HELP!!! Sick pullet.

[towens]

I have a silky Roo that was coughing and breathing through his mouth, about a week ago. I gave him a shot of penicillin and and really seemed to come back (4 days ago). I do not have the option of separating him from my other three so I also purchased the Duramycin 10 and started treating them all. Last night I heard him sneeze/cough again.): I mix a teaspoon of Duramycin to a third of a gallon of water, and I mix new every day. Am I doing this right?? He has lost weight as well, so I'm thinking he also needs deworming. When can I deworm him? I have wazine that mixes in water. I've read where you shouldn't mix medications, but I think he needs deworming asap... Thanks!
I only started keeping chickens about 6 months ago, and I feel like I'm exhausting myself trying to make everything perfect for them...

 

[enola]

You need to get some Safeguard or Valbazen. Wazine will only treat roundworms. Chickens get a LOT of different types of worns.

 

[hillbillydan]

I'm not sure if she's laying yet, I think this may have postponed her laying, but, if she was a mature hen how long would we need to wait to eat her eggs? I need a person to just ideas off of... There's nobody I know down here near me that has all this knowledge! Thank you Backyard Chickens, you're all angels!!!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm not sure if she's laying yet, I think this may have postponed her laying, but, if she was a mature hen how long would we need to wait to eat her eggs? I need a person to just ideas off of... There's nobody I know down here near me that has all this knowledge! Thank you Backyard Chickens, you're all angels!!!

I'm conservative, and I recommend isolating her for 2 weeks for her recovery, and that is after she has had no further symptoms. In other words, she should be completely symptom free before re-entering her into the flock for at least a week, 2 weeks would be better. You don't want her to pass what she has along to the others or pass along a secondary infection that took hold when her immune system was down.

You should wait for 2 weeks after administering the last dose of antibiotic or dewormer before eating any of her eggs. I also wait 2 weeks after the last symptoms clear....just to be on the safe side....so if you time that correctly, 2 weeks after last symptoms/worming/antibiotics if you give the de-worming and antibiotics while she is sick (which of course is what you would do).

The reason I wait is because bacterial overgrowth is common in a sick bird...ie E-coli, pasturella, salmonella...and you don't want that passed to the eggs (or more likely on the egg shell that you carry to the house to eat). You should feed her yogurt or probiotics to rebuild her gut to bring bacteria back into proper balance. I also keep ACV in the water to help keep a proper gut balance. Now is the time also to ply her with vitamins/minerals/booster.

My absolute favorite rebuild supplment is the Rooster Booster Triple Action Wormer...it has the hygromycin that is effective on 3 types of worms and bacitracin for lingering bacterial overload, plus probiotics, and vitamins/minerals. It is my go to supplement for recovery. Feed that per directions for 2 weeks continuous feed...then reintroduce. (You can also put the rest of your flock on it for proactive protection.)

Glad to hear she is doing better.
Lady of McCamley

 

[hillbillydan]

Just picked up some flock raiser. I figured with it just starting to get cold down here they could use the extra protein occasionally throuout the winter. Do is matter if the yogurt is flavored or plain, I'm thinking if I get one with chunks of fruit in it she might be more likely to eat it. Now that she's not as weak, she should be able to just eat the yogurt by itself right? Or would I still need to mix it with the flock raiser?

 

[enola]

She only needs a tablespoon of yogurt each day. She needs all she can get from her nutritionally balanced feed.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Just picked up some flock raiser. I figured with it just starting to get cold down here they could use the extra protein occasionally throuout the winter. Do is matter if the yogurt is flavored or plain, I'm thinking if I get one with chunks of fruit in it she might be more likely to eat it. Now that she's not as weak, she should be able to just eat the yogurt by itself right? Or would I still need to mix it with the flock raiser?

She only needs a tablespoon of yogurt each day. She needs all she can get from her nutritionally balanced feed.

Plain yogurt...you don't want the sugar from the fruited kind...that will do more harm to her gut than help...and yes, only 1 TBL each day is plenty. If she hesitates, put some mash in it...sometimes the yogurt sticks up in their nostrils, but most simply shake their heads and keep eating.

Lady of McCamley

 

[hillbillydan]

She's back in the henhouse. Now that she's been babied on the porch for weeks, she follows us around like a puppy. Every time we have a sick baby, that we have to quarantine, they will have a special bond with us from that day on. Thanks for all the help and advice. She's made a complete recovery and has regained her spot on the roost next to her sister!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

so happy to hear that!