Help! Chicken is lethargic, doesn't want to eat and drink on her own and tilting head.

[Luckybaby]

About 2.5 days ago, I noticed that my chicken can barely walk, and she doesn't want to eat. She is a bantam golden laced cochin about 1.55 years old, and lives in pen. I started giving her antibiotics since 2 days ago, at a dosage of 125mg amoxicillin every 12 hours. She ate very little without help about 12 hours ago, but she doesn't want to eat again on her own. Also, her head is tilting 45 degress +/- 10 degress towards the left side, and she is staying at the same spot for several hours, and can only walk for 2-3 seconds if she feels scared. I didn't see any visible signs of internal or external injury around her neck and head. She ate the same food as my other chickens, but all of those chickens seems healthy. I am currently giving her ensure plus, water and vitamins that I am giving to my parrots. What is her problem, and what should I do?

 

[casportpony]

Would be best to get her in a warm room and weigh her. FWIW, the amoxicillin dose I use is 125mg/kg (57mg per pound) twice a day. Can you post a picture of her poop? Has she been de-wormed ?

-Kathy

 

[Free Spirit]

Without knowing what is wrong the antibiotic may not do anything. Certain antibiotics only handle specific problems they all don't work for every problem. So you need to check her over so you can try and rule out as much as possible to narrow down the possibilities.

Is she currently laying? Have you ruled out egg binding? When was the last time she was wormed? Have you checked her crop? Have you checked her feet including the bottoms? What does her poop look like?

Is there anything on this list that you observed?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...e-emergency-and-supportive-care#post_16077761

 

[Luckybaby]

She only eats a little on her own during morning and afternoon hours. Before I give amoxicillin, her poop seems watery, but I think at other times of the day, it looks normal, since I saw normal looking poop and watery poop today( 3 days after I gave her the first dose of antibiotic). The last time I wormed her was on December 2014. I used albendazole at dosage of greater than 20mg/kg. She lives in a pen along with the other chickens, and there is no access to bugs in there, unless she is lucky to find some. I am not sure if she is is laying egg, but she is one of my chickens with the best appetite. The bottom part of the bag of feeds, have some molds and a lot of the feed have grain mites( Of all the 25 and 50lbs bag of feeds that I bought since last year, only those 2 feeds have a lot of grain mites and only 2( the other one from last year) have some visible molds), so she might ate some mold that can cause alfatoxin, but that is unlikely, since I checked the ones that I feed them, before I give it to them, the other chickens are eating the same food as her and they all look healthy. It looks like she have wry neck, so I suspect, injury, botulism or infection.

 

[Free Spirit]

If she is suspected of a toxin (and based on your post she likely does) it is usually treated with a flush then followed up with vitamins and probiotics. Though I don't know if applying a flush right now is good since you have given her an antibiotic the past few days. But antibiotics will not help a toxin only bacteria (and not all bacteria). Hopefully another member can help with that answer. But here is the link for future reference.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700526/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal

Remove and discard all feed contaminated with mold and weevils (the mites your refer to). Mold is highly toxic and if you see any in feed it needs to be thrown out immediately. Grain bugs (usually weevils) eat into the center of grains and render them inert. They no longer have the nutrition and are essentially useless. Toss bug infested feed too.

Get some fresh feed ASAP.

 

[Luckybaby]

If she is suspected of a toxin (and based on your post she likely does) it is usually treated with a flush then followed up with vitamins and probiotics. Though I don't know if applying a flush right now is good since you have given her an antibiotic the past few days. But antibiotics will not help a toxin only bacteria (and not all bacteria). Hopefully another member can help with that answer. But here is the link for future reference.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700526/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal

Remove and discard all feed contaminated with mold and weevils (the mites your refer to). Mold is highly toxic and if you see any in feed it needs to be thrown out immediately. Grain bugs (usually weevils) eat into the center of grains and render them inert. They no longer have the nutrition and are essentially useless. Toss bug infested feed too.

Get some fresh feed ASAP.

Should I continue giving her antibiotic? I need to give 3 more doses before I am done. I don't want to force feed a sick bird using syringe, since there is a high risk of aspirating it. I've tried it before and I aspirated 2 chickens, but there is no way to avoid their death, even if I didn't do it, since I don't know the right solution to the problem on that time. She can't drink that much in one day. In fact, she can only drink about 0.3-0.5ml every minute.

 

[casportpony]

 
If she is suspected of a toxin (and based on your post she likely does) it is usually treated with a flush then followed up with vitamins and probiotics. Though I don't know if applying a flush right now is good since you have given her an antibiotic the past few days. But antibiotics will not help a toxin only bacteria (and not all bacteria). Hopefully another member can help with that answer. But here is the link for future reference.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700526/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal

Remove and discard all feed contaminated with mold and weevils (the mites your refer to). Mold is highly toxic and if you see any in feed it needs to be thrown out immediately. Grain bugs (usually weevils) eat into the center of grains and render them inert. They no longer have the nutrition and are essentially useless. Toss bug infested feed too.

Get some fresh feed ASAP.

Should I continue giving her antibiotic? I need to give 3 more doses before I am done. I don't want to force feed a sick bird using syringe, since there is a high risk of aspirating it. I've tried it before and I aspirated 2 chickens, but there is no way to avoid their death, even if I didn't do it, since I don't know the right solution to the problem on that time. She can't drink that much in one day. In fact, she can only drink about 0.3-0.5ml every minute.

Giving fluids and food with a tube is much safer that doing it with a syringe.

-Kathy

 

[Luckybaby]

Would be best to get her in a warm room and weigh her. FWIW, the amoxicillin dose I use is 125mg/kg (57mg per pound) twice a day. Can you post a picture of her poop? Has she been de-wormed ?

-Kathy

Do I have to give that much dosage for 5 days?

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Sorry for the delayed reply... yes, at least 5 days.

-Kathy