Giardia!!!

[dawg53]

One of our chicks just tested positive for giardia - 5 weeks old. Have only had tap water...... Vet prescribed flagyl - very expensive!

Now I am sick with intestinal symptoms and really wondering if I could have it!

It's possible. I recommend having your water tested by city or county officials where you live. I'm on well water. When I first get up in the mornings, I let the water run in the kitchen sink for a few minutes to flush out the system from sitting in pipes overnight.
You can order Fishzole (250mg) online which contains metronidazole, same thing a flagyl.... much cheaper and you dont need a prescription.
As for yourself, you might want to make a doctors appointment.

 

[SmokinChick]

I hope you are doing better? How are the chicks doing? Where are you? I thought giardia was not in well water, yet?

 

[scamperwillow]

I'm all better - it turned out to be a stomach flu - weird timing...
The chicks seem fine - we gave them all flagyl for several days. We are not on well water - we are on city water - so the 2 or 3 day chicks must have had it when we got them. Everyone seems happy and healthy now though.....

Oh, and I am in Sonoma County, CA

 

[aquariansun]

we live in mexico and i assumed our testing positive for giardia ourselves was due to poor hygiene in the community (i.e. from food poisoning eating out type transmission, there's a higher incidence rate in developing countries), and i didn't know that giardia cysts could travel on the wind as well as waterborne...but now after some investigation i see we're going to have to get testing for our chickens and some cows on the property...anyone else experiencing stomach cramps or diarrhea that suspects this microbe should definitely get a stool sample. flagyl is not fun to take.

 

[Wol1]

Think this is what my poor naked chickens are suffering. Webpage with info:

Pictures of symptoms from webpage:




Pictures of our chicken:

Taking stool sample to vet today. Will report back.

 

[Wol1]

"Taking stool sample to vet today. Will report back."

Took samples from 3 chickens showing symptoms since they don't shed giardia all the time. SNAP test came back negative. The doctor said that giardia is difficult to find in tests, so it may be what they have. I have given them fenbendazole (Safeguard) for three days (it's supposed to treat giardia) and am waiting for some kind of result. Nothing yet.

 

[uofmrebel]

I have contracted something that might be Giardiasis. The only thing is that I think I contracted it Saturday but giardiasis takes weeks to develop. Maybe I contracted it earlier and just didn't know it.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have contracted something that might be Giardiasis. The only thing is that I think I contracted it Saturday but giardiasis takes weeks to develop. Maybe I contracted it earlier and just didn't know it.

You should call your doctor- don't take chances with your health.

 

[nomoneycanrepla]

I have ran the gamment of heartache with my sick hen. Its really good to figure out a way to get stool samples to a lab. I have researched things on here and online, and sometimes I panicked and almost poisoned them. I know its sooo expensive.

 

[Wol1]

I forgot to follow up! The vet finally got ahold of me and let me know that she found Giardia using a fecal smear. I have since found this website that offers a kit to collect and preserve samples and then you send it in to a special lab that does only parasite testing. It's $2.25 for the kit including shipping. You then send the sample and $45 to the lab for testing.

https://www.birdsafestore.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=giardia#.VOu3vst0xLM

The red skin turned out to be a bacterial infection. It eventually infected her oil gland. Finally put her on an antibiotic. The red skin looks normal now. She's still pretty naked. I hope she molts soon.

In all my researching, I haven't found any study that definitively states that bird giardiasis is not infective to people. However, it is a different species of Giardia and, other than two whole "assemblages" of Giardia species that infect mammals, most Giardia are very host specific. Aquatic birds can pick up human/mammal Giardia from contaminated water and transport it, but they don't actually become infected with it.

This is a link to my original post about my half naked girls: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/898440/massive-feather-loss/30