Arched back, droopy tail and hawking cough

j.humphries · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:56 pm **Posts:** 14

One of my 20 week old chooks (this one an ISA Brown) seems a bit off colour. The tail is drooping, the back is almost arched and occasionally there is this hawking like cough. She is just standing still and the others seem to be lightly pecking (grooming almost) insects, or whatever, off her. This behaviour only started this morning. The others. ISA Browns and Sebrights, seem active and OK.

Eggs haven't started yet. Could this have anything to do with it?

Any help appreciared.

Jimbo :-|

Roova · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:16 am

Its hard to tell really, she's at the age when she might be thinking of laying but she does sound sick.

Couple of questions:

Has she been wormed?
Have you checked her for external parasites (and your other birds). You say they are picking insects off her, could it be mites?
One way to test this is run your hand (wearing a glove) under the perch at night, if there's blood on your hand...you have mites.
If she has a bad infestation though you'll either see them with the naked eye or when you part her feathers. If it is mites and you don't treat it, it can lead to death. They will spread through the whole flock and will probably require a complete clean out of their housing, nesting etc to kill the cycle of the mites. Here's a good article on controlling mites in poultry: http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issue ... _John.html

If it is a respiratory disease she would be best removed from the others to give her a chance to recover and not pass any possible sickness on to them. She needs to be kept someone warm, dry and as stress free as you can. Her food and water need to be good and you could even offer her the rickets diet as a pickmeup while her immune system gets back on track. She can hopefully fight it off herself. If she continues to get worse antibiotics may be required which is a trip to the vet.

There's probably other things I've missed, hopefully someone else adds something. Good luck with her

j.humphries · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:56 pm **Posts:** 14

Ta Roova. Got back this afternoon and she's 'rejoined' the flock and came running for food. She still looks 'not right' and I'll check her in the morning when I have her in the coop for mites etc. Checked where they had 'poohed' today but all the droppings I could find appeared normal to me i.e. firm with the twist of white urates in them. However she is certainly looking a tad better than this morning. One question, they are just about to come onto lay. Is it possible that this could cause some funny behaviour if the first egg is coming through (I know I was a bit weird when I hit puberty)

I'll keep you posted
Jimbo

j.humphries · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:56 pm **Posts:** 14

Oh and you and others suggest keeping them separated if they are sick etc. Can I buy a small cage or whatever to house them away from the main coop commercially (I'm not that much of a handy man)

Ta again Jimbo

Roova · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 6:44 pm

I'm sure it doesn't matter what your chook in in, as long as she has room for a bit of movement... I'm sure anything would work. You want to make sure she's out of the wind and somewhere she can be kept warm while she recuperates. Maybe the laundry so you can make sure she's not tipping over food and water etc? The good thing about keeping them separated is you can keep an eye on their poo too. If you spot blood in her poo then I suggest treating her for cocci to be on the safe side.

You can use reptile heat pads under the bedding (as long as its kept dry) as a way to help provide warmth, or you might just choose to keep towels over/around the cage.

Generally a chook will recover from a respiratory illness if she was nice and healthy beforehand. Do keep in mind though when their immune system is down is does sometimes make them susceptible to secondary illnesses which might require antibiotics. The rickets diet is like a probiotic for her so its well worth making and giving.

It really doesn't sound normal leading up to egg laying, but I can't see her so really can't be sure. It would be very bad luck to have her be egg bound on her first egg! I think you should trust your instincts that something isn't quite right and assume she's not feeling well. In the morning if she looks like she hasn't handled a cold night very well I'd be separating her then.

I would suggest while she's separated make sure she has pellets and clean water and I wouldn't feed scraps while she's feeling off. Offer her the rickets diet as a supplement and maybe you could try vitamins in her water. In the end this is all just my opinion of course, it doesn't make it right

It very hard when you can't see the chook or know what their living conditions are like. I wish you luck getting her better.

j.humphries · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:56 pm **Posts:** 14

Thanks Roova for all that information. I'll become a 'stockman' yet. This morning she seemed a lot better (although not totally up to the perky girl she was before). So on this occasion I'll just keep an eye on her for the time being without possibly adding to her stress by handling and isolating her.

Reading through Storey's 'Raising Chickens' about parasites etc. and I read with interest about Gapeworms in the throat which can cause bird to stretch its neck and 'hawk' so it can get breath. Another possibility?? My chooks 'free range' during the day and eat snails and slugs (a possible intermediate host) and plenty of wild birds settle too to clean up left over scratch.

During the reading I did it suggested that sometimes people are too quick to jump on the antiworm treatment (or in fact antibiotics) before they have a definite diagnosis and this can affect the bird's long term resistance to disease in general.

I shall keep an eye on her as you suggested and let nature (and hopefully good husbandry), take its course.

Many thanks for your help.

Jimbo

Roova · **Posted:** Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:08 pm

My pleasure

I've got Storey's guide to raising ducks...they're great books aren't they.

AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Arched back, droopy tail and hawking cough

Who is on the Forum