Help with RIR pullet.

[mejumpmore1]

I've got a RIR that is having a lot of trouble. We are currently battling dry fowl pox with this particular pullet, but I believe she has a secondary infection as well. Please help me treat her!

Here are her symptoms (not including the scaby/warty growths associated with fowl pox):

Thick, mucous discharge from sinuses
watery, swollen eyes
seems tired constantly - by this I mean, for the past few days she has been lying down around the clock. She doesn't roost as she once did but lays on the ground. When released from her enclosure, she maybe walks a couple feet and lies down again. When it's time for the girls to come in, I have to hunt around the yard for her because she won't come as she normally does. I have to pick her up and put her in her pen. Side note: she can walk and stand she just doesn't do much of it.
not eating well - this is the part that REALLY concerns me. She has lost a noticeable amount of weight. She is much lighter than she once was. I fed her oatmeal with her food yesterday and she ate some just not much. She opted to lie down over eating.

I'm worried that she's not going to make it if I don't do something for her soon. Please help me save my chicken! I would greatly appreciate any advice you have to offer.

 

[chooks4life]

What are you using to treat them? Also, are you very sure she hasn't got wet pox?

I don't know if this would interfere with any medications you might be using, but personally I'd be giving her raw garlic, freshly minced, possibly force feeding a clove or two a day to her, maybe in small amounts at a few intervals. It's a powerful antibiotic, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, antimicrobial, etc... Also, it's antiparasitic and speeds healing; it's an appetizer as well.

It really doesn't sound to me like she's only got dry pox, and as you said it could be a secondary infection, but it could be several things. Garlic would help most issues. Is her crop empty in the morning or emptying at the normal rate? Does she ever fill it? A pic might help.

Best wishes and I hope you find your solution in time.

 

[mejumpmore1]

I don't know whether she has wet pox or not, truthfully. I have had two birds with wet pox and the RIR doesn't appear the same as the others have that I've dealt with. I'm a new chicken owner so I know very little, unfortunately, about them and what to be looking for. This has been a trial by fire and a very harsh introduction to life with chickens.

How do I check for crop emptying/filling? I don't have a picture, but I can try later to take one of her.

She has not received any medications thus far. I have just been trying to keep her fed and watered at this point. The eye swelling and watering began overnight. She has had the pox indicators for several days, being that it is viral I haven't been medicating. The laziness began a few days ago, the weight loss has been over the past several days and began to really concern me a few days ago when I noticed she wasn't eating as much as her cohorts. I've separated her from the others to keep a better eye on food/water consumption.

I haven't noticed any strange odors.

 

[mejumpmore1]

ThanK You For Your Help.I Just Went Out To Check On Her And.She Didn't Make It. I'm SO Sad, This Is Our Third Loss I About A Month. Makes Me Rethink This whole ChickenKeeping Thing.

 

[BantamLover21]

ThanK You For Your Help.I Just Went Out To Check On Her And.She Didn't Make It. I'm SO Sad, This Is Our Third Loss I About A Month. Makes Me Rethink This whole ChickenKeeping Thing.

I'm sorry for your loss.

The facial swelling was probably because of a secondary infection in the form of a respiratory disease. Or it could possibly have been wet fowl pox. Next time (if there is a next time--hopefully not!), I'd purchase an antibiotic like oxytetracycline or Tylan50 and treat immediately. This will help prevent secondary infections, and help clear up any infection present.

 

[chooks4life]

Very sorry for your loss. It is indeed discouraging, but sooner or later, it happens to everyone who keeps pets, or livestock.

I suggest you look into immune system boosters for your whole flock. Garlic is one of them. Kelp is another. Out of the many hundreds of chickens and turkeys I've kept, I've had only one bird with dry pox symptoms, a turkey I brought in, and after being put onto the normal diet the others eat (which includes regular raw garlic) she got better. She didn't pass it on to any others.

The same has been true for all other sick birds I've brought in, though of course some would doubtless have contracted a new disease but not shown any symptoms --- but the same can occur no matter your precautions.

Keeping their immune systems as robust as possible saves much time and trouble. It's often cheaper to keep them at a lower standard but it can cost you your whole flock to use slightly cheaper methods, even though saving money and making them pay their way is usually the name of the game. Having said that though it is true that garlic seems a lot more expensive in the USA than it is in Australia. Sometimes it's not cheaper at all to scrimp on their diets as disease becomes so expensive.

Best wishes.