HELP!!! Sick pullet.

[hillbillydan]

I have a young girl, she was hatched the first of June. Yesterday we noticed that she had what looked like cold in her eyes and runniness of the eye. She also seemed to not be eating it drinking as much, so we brought her on the back porch and gave her some electrolytes and food and water with wazene. She doesn't seem to be doing any better today. No signs of injury, I'm away for work, but my mom said she smells? Any ideas? Help I only have 2 of my White Leghorn babies...

 

[casportpony]

Wazine is a wormer for roundworms, so it's unlikely to make her better. Do you have any antibiotics (human, pet, poultry)?

-Kathy

 

[Lady of McCamley]

The runny eyes and nose could be a number of things, but definitely not a good sign The smell is also obviously not a good sign. I've had a number of sick birds smell off as their digestive tracts are disrupted with the illness, usually with diarrhea.

You can get tetracycline from the feed store (often sold as Durvet's Duramycin 10) which is a broader based antibiotic that hits a lot of stuff. If it is viral, antibiotics won't help. I've nursed several birds through a bout of viral Infectious Bronchitis with garlic and yogurt in warm mash, and then added tincture of elderberry to the water along with electrolytes. Kept that up for a solid 5 days. I saw some improvement almost immediately, definitely by the end of the 2nd day. When they were eating well again, I put them on Rooster Booster Multi-Wormer for two weeks which has vitamins/minerals/probiotics and bacitracin (antibiotic) for CRD and Hygromycin (wormer) for the 3 main worm types as worms tend to overgrow when a hen's health is compromised.

Here are several charts I find handy when tracking down illnesses:
http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-diseases/

in particular respiratory diseases (runny eyes and nose category):
http://poultrykeeper.com/respiratory-problems/

Good luck with a speedy recovery. Hopefully it is one of the more minor viral illnesses.
Lady of McCamley

EDITED for content.

 

[casportpony]

Oxytetracycline might be a better choice than just tetracycline, but neither have any chance of working if the bird is not drinking.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Dosing info for both are here:
http://www.durvet.com/dl/Durvet-Poultry-Brochure.pdf


-Kathy

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Oxytetracycline might be a better choice than just tetracycline, but neither have any chance of working if the bird is not drinking.

-Kathy

So true...but the bird is eating and drinking a little...or to OP, I've dropper fed to get the liquid in during the first day or so until they pick up (generally with chicks, but larger birds works too).

To Kathy...do you generally find Oxytetracycline in the feed store...for chickens I shop at the feed stores for meds as I typically don't go to the vet (if I can't handle it, I cull the bird). I do find the Duramycin easily. I'll have to look to see if the Oxytetracyline is available...does it have a popular name it sells under at the feed store ? (Maybe I've just not noticed or looked at the fine print close enough). I'm assuming the Oxy is more absorbable to chickens and hits a larger spectrum. I know tetracyline can be irritating to the stomach, but chickens seem to tolerate it in the amounts given (while a dog wouldn't) but hits a good spectrum....always trying to learn.
Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Dosing info for both are here:
http://www.durvet.com/dl/Durvet-Poultry-Brochure.pdf


-Kathy

EDITED TO ADD: THanks for the Durvet brochure...don't know I've seen Pennox but I'll look next time...curious why do you prefer Oxy over Tetra?

 

[casportpony]

From what I remember reading, seems that the oxytetracycline might be a more effective antibiotic than tetracycline, but I can't say for sure.

Personally, I like Baytril, and that's what I would use if I had one with a respiratory infection. If all I could get was tetracycline I would use it, but I would tube the medicated water at 15ml per pound every 4-6 hours.

-Kathy

 

[Lady of McCamley]

@Kathy, Thank you for the info.

Hillbillydan, if you get to the point of giving antibiotics, this is my favorite med/dosage chart: (Note, do not give dairy with antibiotics as the calcium can bind and make them less effective).

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart

You can find tetracyline, oxytetracyline, and Baytril (enrofloxacin, with poultry warnings...very effective but may cause some issues for poultry used for eggs or meat).

Good luck with your sick bird.
Lady of McCamley

 

[hillbillydan]

My mom is checking for antibiotics at the house. We're all pretty healthy and haven't had any prescriptions in a while, so I'm not sure she'll find anything. Hopefully she will though. Thankfully this is the first bird that wasn't a quick fix. I've done minor cosmetic procedures on one of my hens with a weird growth, and nursed weak chicks to full health, but this one has stumped me. Thanks for all the advice, I'll be back home tomorrow since I'm off work, I'll try to update as the time goes on. I forwarded a link to this page for her to read as well since she's there now.