Is this pre-laying behavior?

[CurrieChicken]

She does still eat treats and will graze in the yard. Her comb isn't bright red but still looks normal color. Yesterday I went ahead and wormed them all with Wazine, although I did also take a stool sample to the vet and they didn't see any worms and sent it out to be double checked. Today she has green runny stool and I have read that it can be a sign that they are shutting down and ready to die. Could it just be a side effect of the worming?? She is still laying around and having trouble walking. She occasionally pants like she is having a hard time breathing, but not all the time. When she does this there may be a small amount of wheezing or rasping? I thought of gape worms, but I think she would be much worse and probably dead by now. Like I said I have been using colloidal silver and though it has worked for me before it isn't working for her right now that I can tell. What would be a good antibiotic for respiratory issues? She is hanging in there but I am really afraid she is going to die and I just can't figure out what is wrong with her.

 

[Yardfarm Family]

hmmm, what is the weather like where you are? I have 10 hens 22-24weeks old and only one is a cochin. She is the first to get over heated because of all her feathers. When she is too warm she will hold her wings out and pant. Could your girl be too warm? Or dehydrated? My cochin also sounds totally different from my other girls. She almost purs and makes a low growl instead of a bawk bawk, and she is almost always making some sort of low pur sound. You sound like you've done all you can. Hopefully it is just a personality thing and your girl is okay. Update here on her health. Is she your only Cochin?

 

[CurrieChicken]

The weather has been changing the last few weeks and has gone from warm to cold and windy the last few days, so I went ahead and brought her in. I have resorted to antibiotics and just gave the first shot of Tyvan, so I hope she will improve. I really wasn't too concerned until she started to have trouble walking and it's like she has balance issues. I love my cochins, they are so sweet and yes they do make the nicest little purring sounds, especially when they are being loved on. I am really hoping she will pull through and thank you all for the great advice.

 

[theoldchick]

The next step would be to radiograph her.

 

[CurrieChicken]

So I hate when I find a thread that has some helpful information and it ends with no conclusion, so I wanted to update how she is doing. Barbie got Tylan for 3 days as the package says no more than 3 days. There was alot of different opinions everywhere I looked as to Tyland 50 vs 200 and the dose, etc. I could only find 200 at my TSC and she is small so I went with 1/4cc once a day for 3 days in her breast muscle. I considered giving her a few more days and maybe switching to giving it orally, but I didn't want to over do it since it can cause organ damage and she is pretty frail right now. After 2 days she started to feel better and was walking much better. I knew she was doing better when I put her outside and had to chase her down to bring her back in. She is not panting anymore, but her tail is still not fully up. Last night the temperature was mild so I let her sleep in the coop as it was obvious she wanted nothing to do with coming inside and hanging with me! So it appears to be working and I will give an update if she doesn't get better. Thanks for all the help! It is so great to have this resource!

 

[captcayanan]

I found this thread while searching for different pre egglaying behaviors to watch for(my girls are 20 weeks). I got caught up in your hen's story and hope she is doing well.

 

[CurrieChicken]

Thank you, she is doing fine still. After the antibiotics, she still was not getting much better so I did more research and found something on vitamin B deficiency. Turns out B vitamins aren't in the multi I was giving her after she got sick so I bought a liquid B complex at the grocery store and put drops of it in her mouth and in her food and water and in a few days she got better. B vitamins are water soluble so you can't overdose. Now I periodically put multi and B vitamins in the water a few time a week and I haven't had a problem. She was actually the first girl to lay after my husband said she wouldn't get better and we should put her down. This summer she was broody three times and is ridiculously skinny from hatching imaginary eggs all summer, but she is still kickin around the yard. So the mystery illness turned out to be a vitamin B deficiency. Go figure. Maybe that will be a helpful bit of info for your back pocket.