Help! Micro Serama is ill!

FeeltheLove12

Songster
6 Years
Feb 14, 2018
26
33
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I don't exactly know how I acquired Penelope...I thought she was a teenager last year when a woman at a Serama show shoved her in my hands in exchange for a hen of mine she coveted. She obviously knew I was a newbie at this.... But I fell in love with Penelope and brought her home last July. Eight weeks later she laid a tiny egg, and then about 1 every 3 days until a month ago. I did not realize she was a micro until her recent issues.....she started walking backwards and flipped over once. I suspected egg bound, then noticed yolk in her droppings. For the past 4 weeks, I administered Baytril and Calcium Gluconate by mouth. She is much better, but still unsteady on her feet. She has no other symptoms other than unsteady gait and no eggs.

Now that I know she's a micro (6 oz), I realize she may never lay eggs again and may not live long. I can't find any information on what happens to kill these tiny wonders....and I want to prevent it if I can. I don't know if I need to just continue the meds (every other day now)...or what else might help her. She is so precious, and I am terribly attached....I know I may lose her, but I want to do all I can...
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If she is not actively laying then I would stop giving the calcium gluconate. You will be putting a strain on her kidneys having to process that calcium when she has no use for it.
Major surgery, like removal of the oviduct or lavage of the abdominal cavity is pretty risky..... it's mostly the anaesthetic which creates the greatest issues in chickens ... so not something that should be undertaken without careful consideration. They cannot usually remove the ovary as well as the oviduct due to high risk of haemorrhaging because of the large blood supply to the organ, so hormonal implants are required to prevent future ovulation and need to be replaced every 3-6 months..... it becomes a very expensive situation at $100-$150 a go. Not wanting to dissuade you, but just ensuring that you have all the facts before you consider putting her through the trauma of surgery.
I wish you luck with her.
 
She likely has genetic issues, being bred for a micro size. It's what happens when we humans monkey with nature.

So, yes, she probably has an infection. The yolk evidence indicates she probably has EYP - Egg Yolk Peritonitis. This can be caused by genetics and stress. The yolks are released by the ovary, but they are diverted to the abdominal cavity instead of traveling down the oviduct.

The result is a mess of infection in her abdomen. There are two ways to treat it. One is to have a vet surgically clean out the infection and take steps to stop future ovulation. The other is to keep her on an antibiotic until she feels better. The latter doesn't have a high success rate, I'm sorry to say. If she lives, she likely will never lay again, but she could continue to release yolks to do future damage.

This is likely what you're dealing with. If you can locate a good avian vet and can afford it, that would be the best plan of action. The second option is to step up the antibiotic to each day instead of every other day, and hope for the best.
 
So she was feeling better and then I stopped the antibiotic....and she slipped back some.
I have no problem having the vet sterilize her, but I don't want to do that and have her die anyway of whatever kills the micros at 8 months. I find information stating they don't usually live past 8 months, but not the reason for that....and I think that's true for Roos, too....

Poor little baby....I would never have engineered that, but I guess I am glad she's in my hands, and I understand why the breeder forced her on me.... It will be quite a trick to find a vet in this area, but I would take her out of town if it buys me more than a few more months....
 
Stopping an antibiotic when the hen starts to feel better is what a lot of people get tricked into doing. Most antibiotics should be give daily for a period of 7 to 10 days straight. There are some that need to be given for 21 days. It's important you follow the drug recommendations to the letter.

I hope you can find a vet to treat her. I've fallen in love with her sweet little photo, and I know how much you must love her.
 
The 21 days of antibiotics should have knocked out any infection. You run the risk of eliminating all her good microbes in her intestines by prolonging the antibiotic. Yeast infection could take advantage of it.

It's a real balancing act.
 
If she is not actively laying then I would stop giving the calcium gluconate. You will be putting a strain on her kidneys having to process that calcium when she has no use for it.
Major surgery, like removal of the oviduct or lavage of the abdominal cavity is pretty risky..... it's mostly the anaesthetic which creates the greatest issues in chickens ... so not something that should be undertaken without careful consideration. They cannot usually remove the ovary as well as the oviduct due to high risk of haemorrhaging because of the large blood supply to the organ, so hormonal implants are required to prevent future ovulation and need to be replaced every 3-6 months..... it becomes a very expensive situation at $100-$150 a go. Not wanting to dissuade you, but just ensuring that you have all the facts before you consider putting her through the trauma of surgery.
I wish you luck with her.


Well, thank you for that.....I certainly wanted to make sure she was healthy enough to undergo surgery first....she has gained some weight and is much better....just not all the way there.... I want to be sure I do all that I can for her without overdoing it....and that has been a balancing act from the moment she got sick.....so far, I have had no reason to believe she is dying or suffering unnecessarily.....(except when I had to use KY jelly and my pinkie to determine if she was egg bound...LOL), but I want to know what to watch for so that doesn't happen....I had no idea she was a micro, and still don't know if this is what kills them or if it is something else I also need to watch out for....she seems quite content....it's me that's not!! I don't want to miss something.....

Thank you for your input....it validates the razor's edge I am walking.... Well, worth it as long as both of our quality of life is maintained.....
 
The best part about this thread is the brainstorming from other folks that mirrors my own and allows me to revisit some of my thinking when I am too close to it to notice.....

That being said, I do not think it is Marek's disease. I have reviewed every symptom on multiple sites, and she just doesn't have any other symptoms... Her unsteady gait is uncharacteristic of the pattern of paralysis described in the research, and she has had a substantial recovery which I know can happen with Marek's also.

Vets around here would know less about how to treat her than I do, and I am reluctant to have them experiment on her....and I have that from a very good source.

My real concern is not her current symptoms, but why it says all over the internet that micro seramas die by 8-months old. Are there various complications due to gene manipulation or a specific issue I need to watch out for....in addition to what I a dealing with already????

At the moment, she is almost asymptomatic except for not laying eggs...which as I read could just be because she is so tiny... If that is the case, it is also possible she won't continue to ovulate either....and she doesn't seem to be.... In which case we may be out of the woods for now....but I want to anticipate what else may be coming that kills her besides this...so that I am prepared as I luckily was in this case.... Out here in the countryside, there is no reaction time. Any delay in mail order would have resulted in certain death.....I am very lucky I knew to have Baytril on hand...and wondering what else might be helpful to have in my emergency kit or to look out for....

(Her poop is normal, her comb is red, she's eating and drinking, clucking, and taunting the rooster next door. She flaps her wings, but walks like she's slightly tipsy....not backwards anymore and is able to direct her movement now... When I tried to put her with baby chicks for company....she stuck her nose in the air and walked directly and steadily away from them..wish I coulda had a video of that!! LOL)

THANKS EVERYONE....
 
The best part about this thread is the brainstorming from other folks that mirrors my own and allows me to revisit some of my thinking when I am too close to it to notice.....

Yes I was very conscious that I was typing my thoughts as they enter my head rather than having a more structured approach like I normally would. I really don't know anything about micro seramas but my bet would be that their immune system is compromised by the selective breeding to achieve the petite stature. I would doubt that there is anything specific that they all perish from but more that they just fail to thrive and are more susceptible to the huge array of diseases and illnesses that chickens are generally at risk from.

I think the key will be to supporting her immune and digestive system and keeping her as happy and stress free as possible, so good quality feed, perhaps a vitamin supplement like Poultry Nutri Drench or Poultry Cell a couple of times a week and maybe probiotics or fermented feed, particularly since she has been on long term anti Bs. Probably a good idea to have Corid on hand too, just in case, if you don't already.

My concern would be that she is ovulating if her comb is bright red..... that is the obvious outward sign that she is fertile.... it is what tells a rooster that she is ready to mate. Perhaps restricting her access to daylight for slightly longer periods each day might be another way to control ovulation. Can you feel or see any abdominal swelling, particularly between her legs or below her vent?

For what it's worth I share your concerns about vets in respect of chickens. There are people on this website whose judgement and knowledge I would trust long before I would visit a vet.
 
You might want to examine this thread from a few months ago carefully. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-yolk-peritonitis.1154532/ It has some graphic photos of a EYP necropsy as well as a brief discussion of what to expect if you decide on implants to control ovulation.

It will be interesting to hear what your vet discovers. Hopefully you will get a diagnosis.
 

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