HELP! sick chicken

[casportpony]

Wow, pretty rare in chickens. Treatment is *no less* than 30mg/kg metronidazole for five days (30mg per 2.2 pounds), but I have heard of vets prescribing 60mg/kg twice a day for five days. You can buy metronidazole (generic Flagyl) online as Fish-Zole (250mg tablets) or Meditrich (100mg tablets). Petsmart also sells something called API General Cure (250mg powder packs), it's more expensive per dose and the powder is harder to give. If you decide to but the Api General Cure, check the back and verify that it has 250mg metronidazole. It also has praziquantil, so it will take care of any tapeworms, too.

You will also need to worm with a wormer like fenbendazole (Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste) 50mg/kg by mouth (.5ml per 2.2 pounds) or albendazole (Valbazen) 20mg/kg (~.2ml per 2.2 pounds). With either wormer you repeat in ten days. Wormers are in the goat, cattle and horse sections of feed stores.






















-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Read these:

• https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/837398/blackhead-disease
• https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/804570/coping-with-blackhead

I have succesfully treated *many* turkeys, peafowl and one chicken for blackhead. I'm available by phone, just PM me.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

I just re-read this thread and the ones I would worry about the most are your young ones, but dosing them will be very tricky. The one that you had a necropsy on weighed 281 grams, so the *minimum* effective dose (.281 x 30mg) for one that size is 8.4mg (30mg/kg), which would be very difficult to do with a 100mg tablet, 250mg tablet or the 250mg powder. If they were normal sized *adult* chickens or bantams it would be fine to give them a whole tablet, but if they're that small it's probably not a good idea. Is there any chance you could take one to a vet and have them call in a prescription for metronidazole suspension? My last bottle from Road Runner Pharmacy cost me about $45 (plus an office visit). It was 240ml of 50mg/ml liquid and very easy to give birds as small as 100 grams. If you can't go to the vet, let me know and I'll help you figure out a way to make your own suspension.

-Kathy

 

[kelck22]

The person that did the necropsy couldn't believe it was blackhead.

All of my chickens have been wormed. I even took in a stool sample and no worms at all. Some cocci but she said nothing to be concerned about.

The one I took in was the absolute smallest chicken I had. The next smallest is about twice that size.

I wanted to get a couple turkeys, bad idea now?

If I go to the vet do I just take in any bird and tell them that's what i need? How hard would it be to make my own?

 

[kelck22]

I have oxine coming tomorrow. I was going to start spraying down everything, even the yard and I am going to put it in their drinking water.

 

[casportpony]

The person that did the necropsy couldn't believe it was blackhead.

All of my chickens have been wormed. I even took in a stool sample and no worms at all. Some cocci but she said nothing to be concerned about.

The one I took in was the absolute smallest chicken I had. The next smallest is about twice that size.

I wanted to get a couple turkeys, bad idea now?

If I go to the vet do I just take in any bird and tell them that's what i need? How hard would it be to make my own?

I think it would be pretty easy to make your own if you could find the stuff they use at the compounding pharmacies, it's kind of a thicker liquid that the particles of metronidazole stay suspended in. Funny you should ask, 'cause that's on my list of things to do.

Talk to your vet and let them see the necropsy report, maybe they'll call in a prescription for you?

One very disturbing fact that I recently learned is that they can become infected by something they call cloacal drinking

"Cloacal drinking is the reflexive intake of fluids through the cloaca in order to inoculate the young bird’s immune system with the microbial flora of the surrounding environment." Source: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1862/parasite-management-for-natural-and-organic-poultry-blackhead-in-turkeys-part-1

I have turkeys, peafowl and blackhead, it's not easy, but it can be managed with lots of care. Read this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/804570/coping-with-blackhead

-Kathy