Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a bit of advice as one of my rescue hens has been on off looking under the weather. We've had her since January and up until around October she was doing well. She has seen a vet a few times since then but we are not within an area that has a specialist that deals with chickens (the lockdown here in the UK is also making things a bit more difficult too). Last month she was looking tired, her breathing was a little laboured with the occasional sneeze and she was walking a little bit squat. She also had a purple tinge at the end of her comb and she wouldn't drink. We checked her over for anything and everything but could find nothing and neither could the vets. Said she's likely having a bit of an off day, that her heart and breathing sounded ok (to us it sounded a little wheezy), that her comb wasn't cyanosis likely just the cold, and that she wasn't impacted or had sour crop. They gave us Baytril and a pain killer but it intially did nothing as they only gave us enough for a few days. So they upped the dose for another week and she started to perk up.
That is until a week ago when she started to really smell when she passed a poo. It all looks normal, no worms or anything but the smell is like fish. We thought perhaps because she's been isolated from the rest of the flock in the house with us and therefore been pampered a little too much it was that. But last night her comb once again started to go purple tinged and today she's back to her original poorly state; laboured breathing and looking drained but this time no sneezing. She is alert and walking about but not like her usual self. I've been getting a little bit of a smell from her, a sickly one but it's not strong and it's not from her beak. It's definitely not sour crop, her crop is pretty empty. She's not interested in food. I have to add that she is molting at the moment so it's adding to everything.
We've been told to start her up again on Baytril until Monday when the vet can see her again. We have asked for different antibiotics to try her on those instead (as suggested by a specialist we called) but vet is reluctant. I'm fairly new to looking after chickens and whilst I have researched everything I can there just doesn't seem to be anything that really matches her symptoms. If anyone has any thoughts on what it could be I'd appreciate hearing them.
Thanks
I'm looking for a bit of advice as one of my rescue hens has been on off looking under the weather. We've had her since January and up until around October she was doing well. She has seen a vet a few times since then but we are not within an area that has a specialist that deals with chickens (the lockdown here in the UK is also making things a bit more difficult too). Last month she was looking tired, her breathing was a little laboured with the occasional sneeze and she was walking a little bit squat. She also had a purple tinge at the end of her comb and she wouldn't drink. We checked her over for anything and everything but could find nothing and neither could the vets. Said she's likely having a bit of an off day, that her heart and breathing sounded ok (to us it sounded a little wheezy), that her comb wasn't cyanosis likely just the cold, and that she wasn't impacted or had sour crop. They gave us Baytril and a pain killer but it intially did nothing as they only gave us enough for a few days. So they upped the dose for another week and she started to perk up.
That is until a week ago when she started to really smell when she passed a poo. It all looks normal, no worms or anything but the smell is like fish. We thought perhaps because she's been isolated from the rest of the flock in the house with us and therefore been pampered a little too much it was that. But last night her comb once again started to go purple tinged and today she's back to her original poorly state; laboured breathing and looking drained but this time no sneezing. She is alert and walking about but not like her usual self. I've been getting a little bit of a smell from her, a sickly one but it's not strong and it's not from her beak. It's definitely not sour crop, her crop is pretty empty. She's not interested in food. I have to add that she is molting at the moment so it's adding to everything.
We've been told to start her up again on Baytril until Monday when the vet can see her again. We have asked for different antibiotics to try her on those instead (as suggested by a specialist we called) but vet is reluctant. I'm fairly new to looking after chickens and whilst I have researched everything I can there just doesn't seem to be anything that really matches her symptoms. If anyone has any thoughts on what it could be I'd appreciate hearing them.
Thanks
