Hen very sick but still eating & drinking

[Mer1977]

Hi all,

I could really use some help with one of my Wandas (they're all named Wanda).

My hens are all Rhode Island/White Rock crosses. They will be 3 years old this spring. I have four total, and their laying has slowed way down recently - I get one egg every 3-4 days.

One of my Wandas has been sick for the past week or more, and getting worse. She has what appears to be all the symptoms of coccidiosis except that she eats and drinks just about as often as healthy hens.

Diarrhea, hunched over, puffed up, tail down, very lethargic. Diarrhea has been mostly brown, but once I noticed it came out yellow with a cottage cheese consistency, along with clear liquid (like water).

What's perplexing is that she's still eating and drinking.

I've also noticed a little diarrhea on one of the other hens, but she seems fine otherwise.

I added epsom salts to their water yesterday in hopes it would help.

Although we've had our Wandas for a couple of years, I am a completely newbie when it comes to avian diseases and treatments.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Mer

 

[Mer1977]

@Mer1977 , how did Wanda do through the night?

She's still hanging in there! Ate her breakfast, no diarrhea, not laying on her belly anymore - she's standing, but still with her tail down and wings kind of hanging.

And, she's spending a lot of her time with her head in the corner.

Think she's been a bad girl??

 

[casportpony]

Amoxicillin dose for chickens is 125mg/kg *twice* a day for 7-10 days. That works out to 57mg per pound.

-Kathy

 

[Mer1977]

The diarrhea is gone! So the epsom salts in her water, and/or the amoxy took care of that.

So far so good!

 

[seminolewind]

No offense intended, but now is not the time to be prissy, the life of your chicken is at stake. If you find an egg, you will need to get it out of her or she will die.

-Kathy

Yea, it would be sad to learn that a death could have prevented by a simple exam to rule out an egg . It's really not hard. I had to do it one day without any experience. I used olive oil and did find an egg . Boy, did I have to brave for that one. But I had a life at stake.

 

[enola]

Wazine is probably the only wormer labled for chickens at the feed store. You will need to find Safeguard in the goat/cattle/horse section of medications. You should probably not listen to any advice from employees there. (I should not be so judgemental, but I can tell you for a fact that there is not a single employee in my Tractor Supply that knows anything about medicating chickens.)

 

[seminolewind]

I think someone stated that it is not a good idea to dose an already sick chicken with Wazine. ( i hope i am not wrong in stating this)

It's probably stressful on their system but it depends on what you think it is. If you're near-as-you-can-get sure it's worms, they need to be gone. I would use valbazen or safeguard because they're less stressful on their system.

 

[seminolewind]

I guess I would try Sulfadimethoxine and a 'cillin or Tylan and cover all the bases. I think that sometimes when it looks like cocci but isn't , enteritis is pretty high on my list because I've had it here several times and the cocci med may not help with that.

I'm sure others have ideas, but lately, that's been my cocktail of choice.

 

[Mer1977]

Thank you so much! Very helpful.

I have some Amoxycillin here (500mg), which was prescribed to me but I never took.

Any suggestions on dosage?

 

[jgoldy2]

no idea what, but know what you are experiancing, however I am pretty sure it will be a sad ending, does she look like this?