Vet says gapeworm, recommends unavailable treatment; options?

[timebider]

Thanks so much, @penny1960 and @RavynFallen . The girls are still not a lot better. I was afraid I'd nearly killed the second girl, who has begun open-break-breathing too, since she fought and struggled against her medicine so hard this morning and then started sneezing like she was choking. But at the moment she seems to be doing better than the first girl, who is still panting. At this point I find myself wondering how long it's okay to allow this to go on, and thinking I need to start preparing mentally to find someone to cull these hens. Meanwhile, the seven girls in the garage are all shaking their heads a lot and while the vet found no mites on the sickest hen, I don't know what else it could be—and the shaking seems almost constant.

If I'd realized how truly delicate chickens are, how little vet help is available when things go wrong, and how hard it is (for me at least) to treat them myself, I honestly don't think I would have gotten into them. I really feel like I've bitten off so much more than I can chew, and now that I'm attached to them, I can't even do what I've seen a lot of people do and sell them along with their custom coop and winter greenhouse because I'd worry about how they're being treated...not that I think I can do, or have done, any better at this point. To top it all off my husband is upset with me because he says "the tail is wagging the dog" with these chickens because they're taking up so much time and causing me so much worry. Chicken-keeping is definitely one of those things I need to add to my list of things that I should leave up to people more competent than me.

 

[casportpony]

How much do the other hens drink in 24 hours, and how much do you think they weigh?

-Kathy

 

[timebider]

How much do the other hens drink in 24 hours, and how much do you think they weigh?

-Kathy

They drink maybe about three quarters of one of those standard-size (around 1 gallon?) hanging drinkers. They're all between 3 and 4 pounds, with one maybe around 5. I've reconciled myself to having the one girl euthanized on Monday. Every time I think she's finally getting better she backslides. Her tail is up a bit but she still has diarrhea and is panting pretty much nonstop (though she has cooed at me a few times today).

 

[pennyJo1960]

We do have to weigh our own choices as with life .. you have done wonderful listening learning how to
to treat and have come out of it stronger than you believed you where

 

[mg15]

My Bantam has a sinus infection so she shakes her head
quite a bit. Her situation is ongoing tho. when it gets worse I give
her baytril and clean her nostrils.
mg

 

[timebider]

@casportpony Can I ask your advice/opinion one last time? I'm planning to take my first sick girl to the vet for euthanasia tomorrow. She just isn't recovering and it feels cruel to keep her suffering. Every time I think she's truly getting better I check on her and she's panting again. My question concerns the girl I brought in to be with her, who began to get sick a few days after I put them together in the laundry room. She does seem to be responding better to treatment, probably because I caught her illness much sooner, but I've done a lot of research this weekend and have read that sick chickens almost never fully recover, and when they do, they remain carriers of the illness and can pass it to others and/or offspring. My question is, will I be risking the health of the remaining hens if I return the second girl to the flock if/when she's better? The remaining seven girls are not showing any symptoms of illness other than the sneezes they've been doing for months now whenever it's dry and/or dusty. Thanks SO much. I really appreciate your time and kindness in guiding me through this ordeal. It was definitely a learning experience, albeit a painful one.

 

[casportpony]

@casportpony Can I ask your advice/opinion one last time? I'm planning to take my first sick girl to the vet for euthanasia tomorrow. She just isn't recovering and it feels cruel to keep her suffering. Every time I think she's truly getting better I check on her and she's panting again. My question concerns the girl I brought in to be with her, who began to get sick a few days after I put them together in the laundry room. She does seem to be responding better to treatment, probably because I caught her illness much sooner, but I've done a lot of research this weekend and have read that sick chickens almost never fully recover, and when they do, they remain carriers of the illness and can pass it to others and/or offspring. My question is, will I be risking the health of the remaining hens if I return the second girl to the flock if/when she's better? The remaining seven girls are not showing any symptoms of illness other than the sneezes they've been doing for months now whenever it's dry and/or dusty. Thanks SO much. I really appreciate your time and kindness in guiding me through this ordeal. It was definitely a learning experience, albeit a painful one.

Whether or not they remain carriers really depends on what they have, and to know what they have would require testing. Someone just posted that one of theirs was sick, and people were telling her she should cull her sick one, but she decided to have it tested and it turned out that it was not one of the ones that makes them carriers.

FWIW, I'm still not convinced that your one hen has a respiratory illness.

-Kathy

 

[timebider]

Whether or not they remain carriers really depends on what they have, and to know what they have would require testing. Someone just posted that one of theirs was sick, and people were telling her she should cull her sick one, but she decided to have it tested and it turned out that it was not one of the ones that makes them carriers.

FWIW, I'm still not convinced that your one hen has a respiratory illness.

-Kathy

So much for the last question. What do you think she might have if not a respiratory illness? Is there testing I should ask for at the vet tomorrow? Should I continue to give her the antibiotic and wormer?

 

[casportpony]

Quote: The panting make me think there is something going on in her abdominal cavity. Heart, liver, ascites, repro-tract, or infection. The tetracycline isn't gonna hurt her I don't think, so you might as well keep giving it. What day of worming are you on?

-Kathy

 

[timebider]

The panting make me think there is something going on in her abdominal cavity. Heart, liver, ascites, repro-tract, or infection. The tetracycline isn't gonna hurt her I don't think, so you might as well keep giving it. What day of worming are you on?

-Kathy

Today will/would be day six. I haven't given that or the evening dose of tetracycline yet. I dread it and I was thinking that if I was going to have her euthanized tomorrow first thing I wouldn't put either of us through it. Now I guess I will give her everything tonight and try to get a first-thing vet appt. for more discussion of a diagnosis. If the vet can't figure out what's wrong and the hen's not getting better, though, I'll still have to reconsider euthanasia because I don't want to make her suffer any longer. The thing that pretty much convinced me it was respiratory was that, after being with the sick girl for a few days, the second hen began having the same symptoms.