juliadeer
Chirping
- Feb 27, 2010
- 15
- 0
- 75
Ok so I have 3 9 week old speckled sussex hens (well we are think so anyway they came from a pullet run). About a week and a half ago I put them out of the house and into their new coop. They were in there for two days and nights. On the morning of the third day I noticed one chicken with a very swollen crop. I brought all the chickens back inside and since the crop was soft started treating it as sour crop (based on the internet since I am 9 weeks new to chickens). I treated it by giving her apple cider vinegar in the water and plain yogurt (which they had already been getting for a couple of weeks anyway) and put them back under some heat so they would not get chilled. A couple of days went by with no improvement. But not seeming much worse either. Still soft squishy crop but she was still drinking and eating. I decided to take her in to an avian vet. The vet agreed that in was not impacted crop (but said it could be caused by something stuck in there non the less). She said the hen looked very healthy other than being a tiny bit light for her age and except for the funky toes (her outer toes on each foot curl way around, not bent under just curled way back...they look like she broke them, they have been like this since the first week and just got worse as she grew I tried to tape them when she was like 4-5 weeks but it did no good perhaps I tried too late, or perhaps it is a sign of some other problem).
Ok so the vet said that in order to be sure we would need to take a sample of the crop and do an xray and perhaps a blood test. Well just the testing the crop was 100 bucks and the xray 85 and the blood was 200 and I already paid 60 just to see the vet so I asked if there way anything we could try without the tests. She said yes and gave the bird a shot of something to help get her gut moving and sent me home with stuff that would do the same and told me to give it morning and night. So that was like an 80 dollar vet bill. I did this for a day and then they called me and asked if she was doing better she was not so I took her in again (another 35 dollars) they said I should do the tests again I asked if there was any alternatives. They said I could put her on sulfadimethoxine which is the over the counter antibiotic (15 dollars) that is safe for chickens under 16 weeks and it is broad spectrum and will cover gram positive and negative plus some parasites. I have been giving that for two full days now (this will be night 3) and she is worse. She is not really pooping anymore. I saw her try once and very little clear water came out. I have tried everything she is still eating very little some crumbles some yogurt (today I even tried some pumpkins seeds puree in the yogurt and some garlic puree in the yogurt just because i found some sites saying that was good and I have tried everything). But she feels really skinny now and she was about the same size as the other chickens and now she looks a week younger. She is fluffing her feathers more and closing her eyes all the time. She is still drinking water a bit too but I don't think she will survive past tomorrow at this rate. The vet said it could be Merak's but said there were no meraks symptoms so unlikely. She also said it could be some thing congenital. Should I call the vet tomorrow if she is still alive and spring for some tests? My hubby thinks we have already spent enough on the chicken. Am I a terrible person? Any ideas folks???
She is a real sweet heart loves to be held and love to fly up on shoulders and heads I would really hate to see her go. Thanks for reading..Julia
Ok so the vet said that in order to be sure we would need to take a sample of the crop and do an xray and perhaps a blood test. Well just the testing the crop was 100 bucks and the xray 85 and the blood was 200 and I already paid 60 just to see the vet so I asked if there way anything we could try without the tests. She said yes and gave the bird a shot of something to help get her gut moving and sent me home with stuff that would do the same and told me to give it morning and night. So that was like an 80 dollar vet bill. I did this for a day and then they called me and asked if she was doing better she was not so I took her in again (another 35 dollars) they said I should do the tests again I asked if there was any alternatives. They said I could put her on sulfadimethoxine which is the over the counter antibiotic (15 dollars) that is safe for chickens under 16 weeks and it is broad spectrum and will cover gram positive and negative plus some parasites. I have been giving that for two full days now (this will be night 3) and she is worse. She is not really pooping anymore. I saw her try once and very little clear water came out. I have tried everything she is still eating very little some crumbles some yogurt (today I even tried some pumpkins seeds puree in the yogurt and some garlic puree in the yogurt just because i found some sites saying that was good and I have tried everything). But she feels really skinny now and she was about the same size as the other chickens and now she looks a week younger. She is fluffing her feathers more and closing her eyes all the time. She is still drinking water a bit too but I don't think she will survive past tomorrow at this rate. The vet said it could be Merak's but said there were no meraks symptoms so unlikely. She also said it could be some thing congenital. Should I call the vet tomorrow if she is still alive and spring for some tests? My hubby thinks we have already spent enough on the chicken. Am I a terrible person? Any ideas folks???
She is a real sweet heart loves to be held and love to fly up on shoulders and heads I would really hate to see her go. Thanks for reading..Julia
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