Hey All,
A little back up information: I think my flock of 6 are carriers of some form of CRD. Within their first week of life when I got them from Meyer's I had sneezing. Since then, any time the weather changes I get sneezing, sometimes a little chest rattling, on one occasion one of my girls had some nasal drainage (not stinky, no swelling). I have been managing it in times of stress with lots of nutritional/supplemental care (poly vi sol, nutridrench, ACV, VetRX, probiotics, cod liver oil). They are now 10 months old. This winter has been pretty rough for our area and their run has been really muddy and nasty....we've had a lot of snow followed by warm weather, freezing and then thawing, etc. The sneezing went on for weeks even with the supplements (usually it resolves itself within two weeks or so). I decided to bite the bullet and use an antibiotic just in case there was a secondary infection. I used LS-50 in their water for 14 days (2tsp/Gallon of water). Their last day of antibiotics was last Friday. The symptoms have gone away for the most part, I have one hen who is still sneezing a little.
Three of my birds have gotten quite thin, I'm suspecting parasites. I have not wormed them yet. I kept putting it off because ever since November at least one bird has been in moult, and I didn't want to over stress them while they were moulting since I've heard it is hard on them. I have Wazine and Ivermectin drop on. Based on what I've read, I plan on doing the Wazine followed by the Ivermectin. I wasn't sure how long I should wait after a round of antibiotics before worming. I really don't want to upset their systems too much with too many chemicals in such a short period of time. SO....I was planning on giving it two weeks, giving them lots of probiotics and vitamins and then starting with the worming procedure.....
For the past two days My little Bernie (Salmon Faverolles in my Avatar) has not been acting well at all. She started to moult noticibly about a week ago. She is usually very spunky and bossy. She has been kind of anti-social, not very active and has not been eating nearly as much as usual. I noticed today that she is drinking ALOT of water. She is feeling very thin and her poop is very small, the normal urates with a VERY small amount of semi-watery stool. At first I just thought she wasn't feeling well due to the moult, but now I am getting really worried. I am thinking that she either is just miserable from the moult, has worms, cocci, or worst case scenario....a kidney infection that I do not know how to treat.
So....here's my question....should I go ahead and start worming? I know that if a bird is sick, a wormer can be really hard on them, especially right after a round of antibiotics. If there is some strain of cocci that has started to take over, I have both corid and sulmet, but i wouldn't know how to tell unless I saw blood in their stools, and I know that doesn't always occur. If it were cocci I would probably use the corid since the LS-50 that i treated with is indicated for ecoli as well as respiratory issues, so if that were the problem it should have resolved it. I'm really thinking that it's worms, but I just don't know if a wormer would be too harsh on their systems so soon after the antibiotic.
I don't have a chicken vet, and I already asked my regular vet if he could do a fecal check for parasites and he said he's not comfortable doing it for chickens
A little more info, all of them have stopped laying for the winter except one EE, Hazel. They eat organic layer feed 17% protein, free choice grit and oyster shell, treats are scrambled eggs, yogurt, kefir, fresh veggies and tuna. They are in a run and closed up at night. They free range when I am in the yard to watch them.
I would really appreciate an experienced opinion on this one. Also, if anyone else has any suggestions on what else could be wrong with Bernie, I'm all ears. The increase water consumption seems starnge to me since it's been so cold.
Thanks in advance!
Andrea
A little back up information: I think my flock of 6 are carriers of some form of CRD. Within their first week of life when I got them from Meyer's I had sneezing. Since then, any time the weather changes I get sneezing, sometimes a little chest rattling, on one occasion one of my girls had some nasal drainage (not stinky, no swelling). I have been managing it in times of stress with lots of nutritional/supplemental care (poly vi sol, nutridrench, ACV, VetRX, probiotics, cod liver oil). They are now 10 months old. This winter has been pretty rough for our area and their run has been really muddy and nasty....we've had a lot of snow followed by warm weather, freezing and then thawing, etc. The sneezing went on for weeks even with the supplements (usually it resolves itself within two weeks or so). I decided to bite the bullet and use an antibiotic just in case there was a secondary infection. I used LS-50 in their water for 14 days (2tsp/Gallon of water). Their last day of antibiotics was last Friday. The symptoms have gone away for the most part, I have one hen who is still sneezing a little.
Three of my birds have gotten quite thin, I'm suspecting parasites. I have not wormed them yet. I kept putting it off because ever since November at least one bird has been in moult, and I didn't want to over stress them while they were moulting since I've heard it is hard on them. I have Wazine and Ivermectin drop on. Based on what I've read, I plan on doing the Wazine followed by the Ivermectin. I wasn't sure how long I should wait after a round of antibiotics before worming. I really don't want to upset their systems too much with too many chemicals in such a short period of time. SO....I was planning on giving it two weeks, giving them lots of probiotics and vitamins and then starting with the worming procedure.....
For the past two days My little Bernie (Salmon Faverolles in my Avatar) has not been acting well at all. She started to moult noticibly about a week ago. She is usually very spunky and bossy. She has been kind of anti-social, not very active and has not been eating nearly as much as usual. I noticed today that she is drinking ALOT of water. She is feeling very thin and her poop is very small, the normal urates with a VERY small amount of semi-watery stool. At first I just thought she wasn't feeling well due to the moult, but now I am getting really worried. I am thinking that she either is just miserable from the moult, has worms, cocci, or worst case scenario....a kidney infection that I do not know how to treat.
So....here's my question....should I go ahead and start worming? I know that if a bird is sick, a wormer can be really hard on them, especially right after a round of antibiotics. If there is some strain of cocci that has started to take over, I have both corid and sulmet, but i wouldn't know how to tell unless I saw blood in their stools, and I know that doesn't always occur. If it were cocci I would probably use the corid since the LS-50 that i treated with is indicated for ecoli as well as respiratory issues, so if that were the problem it should have resolved it. I'm really thinking that it's worms, but I just don't know if a wormer would be too harsh on their systems so soon after the antibiotic.
I don't have a chicken vet, and I already asked my regular vet if he could do a fecal check for parasites and he said he's not comfortable doing it for chickens
A little more info, all of them have stopped laying for the winter except one EE, Hazel. They eat organic layer feed 17% protein, free choice grit and oyster shell, treats are scrambled eggs, yogurt, kefir, fresh veggies and tuna. They are in a run and closed up at night. They free range when I am in the yard to watch them.
I would really appreciate an experienced opinion on this one. Also, if anyone else has any suggestions on what else could be wrong with Bernie, I'm all ears. The increase water consumption seems starnge to me since it's been so cold.
Thanks in advance!
Andrea
