hen sick, need some advice...

[kathyinmo]

Could you please give us the following information. The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you.

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. What kind of feed?
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use, size, etc. How many chickens in this area?

 

[mklindy]

I researched her symptoms on the internet and also a local feed store owner did some research for me. We started down the red mite trail because the lethargy matched the noted sx (symptoms). I had just rebuilt a roost 3 days before using some cedar from my wood pile and I had gotten some chiggers (red mites) from the wood. I promptly bleached out the hen house with diluted solution then sprayed down with recommended diluted Kreso-D. I had already separated her at this point and was trying to protect other hens. She has been staying in my well house in a kennel because a breeze blows through there when I crack 2 doors. I am cleaning up the diarrhea which has been basically water every time she poops so she does not lay in it. Her eyes stay closed and she just bobs her head like she cannot keep it held up. This has neither improved or worsened since the first day I noticed her sx. As far as I can tell she is not eating or drinking unless I get something down her with a 1 cc syringe. Its been a busy week with getting kids ready for back to school so I have not been able to get a lot of water in her, so I may be deluding myself that she is not drinking on her own. I do not know how she could have survived the last 2 days if this is the case. I'm thinking of switching to antibiotics for possible infection. The Corid did improve the color of her diarrhea and she is starting to have pellets of stool where earlier she only had yellow mush. The conditions were right for Cocci becz we had 2 days of rain (wet muddy hen yard) then sauna type heat here just before she began sx. Aside from food and water I have been giving them frozen watermelons for a cool re-hydrator and they have a shade cloth in a portion the hen yard that blocks 80% of suns heat. We are just north of Houston and it has been sweltering. I may be prolonging the inevitable with her but I am learning quite a bit along the way.


17 hens (even mix of Rhd Is Rds and Ameraucanas), 1 rooster, 3 goats, 2 dogs, a few cats (feral)..they come and go thanks to area wood owls

 

[kathyinmo]

Wait .... you said you made the roost out of cedar. Chickens can not have cedar, it does affect their respiratory system. What kind of bedding do you have?

To treat red mites, you need to use.... here read this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=214139

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Honestly, this is what I would do:

I would give her yogurt daily. She needs the living bacteria replaced in her digestive tract. The fact that you're seeing solid droppings means the treatment is working. I would not change it, and certainly not to an antibiotic particularly NOT for diarrhea. Antibiotics cause diarrhea, and unless you're really good at diagnostics and knowing exactly which antibiotic, it rarely treats it.

Her droppings are improved; her lethargy hasn't.

Because her droppings have been moving through her at an increased pace (diarrhea) she has had less nutrition. Add to that the fact she feels bad, it's hot, and she's not drinking as much and you get a cause of nutritional deficiency which will cause the lethargy (as does the now-being-fixed-coccidiosis). Adults DO get coccidiosis, just not as often. Adults only are immune to the species they've 'met' before - not to all 9.

So I would treat her to boost her appetite, replace nutrients and electrolytes lost to diarrhea/illness, and to replace her beneficial gut flora and prevent pathogenic flora.

Probiotics: I would use non-medicinal probiotics to replace her gut flora. You can use plain yogurt (or flavored for a day or two til you get plain), acidophilis capsules/tablets' contents, or a prepared live culture probiotic for livestock/animals like Probios. You an even use a parrot formula from the pet store as they contain living bacteria. Replacing the good bacteria helps to crowd out the bad. Additionally good bacteria can help guard against E. coli blooms - WITHOUT resorting to antibiotics. So use daily for at least one week or as long as symptoms persist.

Vitamins: Because of its anti-inflammatory action, it's action against E. coli (purported), and it's anti-oxidant action, vitamin E should be included in the treatment. A nice broad-spectrum but easily absorbed option is polyvisol vitamins (for children - the NON-iron fortified ones - vitamin section, not baby section, of walmart or CVS, walgreens). 3 drops directly in the beak daily. In the beak is preferable to in the feed because she's not eating, or in the water because light degrades vitamins. You know what she's getting and that she's gotten it all. SID (once daily) x one week, then taper off the next week. The B vitamins should also spur her appetite.

Crumbles and water: This is the base you can use to put yogurt in if she doesn't like it directly, and she likely won't. Mix 1 teaspoon of yogurt, 1 teaspoon of water, 1 tablespoon or more of crumbles; mix; let sit 10 minutes. Then offer. If she eats at all, offer this with 20 minutes of no food beforehand. If she doesn't eat, I'd go to the parrot formula, mixed with warm (not hot) water and given in a thickish paste (not water) in the beak.

It's important that she's kept in a small place, cooler than it is outside but not too cool. Heat will cause them to be more lethargic, and comfort will cause her to possibly perk up. let's hope so. If nothing else, it will prevent more harm from the heat stress.

You can put regular poultry vitamins/minerals/electrolytes in her water and I would highly encourage it. That way if she is drinking, she gets more vitamins. In this case since it's only a week and a low dosage giving that and the polyvisol will not do harm.

Summary:

Keep on Corid for remainder of Tx.

Daily for one week:
- Give a damp mash of yogurt, crumbles, water. If she won't eat, use parrot formula (Exact, kaytee, etc). Offer crumbles free choice.
- Three drops of polyvisol directly in the beak.
- Vitamins/minerals in the water.

Incidentally all of your birds can get the yogurt, vitamins. Just they won't need daily necessarily - but if they are about to fight the same thing it could help boost them to where they need no treatment.

Again - please do NOT start antibiotics as the treatment you're using is working for the diarrhea. Treat for what was lost with the diarrhea and to see if any other symptoms happen and to reverse nutritional loss.

Please let me know if I can help. Good job on the Corid as it was obviously the right choice - and on treating the coop!! You really did a lot of work.