6 weeks and my hen is still not well....what else can I do

[averya]

I live in Oregon, near Eugene. There is an avian doctor in Eugene. I used her once but won't again. She advised I euthanize one of my Dominiques when it couldn't stand. I refused to...went home and began treating it myself and it survived and is still alive. That was 2 years ago.

I just started administering electrolytes to our Dork and will follow the advice on tube feeding. I am certainly willing to do that. I appreciate your help and sharing your knowledge. I'll keep you posted.

 

[casportpony]

The pathologist that I work with, Dr H.L. Shivaprasad, suggested that I send blood with my next dead chicken, so I thought maybe you could pick the brain of someone like my pathologist and see if you could just send some blood somewhere.

Your State Vet is:
Dr. Brad R. LeaMaster. To contact the State Veterinarian's office please call 503-986-4680, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/AHID/Pages/index.aspx

Oregon State :
http://vetmed.oregonstate.edu/diagnostic
http://vetmed.oregonstate.edu/

 

[sinkorswim]

I dont want to comment about the respiratory issues or the antibiotics but I do want to say your hen looks like she has a condition called scissor beak.That would be why she is loosing weight.You can learn to trim the beak and it would make things better/not cure her.It takes a lot of work and constant trimming.Giving her other issues I think it would be fair to consider having euthanized.She may be having a hard time getting well because she is not getting enough food.If thats the case it may be difficult for her for the rest of her life.

 

[casportpony]

Sinkorswim makes a good point.

Averya, does her beak look like this from the front? Or is the upper beak just longer?

 

[averya]

Thank you, casportpony, for the information on the state vet. No, she does not have twisted beak. Her top beak is just longer than her bottom. I took a fecal in yesterday, and she is worm free.

Sinkorswim.....ironically, we (my sister and I) researched beak trimming and did trim her beak this morning. The more we have observed her, the more convinced we were that she simply cannot eat properly because of her beak. Hopefully, the trim will help. The electrolytes certainly made a difference as she was quite perky this morning. We have discussed euthansia, but as long as she is trying to live neither of us has the heart to do this. If she goes down hill again, we will have to seriously talk about it. But for now, there is hope and we hate to give up.

 

[casportpony]

I have some that grow longer upper beaks for no reason, so those get trimmed. But I have noticed that when they aren't feeling well, they aren't pecking the ground and the lack of pecking seems to be the reason their beaks grow longer.

I had another thought, maybe your hen has a fungal infection?

 

[averya]

A good thought. If so, what do you treat fungal infections with?

Today is the best we have seen her act in over 6 weeks. She is eagerly eating...worms grapes, cukes,spinach, and chicken feed. She was preening herself and stretching...something we haven't seen in weeks. We put a mirror on the wall above the bench she is on and she's been very animated with her new found "friend". I'm sure the electrolytes were the reason there has been such a turnaround. However, she still has impected sacs on the sides of her face so she is far from cured.

 

[casportpony]

I haven't actually treated one yet, but a few that were necropsied had them, along with a systemic bacterial infection and histomoniais. This has lots of good info: http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/ampa/35.pdf

 

[casportpony]

I know that some people here treat fungal infection of the crop with Monistat, but I don't think that would work for a fungal infection in the sinuses. For that, I think it needs to be a pill, so it's gets in the bloodstream, but I can't say for sure.

 

[Barrdwing]

Something also to consider: with chronic respiratory infections, some birds get abscesses in their sinuses. A chicken abscess is a firm tight wad of yellow cheesy material (pus). You can't squeeze it out like a cat abscess. The hard pus creates a hiding place for the infection, and it also irritates the walls of the sinuses. So if the swellings on the sides of her face seem to change over time, she may have abscesses which are flaring off and on. Or she may just have a wicked sinusitis.

I would really strongly recommend getting in touch with your State Vet. There are blood tests that can be done to identify several of the respiratory diseases. Also, if she were to get worse and you had to consider euthanasia, I would let the State Vet do it and then do a post-mortem. That would let them identify exactly what is going on, and also tell you why she got so sick and whether you need to worry about your other birds.

I'm glad you trimmed her beak. That was a good call.