- Jun 28, 2014
- 38
- 17
- 84
History: BBB hen had waning appetite on nest and afterwards from March through July; was hand feeding soften pellets which had probiotic + vitamins in it. Was dewormed her; gave her lower dosage of antibiotic 2 x daily. She was panting. Her stools had changed from food yellow consistency to soft green. (When it was yellow like her pellets, it was cow pod like-prior it had always been normal drops of firm stool mixed with white urine.) Thus, we pulled her off the antibiotics. She wants to sit all the time; she would eat greens, peas and a little blueberries, but no pellets-this is the reason for hand feeding her.
Took the hen to a vet who said he could find nothing wrong with the bird. UGH. Vet never perform blood work/electrolytes tests (reason unknown); nor did the vet know if the bird had an infection; the vet did a fecal from something gotten via ground. Said there was small amount of coccidia--never any blood in it from any turkeys; the hen was the only one with the fecal change-everybody stayed normal healthy. Vet had us give all birds corid-it made no difference; then the hen got diarrhea, and was put on metronidazole 250mg pill which was divided and given 2 x daily. Metronidazole never did resolve the cow pod like stools- so increased the probiotics, oregano and a little garlic in the food; the stools firmed up in 10 days! The vet gave us a feeding tube; never had to use it-hen would allow us to fed her; she has a buddy in the coop; the large coop is divided with a gate system such that each hen has their own large space to lay, feed and drink. With her best friend near her, her spirits picked up; she started eating with continuous praise from her dish.
She was going through one heck of a laying period EVER followed by her worst molt EVER! She continued to pant or open mouth breath- the rate is more rapid then our other BBB hen. If mouth does close, can see the skin under the nasal openings move back and forth during respiration. She didn't handle the loss of all her tail feathers with all those spikes and she would lean way over so we THOUGHT. She responds like a dog to her name with positive reinforcement. With praise, she will drink her vitamin and electrolyte water, and holding her dish, she will eat all her food; since July appears to have a good appetite; makes slurping yummy sounds when eating her favorites of peas, blueberries and kale. She eats peas, blueberries, very small amount of sunflower kennels and 1/2 cup of pellets for AM meal; is given watermelon and kale between, and is given 1/2 cup of pellets for PM meal. The hen probably weighs about 21 lbs. She likes to go outside. Saved her life and wish to continue to assist her.
PROBLEM (1) She was walking upright slowing to her favorite spots in the yard, but now is less mobile. She appears to favor her right leg-limps WHEN she walks upright. Can see NO external injury. When she stands, her body condition is VERY good looking; when she first gets up in the mornings or if she has been sitting for a long time, she acts as though she is going to fall over. Does not stand on the back of her foot pads, but leans way forward; we support her in the front until she finds herself. It takes her some time to gain confidence with her standing. She will also walk stooped over with the tail held very high upward (part of the time) as if to use it as a stabilizer and will hang her right wing down as a stabilizer too? Mobility looks Stressful for her and she is in pain? THERE is never any low tail!
PROBLEM (2): The hen "pants all the time." Always has been a turkey that pants-she doesn't handle warm weather and the humidity. She, now pants even in cooler nights. We keep a fan in each of the hen's locations and the coop has 2 large vents and 2 windows. She has no gurgling sounds or wheeze or rasping or nasal fluid - nothing-just scary heavy panting. Because she pants so much, when we feed her, we allow her to eat 10 bites and let it move down before continuing-as sometimes, we would hear her clear her airway/trachea from time to time when she continuously ate-so we force her to slow down. Easy to see in her mouth-it looks healthy and smells good!
Because the bird panted in the vets office during visit, Believe that the vet may not have knowledge to assist; 2 hours to the vet would STRESS the hen even more. SO NEED HELP. Birds are easily stressed and would be best if vets would make house calls for birds.
-- Need all kinds of advice about limping and pain management/dosages and the rapid respiration/panting. Do not know if her panting is just because she is in too much PAIN-and how can tell if no symptoms accept rapid breathing? PLEASE assistance-wading through the data on BYC is overwhelming. Kathy @ casportpony BYC can you read this post?
Took the hen to a vet who said he could find nothing wrong with the bird. UGH. Vet never perform blood work/electrolytes tests (reason unknown); nor did the vet know if the bird had an infection; the vet did a fecal from something gotten via ground. Said there was small amount of coccidia--never any blood in it from any turkeys; the hen was the only one with the fecal change-everybody stayed normal healthy. Vet had us give all birds corid-it made no difference; then the hen got diarrhea, and was put on metronidazole 250mg pill which was divided and given 2 x daily. Metronidazole never did resolve the cow pod like stools- so increased the probiotics, oregano and a little garlic in the food; the stools firmed up in 10 days! The vet gave us a feeding tube; never had to use it-hen would allow us to fed her; she has a buddy in the coop; the large coop is divided with a gate system such that each hen has their own large space to lay, feed and drink. With her best friend near her, her spirits picked up; she started eating with continuous praise from her dish.
She was going through one heck of a laying period EVER followed by her worst molt EVER! She continued to pant or open mouth breath- the rate is more rapid then our other BBB hen. If mouth does close, can see the skin under the nasal openings move back and forth during respiration. She didn't handle the loss of all her tail feathers with all those spikes and she would lean way over so we THOUGHT. She responds like a dog to her name with positive reinforcement. With praise, she will drink her vitamin and electrolyte water, and holding her dish, she will eat all her food; since July appears to have a good appetite; makes slurping yummy sounds when eating her favorites of peas, blueberries and kale. She eats peas, blueberries, very small amount of sunflower kennels and 1/2 cup of pellets for AM meal; is given watermelon and kale between, and is given 1/2 cup of pellets for PM meal. The hen probably weighs about 21 lbs. She likes to go outside. Saved her life and wish to continue to assist her.
PROBLEM (1) She was walking upright slowing to her favorite spots in the yard, but now is less mobile. She appears to favor her right leg-limps WHEN she walks upright. Can see NO external injury. When she stands, her body condition is VERY good looking; when she first gets up in the mornings or if she has been sitting for a long time, she acts as though she is going to fall over. Does not stand on the back of her foot pads, but leans way forward; we support her in the front until she finds herself. It takes her some time to gain confidence with her standing. She will also walk stooped over with the tail held very high upward (part of the time) as if to use it as a stabilizer and will hang her right wing down as a stabilizer too? Mobility looks Stressful for her and she is in pain? THERE is never any low tail!
PROBLEM (2): The hen "pants all the time." Always has been a turkey that pants-she doesn't handle warm weather and the humidity. She, now pants even in cooler nights. We keep a fan in each of the hen's locations and the coop has 2 large vents and 2 windows. She has no gurgling sounds or wheeze or rasping or nasal fluid - nothing-just scary heavy panting. Because she pants so much, when we feed her, we allow her to eat 10 bites and let it move down before continuing-as sometimes, we would hear her clear her airway/trachea from time to time when she continuously ate-so we force her to slow down. Easy to see in her mouth-it looks healthy and smells good!
Because the bird panted in the vets office during visit, Believe that the vet may not have knowledge to assist; 2 hours to the vet would STRESS the hen even more. SO NEED HELP. Birds are easily stressed and would be best if vets would make house calls for birds.
-- Need all kinds of advice about limping and pain management/dosages and the rapid respiration/panting. Do not know if her panting is just because she is in too much PAIN-and how can tell if no symptoms accept rapid breathing? PLEASE assistance-wading through the data on BYC is overwhelming. Kathy @ casportpony BYC can you read this post?
