Boy, the cost of a "chicken vet" is outragious...

[dturren]

Hello everyone: I live north of San Francisco. I clean off my poo board everyday, and today I noticed a small clot of blood in one poo. (I have three chickens.) I wanted to take examples of everyone's poo to the vet for analysis and called around to check prices. Three of four vets wanted to see the chickens before they did the analysis...and charge me $70 per chicken,

then the tests would be performed for a cost above that. I explained that all I wanted was a check for parasites/worms before I spent all that money to actually bring in all three chickens. One said he would do the check (for $33) and if he found anything he would want to see the chickens. I plan to go to him with my chicken's poo for the test. One of the vets said that he would do the parasite check for $23 and "a second check" for something that the first analysis didn't cover (for $47). What could that second test be for? Have you all found that the vet wants to see the chicken first... or is this just the "slow time" in the economy we are suffering? Thanks for your input. Donna

 

[chickensioux]

Do you have any other institutes near you that might help you? Vet colleges, vet tech school, vet diagnostic center? I have a vet diag. center near my that did a necropsy for me for $5. Maybe you can find something like that. It would be ok to deworm if you think that might be it without having it checked. That's what I would do.

 

[Biddieacres]

I found people on this forum can help you out if you post your issue. I have avoided vet costs by talking to very well educated people on this forum so you are in the right place.

Maybe if you post "blood found in Poo" as your subject someone will chime in and tell you what to do. No offense but the vets I have talked to don't know much about chickens. It is hard to find someone like that. Good luck and you might just have to worm them as a yearly precaution. I haven't had to worm yet but if you search there in the search box you might find lots of information on worming and blood in the poo.

Good luck with your chickens!

 

[meezermom]

The second test is for things like giardia or other parasites taht don't show up on a typical fecal float test.

Before the prescribe ANY meds they have to (by law) do an exam....

Birds are more work for vets than a dog or cat, so exams cost more. Since you live on the west coast, your costs will be higher also.

Hope this has helped you some - diagnosing an animal over the phone or by a single lab test can be tough most of the time.

 

[mudderhen]

Wow! That is expensive. I don't know what the "other" test could be, but I wanted to let you know that I had to take one of my roos to the vet the other day. There is actually a chicken vet close to me, and I live about two hours north of Atlanta, but the exam cost $27.00. I didn't think that was bad, but the doc diagnosed him as soon as he walked in the room before even touching him. I don't know if it is because you live in California, or if maybe the vet's are trying to make up for the loss of their state refund checks they aren't going to get.
Seriously, I know they charge a certain amount for lab tests, and testing poo is a lab test, but that does seem very expensive to me.
Hope everyone is okay......

 

[Akane]

What vets are you asking? Are you calling livestock vets, the typical dog/cat/everything else vets, avian vets..? They will all give you different prices and require different things. A livestock vet would be most likely to do a fecal without requiring anything extra. Our equine vet does fecals all the time and requires nothing but delivering a piece of manure to his lab and they'll mail you the fecal count results. If you call back they will give you suggestions of what dewormer to use. Now an avian specific vet would probably require me to bring the animal in and will make no suggestions without an exam. Even with my dog there are certain vets I use for certain things because sometimes I want something simple done cheaply (yearly vaccines) and sometimes I want to be darn certain it's done right no matter what (spay surgery).

 

[chickensioux]

Yeah, I agree with Biddie. This is the most informative forum ever!!!!

 

[ivan3]

Did you by any chance call UC Davis? They might be able to refer you to someone closer and cheaper.

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/small_animal/cape/default.cfm

 

[dturren]

Thanks to everyone for their quick replies. You're right, Biddieacres, my regular vet has referred me to these other vets because she doesn't "do chickens". Of course, the vets she referred me to were "avian vets" Akane. You were right that they are the most expensive. I think I'll call an equine vet tomorrow to see what they say. Also I'll call UC Davis (THANK YOU IVAN3) to see what they say. You are all so wonderful to answer so fast. Thanks to all. Donna

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Donna,

We're in your neck of the woods (sorta). We tend to not be inclined to take our chickens to the vet. We treat what we can and will cull the ones we can't (sorry, it's how we roll). Fortunately that hasn't happened more than 1 time so far.

If you do lose a bird to any sickness UC Davis will do a necropsy for free. They will even take a live bird and put it down / do the necropsy. For those that have larger flocks this makes sense, but may not make sense for you.

Best of luck!