Hen ill after deworming with valbazen - Update: she died, did necropsy

[Chicken_Pauper]

Well.. I had wormed with Valbazen once before... so... maybe mine got a little resistant to it, I don't know.
I think from what dawg53 told me... you have to be a poop watcher.. worm the second time... then, watch the poop, if there are tapeworm segments after ten days, you need to dose again.
After withholding eggs and four doses of Valbazen.. I am going with the Zimectrin Gold paste for this dose, again, per dawg53. So.. this is the first time you have used Valbazen.. I think that you should do the second dose... then, watch and watch... look for tapeworm segments... if you see them after several days... nearing ten days again.
You can do the third dose of Valbazen. Then, if you need a fourth dosing, you could switch to the Zimectrin Gold. You have to be more careful with the Zimectrin Gold. I guess it is up to you.
But, you don't need to worry about that yet. Just wait and see how the Valbazen works in two doses, or three.
You can PM dawg53 as well.. I am going by what he has told me.

Good luck... Tapeworms (and the rare gapeworms) are very tough to treat, it takes more doses than the normal two for other worms.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

I am shocked -- she is dying! What happened to her?! She was fine yesterday - a little under the weather 6 hours ago, but still walking around and drinking - still standing and alert 3 hours ago and now she is dying.

I just found her, laying down in an upright position, head tucked down in front of her - just didn't look right. I nudged her to check on her and no response - I picked her up and she is definitely dying. She is now laying on her side, eyes closed and breathing heavily.

I found whitish liquid under her late this afternoon, when she was outside on the porch, but no poop. I watched her try to poop in her cage this evening, but nothing came out but a little whitish/clear liquid. Could the worms have clogged her insides after all? If I overdosed her yesterday with the valbazen (1 cc/ml, versus 1/2 cc/ml), would she have taken this long to show symptoms?

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

She's dead now and I'm really upset - I was trying to deworm my flock for their own good, but did I inadvertently cause her death?

 

[Mahonri]

I don't think you killed her with the Valbazen.

I think she's dying of something else.

Don't beat yourself up.

If you'd like a replacement, I'll GIVE you a Golden Cuckoo Marans that lays 2-3 times a week. Her eggs are a light brown rather than dark. Actually her mother was a Delaware and Daddy was a GCMarans but she looks like a GCMarans. She'll be two in April at Easter. Let me know, I think you have my phone #.

 

[BrattishTaz]

I'm sorry she didn't make it.

It sounds like you did everything you could to keep your birds healthy and happy. She may have had something else going on that had nothing to do with the meds.

 

[LeezyBeezy]

Aw, sorry for your loss. You did the best you could.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Thank you all. I refrigerated her body last night (quadruple bagged it) and my husband is going to help me do a partial necropsy on it when he gets home tonight. We're going to open her intestines to look for blockage and I'm going to keep my eye out for anything else that looks strange.

The rest of the flock still looks good today and I checked about 7 poops without seeing any worms.


Mahonri -- Thanks for the offer of the GCM. That was very nice of you

but I'm going to pass this time. I was at my max for chickens anyways and I don't want to mess with integrating a new chicken into this flock.

 

[seminolewind]

I am real sorry , Chick.

I think your Hubby is a brave soul, I think it's best to know why, it may protect the other chickens. Please let me/us know what hubby finds.
As much trouble as you've had with worms, I can't discount that she may have clogged her intestines with worms. You just never know.

Or maybe she had a reaction to the drug. I'm sure if it's overdose, since most wormers have a safety threshold it you do use a bit too much. If she was the only one, she may have been weakened to start with.

I hope your Hubby can see something useful.

 

[chickenzoo]

She may have had a sensitivity to it, just like some people. Even Safeguard can upset some chickens , especially heavily worm loaded ones or those very ill. So sorry you lost her.....

 

[Chicklette 1]

Could she have been egg bound? Had she layed lately? I just thought of that when you said there was white liquid under her.