KathieL
In the Brooder
- May 22, 2015
- 20
- 0
- 22
Let me begin by saying I am a novice when it comes to hens and what problems they can have. I purchased 25 hens from a person on facebook near me. We met them and took delivery of the hens. When the man was unloading them from his pen to ours in the back of the pickup he said they look pretty sad because they are molting. He said they might stop laying for a little while because of being transported and the stress they were under from that. It was a little cool and damp that day. He also said we might put some antibiotic in their water for a little while. The next morning when I went to take care of them, they were wheezing pretty badly. We did get antibiotic from the feed store on the way home and I put antibiotic in their water (tetracycaline). After about 3 days they were not any better and some of them laid their heads around kind of under their wing. One of them got swollen eyes. I told my vet about them when I took my dog to him and he gave me baytril. It worked miracles. In a week most of them were doing great. Some of them still poop just like water, no color. Some of them make a hiccup noise sometimes. Even one hen I already had when I brought them in got whatever this is from them and she now hiccups. She was wheezing but she is not wheezing now. So with that long explaination of my situation, my question is, how do I find out what they have? Do I take a hen to the vet? Do I take poop to the vet? Do I not worry about it and after 28 days start to eat and sell their eggs? I know, I should have told him to keep the hens but I believed they were just molting because I heard no wheezing when he was unloading them. And it could be that the trip in the back of his trailer in cages for a 30 minute ride plus the ride in the back of our pickup in a cage for a 15 minute ride on the damp cool day may have just given them all a cold.