Lethargic but not sure why

Hi
We have an Australopithecus who can't stand up and is very shaking on her legs. She has just come out of being broody so we didn't think anything of it. She now will not move far and we are force feeding her with water and grapes and grated carrot.
Could she have been bitten by some thing like a mosquito or have eaten something bad roaming our backyard?
It has been 35 degrees daily, could it be heat stroke?

We have to wait till Monday for the vet and I feel so hopeless.
any ideas?
Thanks Kathy

After talk I g we my sister who is a veterinarian, we believe our chicken is suffering from egg yolk peritonitis. Prolapse of her reproductive system. No cure. The chicken will eat and drink but because of the weight of the reproduction organs will waddle like a penguin in till legs give out..slow death. I am going to see if our Humane society can help us put her to humanely to sleep. So sad she is my barn buddy bird and hangs out with me and the horses.

Update on Tilly

I took her to the vet on Monday night who was very angry with me for using forums to try and diagnose Tilly's condition.

What do you do when the vet's not open and you are helpless to assist a very poorly favorite pet?

Well here is what the vet diagnosed:
Tilly has a very large coccloua mass obstructing the intestine,
She has Coccidiosis and Protozal disease - gardia
and bloody water passing, which we did not notice.

(Sorry if the spelling is wrong but her writing is poor.)

Tilly was by now panting and unable to stand.

We had to euthanasia her as she would not recover. Very Sad.......

Turns out what we thought was her being broody two months ago may have been the start of her blockage due to not worming her.
The blockage became so big she could not eat or drink and became weak. She was only sick from what we could see for 2 days by which point she was too far gone.

Moral of the story.......
worm your chickens and don't say anything to the vet. I have been traumatised by the meeting and can't stop crying because I killed my lovely bird. I have one road island red left and will not be getting any more pets......

please take care of your birds, they are very precious to us.
thanks for reading.
Kathy

kathyp3 said:

Update on Tilly

I took her to the vet on Monday night who was very angry with me for using forums to try and diagnose Tilly's condition.

What do you do when the vet's not open and you are helpless to assist a very poorly favorite pet?

Well here is what the vet diagnosed:
Tilly has a very large coccloua mass obstructing the intestine,
She has Coccidiosis and Protozal disease - gardia
and bloody water passing, which we did not notice.

(Sorry if the spelling is wrong but her writing is poor.)

Tilly was by now panting and unable to stand.

We had to euthanasia her as she would not recover. Very Sad.......

Turns out what we thought was her being broody two months ago may have been the start of her blockage due to not worming her.
The blockage became so big she could not eat or drink and became weak. She was only sick from what we could see for 2 days by which point she was too far gone.

Moral of the story.......
worm your chickens and don't say anything to the vet. I have been traumatised by the meeting and can't stop crying because I killed my lovely bird. I have one road island red left and will not be getting any more pets......

please take care of your birds, they are very precious to us.
thanks for reading.
Kathy

Click to expand...

That vet sounds really bad!!!

I have to tell you that nearly all chickens have coccidiosis... but it lives in harmony with their bodies... so even testing a healthy chicken would probably show up coccidiosis.

I have no idea what he is talking about a mass... what caused the mass? Having gardia parasites will not cause an mass to grow.

The vet had no right to be mad at you for using advise from a forum... on here many people are actually worlds more experienced with chicken health than the normal vet.

Sadly, as you have found, when people take their pet chickens, pigeons, birds to the vets the usual result is to have them put to sleep. Why could he not just medicate for the parasites? Or, if the mass was the problem then it was nothing you could have done about it anyway.. maybe it was cancer.

I had this experience myself.. I had a loft full of sick white doves....the vet put them to sleep...I later found out the vet knew what was wrong with my pet doves.. but the cost of the medication he had to order was expensive for the amount he would have to use on my doves.. so he would make a loss... so he lied to me and kept giving me different medications and costing me a lot of money.. and in the end the birds were worse and had to be put to sleep. I found this information out from a good friend who worked at that vets.

My advise is to find a special bird vet if you have any problems with your pet birds.

I know you feel very upset about the loss of you pet, and the vet made you feel even worse... but don't let it put you off keeping chickens in the future. Don't let other people spoil you happiness.

Keeping chickens and other pets is fantastic.. and, even though sometimes it can be sad when one dies, there is a lot more joy and amazement from keeping them as a hobby.

so sorry for you loss and your bad experience.

Don't feel,bad, you were doing everything you could to help her. The vet obviously has no bedside manner and look I'd for another next time.

Most vets don't really specialise in birds, let alone chickens, so more often than not they are only guessing or googling themselves.