# Sick chickens



## aapholz (Jul 7, 2016)

Slowly over the last six months I have lost two chickens. The first two showed no signs, and I wouldn't have noticed this third going downhill if she didn't stop cooping herself at night. The other two chickens were acting normally, eating, drinking, no abnormal poop in the run. Upon death, I picked them up and found them to be incredibly skinny. The others in the flock are not. This third bird, Poppy (8 month old Olive Egger) is also thin. Yesterday when I went to put her up her crop was full. Tonight, her crop felt empty. The chickens were all open mouth breathing last night, some with what looked to be clear nasal discharge when my light shined on them. No rattling breath, no struggling to breathe. Our temps have been off the charts lately (with a feels like of upwards of 100, which could be a contributing factor to their open mouth breathing). Thinking that the weight loss could have been caused by intestinal parasites, we administered Wazine last Tuesday and will be repeating Friday. Again, no abnormal stool. They do not have mites or lice, I have checked. What could be going on, and how do I help my chickens? I'm so beside myself with worry, I don't want to lose another. I truly love my flock, they're part of the family! Please help! Picture is of Poppy.


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## aapholz (Jul 7, 2016)

I should also add, I read the pinned post about common diseases and none seem to fit.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

I'm sorry that your chickens are sick. It seems you have covered the most common bases, I don't have any suggestions as to what could be wrong, I'm going to give a holler at a couple of really good diagnosers that I know and see if they can help. But in the meantime I will suggest some immune support in the form of garlic, oregano and thyme. Sprinkle some garlic powder (from your local grocer is fine) on their food. If you can get some fresh oregano and/or thyme, let all of your birds eat as much as they want. You can also use oregano and /or thyme in the form of a tea. Make a strong tea, let it cool to room temp and replace their water with it. All of the chickens will benefit from it. You can also put a few garlic cloves in their regular water if you can't get any oregano or thyme. Cut the cloves in half so they don't accidentally try to swallow them and then just toss them into their water. 4 whole cloves (8 halves) into a gallon of water. Also, if you can get it, Apple cider vinegar in their water, 2 Tablespoons per gallon will help, especially if it turns out to be parasites or worms. Again, it is good for all of your chickens.

I will talk to Seminolewind, Chickenqueen, Maryellen, Boskelli and NM about your problems and see if they can help. You can also join us on our other forum xxxxxx, that's where most of us are living these days lol


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## boskelli1571 (Oct 30, 2017)

aapholz said:


> Slowly over the last six months I have lost two chickens. The first two showed no signs, and I wouldn't have noticed this third going downhill if she didn't stop cooping herself at night. The other two chickens were acting normally, eating, drinking, no abnormal poop in the run. Upon death, I picked them up and found them to be incredibly skinny. The others in the flock are not. This third bird, Poppy (8 month old Olive Egger) is also thin. Yesterday when I went to put her up her crop was full. Tonight, her crop felt empty. The chickens were all open mouth breathing last night, some with what looked to be clear nasal discharge when my light shined on them. No rattling breath, no struggling to breathe. Our temps have been off the charts lately (with a feels like of upwards of 100, which could be a contributing factor to their open mouth breathing). Thinking that the weight loss could have been caused by intestinal parasites, we administered Wazine last Tuesday and will be repeating Friday. Again, no abnormal stool. They do not have mites or lice, I have checked. What could be going on, and how do I help my chickens? I'm so beside myself with worry, I don't want to lose another. I truly love my flock, they're part of the family! Please help! Picture is of Poppy.
> View attachment 30226


Looks like you covered basics. If they do have worms it will take some time to put weight back on.
Meanwhile all that Sylie has told you is good for them. Since the temps have been so hot I tend to use some powdered electrolyte/vitamins in their water. When it gets so hot their poop gets sort of runny from them drinking water, so it will help them to replace the necessary stuff. If you can but it with lactobacillus in that will help th e gut too.
Keeping my fingers crossed for poop Poppy, but if the worst does happen you might think about sending her off for necropsy to see what it was - might help the others in the long run.


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## aapholz (Jul 7, 2016)

Update: no open mouthed breathing tonight from anyone, no noticeable nasal discharge (if that even was what I saw in the first place lol). Second dose of Wazine is tomorrow. After this, I will take Sylie's advice and add oregano and thyme (have both growing in my chicken garden, yes they have their own garden ) in their water and garlic powder which I have on hand to their food. Thanks for the advice, I'll keep everyone updated. If she does pass, I'll have to find somewhere to send her for necropsy as we don't have any DVMs locally that are knowledgeable in chickens (our area isn't exactly rural, as much as I'd love it to be).


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Awesome news. The nasal discharge could possibly just have been a little runny nose from mouth breathing.

I love the chicken garden idea! I have played with "themed" gardens in the past, for example, one year I did a "lasagna" garden where I grew basil, oregano, tomatoes etc, all things you would put in lasagna (a fam fav here at my house). Another year I grew a "Halloween" garden, everything I planted was Halloween colored (black tomatoes, yellow squash, green beans etc) {it's highly possible that I have too much time on my hands in the late winter/early spring...} I never thought about specifically for the chickens, neat! 

I really hope that she puts weight back on and recovers. Good luck! and yes, pls keep us posted


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## aapholz (Jul 7, 2016)

Sylie said:


> Awesome news. The nasal discharge could possibly just have been a little runny nose from mouth breathing.
> 
> I love the chicken garden idea! I have played with "themed" gardens in the past, for example, one year I did a "lasagna" garden where I grew basil, oregano, tomatoes etc, all things you would put in lasagna (a fam fav here at my house). Another year I grew a "Halloween" garden, everything I planted was Halloween colored (black tomatoes, yellow squash, green beans etc) {it's highly possible that I have too much time on my hands in the late winter/early spring...} I never thought about specifically for the chickens, neat!
> 
> I really hope that she puts weight back on and recovers. Good luck! and yes, pls keep us posted


They have mint, thyme, oregano, corn, leaf lettuce, and watermelon growing in their garden. The tortoises have leaf lettuce, papaya, kale, tomatoes, hibiscus, roses and violets growing in theirs. The guinea pigs have papaya, leaf lettuce and green peppers in theirs. We also have two medicinal garden beds with things like St. John's wort, toothache plant, calendula, chamomile, marigolds, roses, valerian, ginger, purslane and mullein. And then of course our regular veggie garden with tons of kale, several types of peppers and tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, zucchini, sweet potatoes, sunflowers, culinary herbs and eggplant. Going to start the pumpkin patch soon and can't wait!!!


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Fantastic! I am a medicinal herbalist, my clients are always interested to see my medicinal garden. Do you tincture your medicinal herbs or dry or...? How do you preserve them?

I have a sugar pumpkin patch this year, we put up a fence and have them growing up it instead of all over the ground taking up space. It's working quite well and I have 27 pumpkins growing now off of just 6 plants. It's a bumper crop!


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## aapholz (Jul 7, 2016)

Sylie said:


> Fantastic! I am a medicinal herbalist, my clients are always interested to see my medicinal garden. Do you tincture your medicinal herbs or dry or...? How do you preserve them?
> 
> I have a sugar pumpkin patch this year, we put up a fence and have them growing up it instead of all over the ground taking up space. It's working quite well and I have 27 pumpkins growing now off of just 6 plants. It's a bumper crop!


Dried. Interested in learning tinctures but have no sources of learning in person here so I have to learn via the internet and I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly!


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## boskelli1571 (Oct 30, 2017)

aapholz said:


> Dried. Interested in learning tinctures but have no sources of learning in person here so I have to learn via the internet and I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly!


A book I highly recommend is Rosemary Gladstars' Medicinal Herbs. She teaches you 'how to' in the book and makes it simple


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

I teach medicinal herbalism classes online and via email if you would ever be interested just let me know. Drying herbs is okay for somethings and some herbs, but it's not the best way, you lose a lot of the constituents doing it. 

Rosemary Gladstar was actually my mentor for awhile, years ago  I have all of her books. I studied under her for a year.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Also, you have to be careful with the internet, there is so much wrong information out there and a lot of people use their opinion as fact when it's not so. Please be careful.


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## aapholz (Jul 7, 2016)

Sylie said:


> Also, you have to be careful with the internet, there is so much wrong information out there and a lot of people use their opinion as fact when it's not so. Please be careful.


This is exactly why I haven't done any tinctures because I can't verify what is true and what isn't.


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## boskelli1571 (Oct 30, 2017)

How is the patient today??


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