Hen is sick AGAIN :(

[ChickenWhoCrossedTheRoad]

Hello everyone! I am a very new chicken mom to 2 lovely hens and a very handsome rooster. I've had them for almost 2 months now and out of those 2 months they have been completely issue free for only about a week in total. I got them fully grown from a local farmers market (as suggested by many family friends who raise chickens) so I don't know their exact ages, although they seem pretty young.

Here's my issue: a few days after I got them they started showing signs of a respiratory issue (rooster strained/stopped crowing, hens stopped laying eggs, low appetite, pale combs, sneezing and raspy breathing all around) I after doing extensive research I thought it might be gape-worm, so I spent 2 whole days driving all round to find some fenbendazole (safeguard) and started them on that for 3 days. When they got worse I took them to the vet and they were put on an antibiotics for 21 days. After a few days of medicine they were doing a lot better until, about 10 days into treatment, my darling Hera (Rhode Island Red) stopped walking. She wouldn't come out of the hen house at all, she wouldn't move towards food or water. The most she would do was stand up if you put food right in front of her. I was so scared she might be egg bound so brought her inside and gave her multiple epsom salt baths. I monitored her for a few days and nothing changed so I took her back to the vet. That morning I saw many worms in her poop and the vet said to continue with the second round of dewormer for another 3 days on all the chickens. He also said to take her off of the antibiotics because she wasn't showing signs of infection anymore an the medication could be disrupting her digestive health. So I stopped giving her the antibiotics and gave her 3 more days of safeguard treatment. She slowly got better but had difficulty rejoining her little flock. Finally, things were looking up this week. It had been about 8 days and everyone was doing well, Zeus started crowing all the time, the hens were taking dust baths and eating everything, I was able to relax for a few days and really enjoy them. But today Hera took her time to leave the hen house and didn't come running up to me at breakfast time. She stayed in one place pretty much all morning and had a bad rattling sound in her throat. She is also repeatedly opening her mouth and moving her tongue (I think this is to adjust her crop). She laid an egg this morning and is eating a little but she doesn't seem too interested in anything. My rooster, Zeus, and other hen, Dewy Dell, are acting okay. But Zeus' crowing is a lot higher in pitch and Dewey Dell is sneezing. I am concerned that by not finishing the antibiotics completely Hera might not be recovered fully and is now infecting the others.

Sorry for the long post, I am very new to raising chickens and it seem that no one around me values them like I do I don't eat meat or eggs, so they are genuinely pets/companions to me. But no one around me seems to have any actual knowledge about how to care for chickens besides the bare minimum of keeping them alive. Ive learned everything I know from searching online and reading forums. At this point I have tried almost everything and I am very tired. I feel like I am alone in this chicken raising endeavor. Please help, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

-The Chicken who Crossed the Road

 

[ChickenWhoCrossedTheRoad]

Hello everyone! I am a very new chicken mom to 2 lovely hens and a very handsome rooster. I've had them for almost 2 months now and out of those 2 months they have been completely issue free for only about a week in total. I got them fully grown from a local farmers market (as suggested by many family friends who raise chickens) so I don't know their exact ages, although they seem pretty young.

Here's my issue: a few days after I got them they started showing signs of a respiratory issue (rooster strained/stopped crowing, hens stopped laying eggs, low appetite, pale combs, sneezing and raspy breathing all around) I after doing extensive research I thought it might be gape-worm, so I spent 2 whole days driving all round to find some fenbendazole (safeguard) and started them on that for 3 days. When they got worse I took them to the vet and they were put on an antibiotics for 21 days. After a few days of medicine they were doing a lot better until, about 10 days into treatment, my darling Hera (Rhode Island Red) stopped walking. She wouldn't come out of the hen house at all, she wouldn't move towards food or water. The most she would do was stand up if you put food right in front of her. I was so scared she might be egg bound so brought her inside and gave her multiple epsom salt baths. I monitored her for a few days and nothing changed so I took her back to the vet. That morning I saw many worms in her poop and the vet said to continue with the second round of dewormer for another 3 days on all the chickens. He also said to take her off of the antibiotics because she wasn't showing signs of infection anymore an the medication could be disrupting her digestive health. So I stopped giving her the antibiotics and gave her 3 more days of safeguard treatment. She slowly got better but had difficulty rejoining her little flock. Finally, things were looking up this week. It had been about 8 days and everyone was doing well, Zeus started crowing all the time, the hens were taking dust baths and eating everything, I was able to relax for a few days and really enjoy them. But today Hera took her time to leave the hen house and didn't come running up to me at breakfast time. She stayed in one place pretty much all morning and had a bad rattling sound in her throat. She is also repeatedly opening her mouth and moving her tongue (I think this is to adjust her crop). She laid an egg this morning and is eating a little but she doesn't seem too interested in anything. My rooster, Zeus, and other hen, Dewy Dell, are acting okay. But Zeus' crowing is a lot higher in pitch and Dewey Dell is sneezing. I am concerned that by not finishing the antibiotics completely Hera might not be recovered fully and is now infecting the others.

Sorry for the long post, I am very new to raising chickens and it seem that no one around me values them like I do I don't eat meat or eggs, so they are genuinely pets/companions to me. But no one around me seems to have any actual knowledge about how to care for chickens besides the bare minimum of keeping them alive. Ive learned everything I know from searching online and reading forums. At this point I have tried almost everything and I am very tired. I feel like I am alone in this chicken raising endeavor. Please help, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

-The Chicken who Crossed the Road

Here's a picture of Hera in all her beauty. She's a real sweetheart ❤