Sick peahen help

[wildheartdb]

Hello all
I have a peahen hatched early 2022, who has been walking around with her wings slightly dropped. She is “off”, weaker than usual but still getting around with other birds foraging etc.

Wings down usually a laying thing, but she is too young. All other birds fine, chickens and peas. All wormed this month, and sprayed with Elector PSP. I have given her 5 days of metronidazole and as of today she is starting to open mouth breathe while foraging. Too young to lay, no unusual respiratory sounds, wormed, already sprayed for lice/mites and today open beak breaths? What could be wrong?

 

[KsKingBee]

Could be your method of treating for Cocci and or worms or it is a dust allergy.

 

[wildheartdb]

Could be your method of treating for Cocci and or worms or it is a dust allergy.

I treated for cocci with 5 days of tolturazil

 

[KsKingBee]

I treated for cocci with 5 days of tolturazil

There is no better product for treating cocci than Toltrazuril although a two-day treatment is what is recommended on the bottle I have. So how do you deworm?

 

[wildheartdb]

Thank you for your reply, I wormed her with 1cc Valbazen. She is a spring 2022 so I did not use the full 2cc that I do on birds over 1 year. I plan to repeat after 10 days, which is this weekend. I also topically applied 1cc Ivermectin. The rest of the flock was wormed with 2 days of Jedds wormer deluxe in their water which she had access to. So Im pretty sure worms or parasites are not the issue. All other birds healthy and vigorous. Whatever it is does not appear to be contagious. In addition to the droopy wings, she appears weak and is often laying down resting. With her eyes closed. She is very friendly and seems to like my company and gets along well with all the other birds including the chickens. Only thing I have not treated for is respiratory and I just dont see signs of a problem there. She also has had probiotics, and scrambled eggs with vitamins throughout. Not sure where to go from here?

 

[KsKingBee]

That is a very nice hen, she looks older than 2022, she is well developed. You are doing everything right but I would cut down on the pour-on as it can chemically blister the skin, We use 0.4ml and divide it between four places on s grown bird. Sorry, I can't find the pic of the scabbing but it can be found on my profile page under pictures I have shared in the past. Do you know how to check for gapeworms using a cotton swab? You simply insert it down the airway and twist the swab while pulling out along the upper part of the airway. Is is a very simple way to check for gapes. One last thing you can do is to give her metronidazole for a possible blackhead infection. You would have to weigh her to figure out the dosage but it is given orally for five days.

 

[wildheartdb]

That is a very nice hen, she looks older than 2022, she is well developed. You are doing everything right but I would cut down on the pour-on as it can chemically blister the skin, We use 0.4ml and divide it between four places on s grown bird. Sorry, I can't find the pic of the scabbing but it can be found on my profile page under pictures I have shared in the past. Do you know how to check for gapeworms using a cotton swab? You simply insert it down the airway and twist the swab while pulling out along the upper part of the airway. Is is a very simple way to check for gapes. One last thing you can do is to give her metronidazole for a possible blackhead infection. You would have to weigh her to figure out the dosage but it is given orally for five days.

Thank you for your reply and suggestions! I have already treated for blackhead with metronidazole (5days). I applied the 1cc ivermectin in divided increments under each wing, above tail and between wings on top of back. Im pretty sure its not a parasite problem at this point, internal or external. Again all other birds healthy and vigorous. She was an early May 2022. I am very careful about the care and attention I give my birds. She has had scrambled eggs and vitamins throughout this malaise, as well as probiotics. She is extra sweet and gets along with everybody in the flock, just seems tired and weak all the time and if course her wings dropped. I just dont know where to go from this point treatment wise?

 

[KsKingBee]

I think you have done everything you can do. Hopefully she doesn't have an internal problem. I lost a chick at about four weeks to a rather large tumor. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do.

 

[wildheartdb]

WOW! Im so sorry! Not to be morbid, rather trying to learn may I ask what might have caused a tumor like that in a youngster? Is it a genetic problem? What were the symptoms? How did you discover the problem? I hope thats not the case with my girl. She is such a sweet young peahen.

 

[KsKingBee]

Why does anyone get cancer and tumors? I can't say for sure but it was slow to develop and got lost a lot. And was slow to be able to get up high to roost with the other chicks. One of the chicks had a hard time of hatching, its shell crumbled and had to be helped out, perhaps it was damaged at that time, I couldn't say for sure but eventually, Mika quit worrying about it and moved on with the other chicks so she knew it wasn't right. It started showing signs of being sick and we brought it inside for a while then it passed.