Help needed! Sick chicken and monster in law

Lucau

Hatching
7 Years
Nov 9, 2012
1
0
7
I have a chicken (Will) who was limping about for a while. I found that she had some sort of growth on her leg and researched it on the net. I couldnt really find anything that looked like it but it seemed to be that vaseline may help and some fungal cream. I tried everything that I had but nothing worked and in the end she just hopped about. I wasnt overly concerned as she seemed happy enough, eating, drinking etc. However I found her one day looking sorry for herself, picked her up to look at the leg and loads of maggots disappeared into it - urgg. Discussed it with my husband and agreed we felt bad for her (she had been in the house with the dogs and cats getting some TLC!) so we took her to the vets. The vet gave her antibiotics, cut away most of the growth and bandaged it up but didnt know what it was or what caused it (and charged a flipping fortune even though she said it would be
much!). So for the past month or so she has been hanging out in the house, quiet but eating etc resting a fair bit but seemingly ok.
Yesterday the monster in law arrived and said she couldnt believe we had kept it alive and it was better if we got rid of it (coupled with you daft soppy cow looks!) I said tell me the same thing after you have seen how well she is doing after a week. Sods law she has suddenly taken a turn for the worst. I noticed yesterday she didnt move about much and was heavy breathing and today even worse. She also has started getting foamy bubbles in her eye. A possibility is that she isnt cleaning herself properly as its a bit of a mission to clean her head with one foot, she seems pretty dirty, could it be blocking airholes and causing her breathing difficulties? It doesnt seem to come away easily and I dont want to distress her too much. Is there a special way to clean a chicken? Or should I just give up on her, prove the m in law right and put her down (well take her to our neighbour who is a lot braver than I am!)
I know I'm far too soft to keep chickens, think its time we started to sell them off!
Thanks for any advise - even if its just to tell me to man up!
 
Yes man up... I'm 14 and have pet chickens...I know it's horrifying when something doesn't go right and you lose a pet or see it in pain.... But that doesn't mean you should give up. It could possibly be fungus inside her lungs... Try garlic crushed in her water.... Will warn you though it smells SoOooo bad! But it's natural and is one more thing to check off the list if possibilitys... Might as well try. Also you can buy packets of electrolytes with vitamins and stuff for their water... That is always good, even just as an immune booster during the cold season. Hmmmm.... Peppermint tea... Helps with breathing... Hope all goes well

Never give up hope

Sincerely,
BeautifulJade
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I have not experienced your exact issue, but from what I have READ you can sprinkle her with DE to give her a dust bath since she can't do it herself. When I need to bathe a chicken, I do so in plain warm water(we have silkies and occasionally they find a mud puddle to "dust bathe" in...its fun ;-)) I have heard of people using soaps/shampoos/medicated washes, but I have never found it necessary, warm water in a 5gallon bucket does fine by me!

As for the "sick chicken" part, when something is wrong with one of mine, I give them GroGel(its for baby chicks, but does wonders for the sick adults too). If they have to be in the sick chicken pen, they get grogel on day one, then grogel mixed with corn and pellets and a handful of scraps for each additional day. It does wonders for them and they typically "heal themselves" within a week. However, understand that my experience is limited, we have had chickens for a year(but had them growing up and so did FIL) and I have only had 2 sick/injured birds(one post attack and another with a broken beak-the wind slammed their door shut and she was standing in the doorway...my poor girl!)

Mine RARELY get sick and I attribute that to a diet rich in fruit/veggie scraps(I have an organic/natural bakery)...but one day I will need more info so I am a research aholic, I try to be prepared for every contingency...which I never will be ;-)
 
Chicken zoo stop going around and telling everyone their chicken has a respiratory disease. Many people told me that with my chicken but it was just pneaumonis and she's fine now... It's also cold season so it's not surprising
 
The bubbles in her eye is unique in my limited experience. I did a quick search and found this about Mycoplasma:

When wild birds come down and drink from water and feed from feeders, the virus is easily spread to hens. It is a widely held belief that virtually every outdoor flock of hens/poultry will carry the mycoplasma infection. The symptoms only show when the infected bird becomes distressed, or unsettled. This can be when introducing new hens, moving hens, after a fox attack or during molting.

The symptoms are: Small bubbles in the corner of the eye.
Coughing and rattly breathing.
Nose and eye discharge.
Loss of appetite.
Swelling of the sinus area and/or eye.
Stops laying eggs or reduced number of eggs.
Lethargy.




NOTE: Hens often get coughs and colds, so do not automatically assume your hen has mycoplasma. The bubbles in the eye/swollen sinus is the ‘tell tale’ symptom.

entire article here: http://barlingpoultry.co.uk/mycoplasma.pdf
 
Chicken zoo stop going around and telling everyone their chicken has a respiratory disease. Many people told me that with my chicken but it was just pneaumonis and she's fine now... It's also cold season so it's not surprising


Did your birds get tested to make sure it was not a respiratory illness? Without testing you wouldn't know as it can lay dormant for years. I unfortunately.have.experience with many illnesses in birds. Have.had birds for years...300 chi kens alone. I don't just tell everyone it is an illness unless I think it is. Birds don't get colds like we do..yes they can get pneumonia....but no information was given to suggest it..and often that is a secondary symptom. If it is respiratory and not treated and handled correctly...more than one bird can get sick and be.passed to others. It is best to know all the possibilities. But you believe what you'd like.
Now birds can have allergies or reactions to poor sanitation or dusty litter etc.... But given her sick behavior Id lean towards illness.
 
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