Thanks all, and Chickenjane -
Okay, so I took my little splash (who turns 25 weeks tomorrow - this has been going on for 7 weeks now) to the vet yesterday.
She did a gram stain, which indicated Spirochete bacteria. Doc said at first, she only saw one of them, and was a bit perplexed, as she's never seen it in a chicken before (only dogs). Then she looked more closely and noted that one little bacteria "had lots of friends." So, she prescribed Clindamycin (150mg for 14 days). It's a capsule that I have to break open, mix with water, and squirt into her mouth. No problem....I've been syringe feeding her all this time anyhow. She also gave me Hydroxyzine syrup; she said to put this in her water (1 ml for every 4 ozs.) and it would help dry up the sinuses.
I asked her if this bacterial infection would make her lose her appetite, and she said sure it would. Also mentioned she's very thin, which I knew. I work full time, and just cannot afford to run home at lunch time (due to the gas prices) to feed her, so I feed her before work, after work, and around 8:30 - 9 p.m. Doc also showed me how to feed via tube directly into her crop, but splash really struggled and threw her head all around, and it seems like a 2-person thing to do it that way, although it sure would save time!! Takes me about 15-20 mins. to hand feed via syringe. She gave me the rubber tube and a 60cc syringe to do the tube feeding if I desired, and I did practice getting the tube down in doc's office, but I think I feel more comfortable just syring feeding. Doc said she should be feeling better within a week, so I'm HOPING that by this weekend, she'll be eating on her own.
So, of course, I cannot find my Chicken Health Handbook to look up the bacteria and find out which diseases it's associated with. My friend checked online last night quickly, and it appears it could be transmitted by a tick or mites; I'm fairly sure she doens't have mites, I checked again last night & didn't see any. None of the juvies from the pen she was in appear to have them either, but I will check more closely. Also, we've lived in our house for 13 years with 2-3 dogs all the time, and have never had a tick on our dogs; I suppose that doens't necessarily mean we don't have them around, though. And, I guess a tick would explain why she is the only one that got this in the pen of 15.
I'm exhausted today; I've also got a dog that has a UTI; so, I have to make sure to remember her antibiotics 3 times daily, plus my regular routine...I'll be THRILLED if Splash pulls through this alright, I truly will.
Oh, it was VERY expensive (at least IMO) to take Splash to the vet: $64-exam; $19.50-fecal check; $41-gram stain; $34.82-Clindamycin; $22.20-Hydroxyzine syrup for a total of $181.52. I really wanted to avoid taking her to the vet, but in reality, I've already spent approximately $70 for the wrong meds to treat her. Was it worth it? Ask me in a week, but here's hoping!!
