Ideas???

[davenkim]

My daughter has a ~1-2y/o bantam frizzled cochin that lives in a coop inside in her room. We usually put the chicken outside in a fenced area during the day so that she is not always cooped up. Yesterday, she was fine early on, then started stumbling a bit & laying down a lot towards the evening. This morning, she looked pretty bad. She was still alert & would drink / eat some, but started drooping her wings a lot more & stumbling more. She felt feverish, but I did not take her temp. Her comb & wattles are bright red, I don't notice anything abnormal with joints, feathers, etc. When she walks, it is with her feet (not on hocks), but is weak & unstable. She drops her wings occasionally for balance, but quickly lifts them back into place. She is alert & looks around & responds with greetings, etc. She does not seem to convulse or seize any. She is able to hold her head / neck up, look around, etc. as usual. I gave her a PCN shot bc of fever, plus put poly vi-sol in her water, dripped a couple of drops on her beak, & put crushed calcium & dissolved it in her water. She seems slightly better this eve & doesn't seem feverish anymore, but she is still very sick.

Here is the list possibilities that I have been considering:

1. Cage Fatigue - She is kept mainly inside. Though we have given her some expensive fortified feeds at times, we have been out lately & have been using more scratch. But, I really think she had fever...

2. Mareks - Seems mainly weakness - not altered neuro. No neck involvement - no other sick chickens (even though she is not directly around them, they do sometimes come into her yard area)

3. Tapeworm??? - I can't remember if we wormed her with the last chicken worming cycle. If we did, it was with Wazine. Most of the others had large roundworms at that time. We do have a flea problem in her yard area & house flies are always an issue.

4. Staphylococcus arthritis - joints don't look swollen, but it does seem like she responded to the PCN shot some.

Anyway, other suggestions or comments would be appreciated. I don't usually try to give the chickens so many meds, but the poor little lady is so sick & my daughter is so sad :-( Please help!

Thanks!

 

[davenkim]

By the way, she laid a normal egg yesterday.

 

[seminolewind]

Most of the time, sick chickens don't lay eggs. With worming the one thing I didn't know was that I had to worm 5 days with safeguard or 1 day and ten days later another dose with valbazen. That's to also get rid of worms like hairworms. I learned this the hard way and my Silkie did have trouble keeping her balance and walking but it was due to the worm damage which caused major infection. If she dies, you may want to think about a necropsy.

If she has Marek's where would she have gotten it from?

 

[davenkim]

That is another reason I think she prob does not have mareks. I have also been looking at soft ticks.

 

[davenkim]

Ah! I dewormed her & she pooped out a round worm... Looking a bit better today , but still weak.

 

[seminolewind]

If she pooped out a roundworm, it usually means they have a lot more.

 

[casportpony]

Is she drinking?

-Kathy

 

[davenkim]

Seems a bit better today, although weak still. She is drinking only a tiny bit on her own. She uses a rabbit water bottle to drink & I've been frequently pushing her beak onto the tip so that she gets a drop of water and drinks it. I've given her some scrambled eggs & nutri-drench as well. I'm watching her hydration & so far doesnt seem too bad. She will also pretty readily eat safflower seed & dried mealworms. She's been eating a small amt of layer crumbles as well.