Had to take my hen to the vet today, still don't know what's wrong with her.

[das Huhnchen]

Thanks for the great advice, Dawg. Very helpful.
She's eating and drinking normally this morning.
Upon the vet's advice, I gave her spinach, creamed corn, oatmeal.
The amount of human food they get is minimal. Not even a half a handful every other day or less, nothing spoiled or processed, no meat.
The cheerios are given no more than a few a day per bird as an aid to help coop them when necessary.
If it were food-related, the other hens would be exhibiting the same signs, I would think.

From my original post, the veterinarian performed a fecal, it returned negative, so no parasites.
The hen was administered calcium gluconate, 200ml of lactated ringer's solution, injection of penicillin g procaine and a tube feeding.
I have compared her poo to pictures of 'normal' poo and she's within 'normal' range.
She was checked for an impacted egg and the vet didn't think that was the problem. This hen has never laid an egg.
She is not vaccinated for Marek's. We (I and the chick dealer) discussed that and decided against it.

 

[das Huhnchen]

Thanks, Casportpony. That's the kind of help I was looking for. She's in the house where it's warm, in a crate with a towel under her, food and water available. I'll check out the other information. Thanks, again.

 

[chicknmania]

Bird vets have told me many times, to feed the bird whatever it will eat when sick. This includes fruit, vegetables. Just not in excess, obviously. The bird needs to eat. And drink. Free range birds eat fruit, vegetables, and grain...if the vet treats birds, and I assume yours does, I would not ignore the vet's advice.

 

[das Huhnchen]

I'm pretty confident in my vet's abilities. She's an exotic/avian vet, and knows her birds. Hen is resting comfortably, and has eaten well this morning.

 

[casportpony]

I'm pretty confident in my vet's abilities. She's an exotic/avian vet, and knows her birds. Hen is resting comfortably, and has eaten well this morning.

Your vet sounds like a good one. You should ask her how to do the fluids and tube feeding yourself. Once you learn, I guarantee you will never pay for it again.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for the great advice, Dawg. Very helpful.
She's eating and drinking normally this morning.
Upon the vet's advice, I gave her spinach, creamed corn, oatmeal.
The amount of human food they get is minimal. Not even a half a handful every other day or less, nothing spoiled or processed, no meat.
The cheerios are given no more than a few a day per bird as an aid to help coop them when necessary.
If it were food-related, the other hens would be exhibiting the same signs, I would think.

From my original post, the veterinarian performed a fecal, it returned negative, so no parasites.
The hen was administered calcium gluconate, 200ml of lactated ringer's solution, injection of penicillin g procaine and a tube feeding.
I have compared her poo to pictures of 'normal' poo and she's within 'normal' range.
She was checked for an impacted egg and the vet didn't think that was the problem. This hen has never laid an egg.
She is not vaccinated for Marek's. We (I and the chick dealer) discussed that and decided against it.

Sorry, I missed that.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for the great advice, Dawg. Very helpful.
She's eating and drinking normally this morning.
Upon the vet's advice, I gave her spinach, creamed corn, oatmeal.
The amount of human food they get is minimal. Not even a half a handful every other day or less, nothing spoiled or processed, no meat.
The cheerios are given no more than a few a day per bird as an aid to help coop them when necessary.
If it were food-related, the other hens would be exhibiting the same signs, I would think.

From my original post, the veterinarian performed a fecal, it returned negative, so no parasites.
The hen was administered calcium gluconate, 200ml of lactated ringer's solution, injection of penicillin g procaine and a tube feeding.
I have compared her poo to pictures of 'normal' poo and she's within 'normal' range.
She was checked for an impacted egg and the vet didn't think that was the problem. This hen has never laid an egg.
She is not vaccinated for Marek's. We (I and the chick dealer) discussed that and decided against it.

If you are referring to the poo page that I have seen posted, http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0, some of those pictures are wrong. I had necropsies done on three birds who had poo that looked "normal according to that page and all three died from coccidiosis.

From http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0
Below are pictures of Chicken Droppings kindly donated by our members (the pictures not the poo).


Normal

Picture taken by Catsmuvva

These last three pictures have shed intestinal lining in them - quite normal, not a cause for concern.


Coral coloured Urates

These are frequently deposited overnight and are quite normal

Oily and Foamy

The range of "Normal" is huge :shock:

Ceacal

These are produced from the caecum of the chicken and are mustard to dark brown froth. They are expelled every 8 to 10 droppings.

Fly Maggots

(picture curtesy of Vember)

Flies will lay their eggs on moist chicken poo and in warm weather they will very quickly hatch into small maggots.

Watery

Watery droppings can be produced by hens which are too hot. It can be a way for them to cool down by drinking a lot and losing some of their heat in frequent wet droppings. It can also be a sign that the hens are not eating enough too.

Abnormal poos

Coccidiosis produces blood in faeces.

The hen who produced this specimen was an older bird who became very thirsty.
She is producing a large amount of watery urates the cause of which is unknown, but could possibly be a kidney problem.

The hen who produced this specimen was about 25 weeks old. She went off her food and ate so little she became underweight. She held her tail down and was tired. She may have had worms and/or egg peritonitis.

Worms

picture taken by smiler43 picture taken by Lindeggs


Sulphur yellow, foamy dropping can bea sign of Blackhead (Histamonosis) which is caused by a protozoan parasite infecting the gut. It is however rare in back yard hens !


This picture was taken after 2 days treatment with flubenvet. The worms are probably Ascaridia galli, they don't cause much harm to the birds unless they are present in large numbers. It is not unkown for them to enter the reproductive tract from the digestive tract via the vent and be found inside an egg :shock:

Please feel free to comment on these pictures and post any you may want to know about or think would be good to add to this album.

 

[das Huhnchen]

MMMMMM, yeah, that's the chart.
This morning, she seems to be doing pretty well. We washed her bum yesterday and got a good bit of her feathers cleaned up. She's getting another cleaning this morning. Her poo is much more formed and normal looking. I'm wondering if she had some kind of infection, as she is acting much better. She tried to escape her bum cleaning yesterday, and it was a challenge to hold her still, and that makes me think she's feeling better.

Casportpony, you've mentioned worming her. Yesterday I went to the local feed store and chatted with a gal and she's been raising chickens for 15 years and has never even heard of chickens getting worms. I find that hard to believe, because I worm my cats, dogs and horses. We do live where parasites aren't as bad as in other parts of the country. I don't have issues with fleas, mites, ticks or other bugs, as our altitude and dry weather are not conducive to their survival. My chick dealer also doesn't worm much. If I were to worm the flock, what should I do it with, and do we need to not eat their eggs for a certain time?

My 'sick' hen hasn't started laying eggs yet, but with her Pen G Procain injection, if she were laying, how long do I need to avoid her eggs?

My vet said she was limited in what she can do in regards to treatment because the USDA considers the hens 'livestock' and little research has been done on effects of medications on eggs and human consumption. So the vet can't do certain things/administer certain medication for fear of losing her license, but from what I'm gathering from research on BYC, most people do their own vetting, and medication administration. Thoughts on this?
Kindly,
das Huhnchen

 

[casportpony]

Quote:

MMMMMM, yeah, that's the chart.
And one of these days I'll go picture by picture and make comments. Get to know what your chickens poop looks like, that's the best thing to do.
This morning, she seems to be doing pretty well. We washed her bum yesterday and got a good bit of her feathers cleaned up. She's getting another cleaning this morning. Her poo is much more formed and normal looking. I'm wondering if she had some kind of infection, as she is acting much better. She tried to escape her bum cleaning yesterday, and it was a challenge to hold her still, and that makes me think she's feeling better.
Might have been an intestinal bacterial infection. Did your vet suggest ongoing antibiotics? Baytril and metronidazole are banned by the FDA for use in poultry, but stuff like Clavamox is not. Also, did you and your vet discuss what to do if she doesn't start drinking/eating on her own? The fluids and food the vet gave her won't last long.
Casportpony, you've mentioned worming her. Yesterday I went to the local feed store and chatted with a gal and she's been raising chickens for 15 years and has never even heard of chickens getting worms.
She's an idiot, lol. parasites can and do kill poultry. Wazine (piperazine), only gets roundworms, Safeguard/Panacur (10% fenbendazole), which is sold as horse paste and as goat/cattle/pig liquid gets all but tapeworms and Valbazen (albendazole) gets all worms. Per my vet, I use Safeguard 50mg/kg ( 1/2cc/kg) by mouth and repeat in ten days, Dawg uses Valbazen. Check your feed store, but don't let them try to sell you Wazine, get Safeguard/Panacur or Valbazen.
I find that hard to believe, because I worm my cats, dogs and horses.
Exactly!
We do live where parasites aren't as bad as in other parts of the country. I don't have issues with fleas, mites, ticks or other bugs, as our altitude and dry weather are not conducive to their survival.
I don't know much about worms at the higher elevations, but I would worm her.
My chick dealer also doesn't worm much. If I were to worm the flock, what should I do it with, and do we need to not eat their eggs for a certain time?
When mine get sick, they get wormed, always. I would worm each bird, but that's just me.

Other people here can advise you on the withdrawal time.
My 'sick' hen hasn't started laying eggs yet, but with her Pen G Procain injection, if she were laying, how long do I need to avoid her eggs?
Not sure about the withdrawal time, but you should be okay, I doubt she'll be laying soon.
My vet said she was limited in what she can do in regards to treatment because the USDA considers the hens 'livestock' and little research has been done on effects of medications on eggs and human consumption. So the vet can't do certain things/administer certain medication for fear of losing her license,
There are many drugs that can be given, but only nine that are banned, I think
See: http://www.farad.org/eldu/prohibit.asp - You'll have to do a search on each drug listed. For example, Fluoroquinolones are banned and they include Baytril and Cipro, maybe some others and nitroimidazole that covers metronidazole. Baytril and metronidazole are what many people on BYC use. Both can be purchased without a prescription. Metronidazole is sold as a fish antibiotic.

but from what I'm gathering from research on BYC, most people do their own vetting, and medication administration. Thoughts on this?

My peafowl and turkeys get to go to the vet, but I treat the others here and give them medication when I think it will help. I try to use medication sthat are not banned, but Baytril (banned) is one of the best. If I use a banned drug, I will not eat that animal or it's eggs.

-Kathy

 

[LilacLes]

You can always try switching them to organic feed. Some animals are just more sensitive to GMO and to all the other crud that goes into conventional food. Good luck!