flattened out that we have in the older chicks pen, we move it after a while so they can pick the growing stuff and bugs out from under it. It's like a new toy under there to them.

My daughter was upset to loose her last Golden Phoenix hen. Hopefully nothing will happen to her roo.
My husband buried the hen in our chicken graveyard with the rest. That plot is growing unfortunately :(

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. It sure is nice to have a place to turn to to get other experiences and advice.

;-)