mystery illness not responding to treatments

[KsKingBee]

Thank you.

I gave him his fourth dose of Metronidazole with his Kaytee feed. I will finish the 5 days and then follow with plenty of probiotics. I hope he makes it that far. I'm very concerned that I'm going to lose him.

I did look into drug interactions and didn't find anything about M + T together. That is an interesting possibility. I do feel like so much medication would be sure to make anyone feel sick, though.

The bird that only had T is still noticeably not well. He's a lot more active and is roosting again but his wings are still drooping and he does still separate himself. This will be the third day since his two day Toltrazuril treatment finished. Have you had any that slow to recover from cocci after treatment?

I'm looking into doing my own fecal exams. I've been reading through your thread about it and think it's the way to go. I probably won't get anywhere in time for this situation but it will be good for the future. I have thought about it a lot before now so I'm sad I never did anything about it yet.

In the past I definitely have had some very slow to heal. I feel like a broken record harping about the damage that cocci does to the intestines and cecal pouches. Organ damage is not only slow to heal but some damage is carried for life causing poor health and slow development. Cocci is opportunistic and will take advantage of an older bird when it is down from some other stressor, I rarely ever see that happening here. Since I started my monthly treatments on current year hatch birds, with both deworming and Toltrazuril, I don't have losses like I used to.

 

[KsKingBee]

Your name rang a bell with me. I had bookmarked your post months ago as it was helpful to me considering to buy a microscope. Have I? Nope. Maybe Santa!!

Santa may need some help.

 

[Waterfaery]

I'm afraid I'm going to lose the sickest one. He suddenly deteriorated after we started tube feeding. I started with smaller amounts yesterday and then more today. The most I gave him was 60ml in this morning's feed which is only 2% of his bodyweight but it's almost like his body can't handle the food. It seems to have made him so much weaker and unable to stand. The food came straight through him in a short time as undigested liquid.

Have you ever experienced this sort of reaction before? Is it shock of being handled so much? Or organ failure or something causing his body to not actually be able to take the food? I've tube fed so many chickens and it's always very successful. It feels very scary to have it go so wrong like this.

I'll be surprised if he makes the night. I feel like I've done everything wrong.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

Aww I'm sorry. It's always hard to lose birds.

 

[KsKingBee]

I know that depressing feeling when you try so hard only for them to show a little improvement and then turn for the worse.

You did everything you could but the organ damage is just too far gone to absorb nutrients.

I have turned a bit callous to losing birds only because I have hundreds and it happens way too often. Not from disease so much as from predators and mostly self-inflicted wounds. It still takes a toll on my soul.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

You all are so lucky to have so many peafowl you are so lucky! I don't have an awful lot of space but sometime in the future I will have gorgeous birds like all of ye, hopefully. I really hope your birds get better.

 

[Waterfaery]

I know that depressing feeling when you try so hard only for them to show a little improvement and then turn for the worse.

You did everything you could but the organ damage is just too far gone to absorb nutrients.

I have turned a bit callous to losing birds only because I have hundreds and it happens way too often. Not from disease so much as from predators and mostly self-inflicted wounds. It still takes a toll on my soul.

Thanks so much for all of your help and for your kind words. As I thought, we lost him over the night. I did do my absolute best but I still feel so awful for letting it happen in the first place.

They are on a regular worming schedule twice a year and I did follow your advice with the Toltrazuril treatments for their first 6 months when they were peachicks back in 2021. I don't really know how it has gone so wrong now. This will be their third winter and we've had no issues until now. We had a very warm, wet and humid summer this year so I wonder if that has increased the number of parasites here. I do suspect you're probably right about it being coccidiosis. I still think something else must have stressed them to let it affect them at this age. I also don't really understand how it had progressed so far without me knowing as I'm so observant of them.

The other peacock who was droopy (the one who had the Toltrazuril) seems a lot better. He's roosting, eating, doing normal droppings and hanging around with the flock. I've started treating the whole flock with Toltrazuril now as a precaution so I hope the rest of them will be ok.

We will be doing a home necropsy today. I hope we can do a better job than last time and I will post the photos. Have you any advice about what to look for in particular?

 

[peafowl_Lover]

I'm sorry for your peacock

 

[Waterfaery]

You all are so lucky to have so many peafowl you are so lucky! I don't have an awful lot of space but sometime in the future I will have gorgeous birds like all of ye, hopefully. I really hope your birds get better.

Thanks. Yeah, hopefully the rest will be ok.

It's good you found this site while you're starting with peafowl. There's so much to learn here.

 

[Waterfaery]

I'm sorry for your peacock

Thanks so much.