OKhobbit
Chirping
This is my third post this month regarding Lucy. I also messaged @Eggcessive last week but she believes I should post to all. I agree. It is best to have anyone who needs help to be able to see this and all postings. I apologize for the lengthy thread, but it has been a long, difficult journey.
My first chickens, Lucy and Gracie, will be two in early March (RIRs). Lucy has been a great layer up until she went into molt. I saw tapes late summer and in September wormed them with Equimax paste (ivermectin and praziquantel) once and again in ten days. In October, one of them laid a very small, dark brown, solid inside egg, nowhere near normal size or color. In late November, someone pooped out a yellow, foamy something along with their regular poop and urate.
At that time Lucy weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz.
In mid-December Lucy started a HARD molt. I thought she was losing weight and the pine shavings had been excessively wet (cleaned daily) and there was diarrhea. I noticed they were drinking more than usual. I thought this was all a reaction to the hard molt since it was her first one (she had a very light one last winter). On December 29 I saw her turn away from her evening meal and brought her inside to the laundry room.
There are no external parasites, nothing in her mouth, her vent looks great and clean, and no water belly. I treated first for impacted crop with coconut oil and massaging since her crop was hard and not empty in the morning. It has never smelled sour. If it was a blockage, it did start to come out and there were a lot of little feathers. The hardness in the morning got softer after a while, to just a doughy crop in the morning.
It was a holiday weekend and I had to wait for my dog/cat vet to return the next Wednesday to do a fecal float test since I thought because of the watery diarrhea, it might be worms. The vet thought he might see one crop worm or some kind of roundworm oocyst. There was no coccidiosis. This did not seem to be a heavy worm load.
That day I started the crop treatment with miconazole 2% for seven days. During this treatment I also gave her two ducosate stool softener a few days apart, hoping it would help her move anything out of her crop. Her appetite for food and water was less. She wouldn't eat greek or plain yogurt or anything anyone here suggested (thank you for all the suggestions). Early on she would eat wet crumble but that was just for a couple of days. I tried honey in her water which she initially loved and seemed to perk her up a bit, but has since turned away from drinking. She did pick tomatoes out of the wet crumble. I tried to give her yogurt and rice to help the diarrhea but what she had loved previously when she was well, she won't touch now. However she will still eat a little grit sometimes and I see this in her poops. I keep grit and oyster shell calcium in with her all the time during the day.
I thought after seven days of the miconazole treatment she would be better overall. During her treatment when she still was a little doughy, I ordered Medistatin to do another yeast treatment, but it was delayed in shipping and I just got it yesterday. I also ordered a crop bra, but it was late coming as well, but by now it isn't a priority.
Since the Medistatin didn't arrive in time, I started Safeguard that I have in their first aid kit, for five days, risking the feather issue. As far as I can tell her feathers are okay and I was moved to try to risk it. After that was over, I started amoxicillin, 5 ml 2x/day, although I was warned it could make a yeast problem worse. Today is day four of the amoxicillin. Her crop is still empty in the morning.
This last Monday I saw non-moving worms in her poop. Not tapeworms. They are very thin and thread-like, kind of a few sort of together. On Wednesday, I saw the same thing. Her urates and the still watery diarrhea are more of a yellow color now. Is this caused by the amoxicillin? She is still gradually losing weight. I have had to resort to tube feeding her baby food since last weekend. Since the second week she was inside I have tried to supplement nutrition with 1cc/ml of Poultry Cell twice a day down her esophagus.
I moved the other chicken into the non-freezing garage a few weeks back since we expected super cold weather. I have also put Lucy out with Gracie every few days since they miss each other. Lucy will go to the hanging crumble feeder and just pick at the food. She will go to the water bucket with nipples and drink a little, but ends up quickly just standing with her eyes closed. Then I bring her back inside.
I think the yeast, if that's what it was, is gone now. Her crop is empty in the morning, but she's not getting much food. Her poops are still diarrhea, only one day was it more solid, but still watery even now, but not flooding the carrier under the puppy pads like in the beginning.
I went to town yesterday and got Valbazen since it is less invasive than the Safeguard.
The top of her comb was a purple color a couple of days ago, but looks better today. She has been shaking her head, but the shafts are coming off the feathers, so when she is wrapped in a towel for feeding, I'm trying to help get the shafts off her head feathers. I hope this head shaking is not neurological, but since her nutrition is not what she would normally have.......
She now weighs 3 lbs 3.5 oz. She wants to sleep all the time. She does stay on her perch. I feel like I'm losing the battle.
Is there anything more I can do for her?
I don't think the Medistatin will be beneficial now since her crop is empty in the morning.
Can I treat her with the Valbazen while giving her amoxicillin? Sunday will be the last amoxicillin doses. I just don't know if she has that long to wait for the wormer. And since I'm seeing dead worms she should get another worm treatment at some point. Would the Valbazen and amoxicillin at the same time be too much for her very weak system?
If I need to euthanize her, I've read Benadryl is a kind, humane way. How much Benadryl? What form? Tablet, liquid, children's, adult?
Thank you for your help. I have learned so much from this forum.
My first chickens, Lucy and Gracie, will be two in early March (RIRs). Lucy has been a great layer up until she went into molt. I saw tapes late summer and in September wormed them with Equimax paste (ivermectin and praziquantel) once and again in ten days. In October, one of them laid a very small, dark brown, solid inside egg, nowhere near normal size or color. In late November, someone pooped out a yellow, foamy something along with their regular poop and urate.
At that time Lucy weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz.
In mid-December Lucy started a HARD molt. I thought she was losing weight and the pine shavings had been excessively wet (cleaned daily) and there was diarrhea. I noticed they were drinking more than usual. I thought this was all a reaction to the hard molt since it was her first one (she had a very light one last winter). On December 29 I saw her turn away from her evening meal and brought her inside to the laundry room.
There are no external parasites, nothing in her mouth, her vent looks great and clean, and no water belly. I treated first for impacted crop with coconut oil and massaging since her crop was hard and not empty in the morning. It has never smelled sour. If it was a blockage, it did start to come out and there were a lot of little feathers. The hardness in the morning got softer after a while, to just a doughy crop in the morning.
It was a holiday weekend and I had to wait for my dog/cat vet to return the next Wednesday to do a fecal float test since I thought because of the watery diarrhea, it might be worms. The vet thought he might see one crop worm or some kind of roundworm oocyst. There was no coccidiosis. This did not seem to be a heavy worm load.
That day I started the crop treatment with miconazole 2% for seven days. During this treatment I also gave her two ducosate stool softener a few days apart, hoping it would help her move anything out of her crop. Her appetite for food and water was less. She wouldn't eat greek or plain yogurt or anything anyone here suggested (thank you for all the suggestions). Early on she would eat wet crumble but that was just for a couple of days. I tried honey in her water which she initially loved and seemed to perk her up a bit, but has since turned away from drinking. She did pick tomatoes out of the wet crumble. I tried to give her yogurt and rice to help the diarrhea but what she had loved previously when she was well, she won't touch now. However she will still eat a little grit sometimes and I see this in her poops. I keep grit and oyster shell calcium in with her all the time during the day.
I thought after seven days of the miconazole treatment she would be better overall. During her treatment when she still was a little doughy, I ordered Medistatin to do another yeast treatment, but it was delayed in shipping and I just got it yesterday. I also ordered a crop bra, but it was late coming as well, but by now it isn't a priority.
Since the Medistatin didn't arrive in time, I started Safeguard that I have in their first aid kit, for five days, risking the feather issue. As far as I can tell her feathers are okay and I was moved to try to risk it. After that was over, I started amoxicillin, 5 ml 2x/day, although I was warned it could make a yeast problem worse. Today is day four of the amoxicillin. Her crop is still empty in the morning.
This last Monday I saw non-moving worms in her poop. Not tapeworms. They are very thin and thread-like, kind of a few sort of together. On Wednesday, I saw the same thing. Her urates and the still watery diarrhea are more of a yellow color now. Is this caused by the amoxicillin? She is still gradually losing weight. I have had to resort to tube feeding her baby food since last weekend. Since the second week she was inside I have tried to supplement nutrition with 1cc/ml of Poultry Cell twice a day down her esophagus.
I moved the other chicken into the non-freezing garage a few weeks back since we expected super cold weather. I have also put Lucy out with Gracie every few days since they miss each other. Lucy will go to the hanging crumble feeder and just pick at the food. She will go to the water bucket with nipples and drink a little, but ends up quickly just standing with her eyes closed. Then I bring her back inside.
I think the yeast, if that's what it was, is gone now. Her crop is empty in the morning, but she's not getting much food. Her poops are still diarrhea, only one day was it more solid, but still watery even now, but not flooding the carrier under the puppy pads like in the beginning.
I went to town yesterday and got Valbazen since it is less invasive than the Safeguard.
The top of her comb was a purple color a couple of days ago, but looks better today. She has been shaking her head, but the shafts are coming off the feathers, so when she is wrapped in a towel for feeding, I'm trying to help get the shafts off her head feathers. I hope this head shaking is not neurological, but since her nutrition is not what she would normally have.......
She now weighs 3 lbs 3.5 oz. She wants to sleep all the time. She does stay on her perch. I feel like I'm losing the battle.
Is there anything more I can do for her?
I don't think the Medistatin will be beneficial now since her crop is empty in the morning.
Can I treat her with the Valbazen while giving her amoxicillin? Sunday will be the last amoxicillin doses. I just don't know if she has that long to wait for the wormer. And since I'm seeing dead worms she should get another worm treatment at some point. Would the Valbazen and amoxicillin at the same time be too much for her very weak system?
If I need to euthanize her, I've read Benadryl is a kind, humane way. How much Benadryl? What form? Tablet, liquid, children's, adult?
Thank you for your help. I have learned so much from this forum.
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