Need help with dosage of injectable LA-200 for a 3lb hen. And/or ideas on what might be wrong.

[Denise1468]

I've had a lethargic laying hen quarantined for 24 hours now. She isn't straining to lay, has not laid in at least 2 days, her vent appears dry, and her poop is quite watery and light yellow. Of all the foods I've offered, she will only eat a peck or 2 of yogurt each hour or so., and she is drinking hydrogen hen. ACV water is offered but she isn't interested. She is bunched up, not moving much at all, but standing, and sitting in the kennel only a short bit of time before standing up again. The standing around, staying away from the flock, and lethargy, all started about 5 days ago.
Anyway, I really don't think its vent gleet, bc she has no vent discharge, just diarrhea.
One thing, given how little she has been eating, I would think her crop would be flat as a board, but its not. I could see it first thing this morning, but it wasn't hard or squishy, it wasn't massive or pendulous. it was just "there". There is no foul smell from her mouth or her back side. See why I'm so confused?! Lol

Can anyone help with dosing or with alternative ideas for what might be wrong with her? Her tummy doesn't feel bloated, and I can't feel an egg. I did the Sick Chicken Checklist, including checking for lice/ mites. She is about 6 months old, and she isn't a heavy bird at all. As above, 3 lbs or less, I'd say
TIA
Denise Cook

 

[Eggcessive]

Since she doesn’t sound like she has a respiratory disease, oxytetracycline probably would not help her. LA 200 is an injectable form for cattle, to be given once every 3 days. It is not something that I would use, since you would only be guessing dosage and how to use it.

How old is your chicken? Is her tail up or down? Does she normally lay eggs with normal shells. Her crop should be empty in early morning before she eats or drinks. Poop pictures can sometimes be helpful. What do you feed?

 

[Denise1468]

Since she doesn’t sound like she has a respiratory disease, oxytetracycline probably would not help her. LA 200 is an injectable form for cattle, to be given once every 3 days. It is not something that I would use, since you would only be guessing dosage and how to use it.

How old is your chicken? Is her tail up or down? Does she normally lay eggs with normal shells. Her crop should be empty in early morning before she eats or drinks. Poop pictures can sometimes be helpful. What do you feed?

@Eggcessive, Im sorry I am just getting back to answer, I forgot which site it was, and honestly, there were several from which I asked for help and I did get help regarding dosage.
As for Bella, the sick bird, I did use the LA-200 IM, we used a diabetic syringe which is tiny, and did IM shots x 5 days, per info I was given from a very nice woman who is training in poultry health and science.
The bird is still alive, and getting better, but I don't feel it will last. She seems to have plateaued with regard to recovery. To answer your questions:
Tail/ body
Tail is and has been down, for weeks now. Sometimes when she's foraging her tail and body look absolutely normal, but its not often. Typically her body stays bunched up looking, but not upright like a penguin stance. She was very lethargic but perked up nicely after day 3 of the 5 with abx, and that is unchanged. Abx ended 10-ish days ago, she still is inside with me at night. I began putting her in totally separate brooder outside, on full grass for the last week, in view of the flock. She only stayed out a few hours each day in the brooder.
For 2 days now, I moved her into the dirt run with the others, but separated and they can all see her and talk to her. They could even fly over the partition if they wanted, but so far, they don't. Even though there is mild bullying, she did fly over the partition once. I found her standing alone and trying to get back on her side, but I had to help her, she forgot, I guess, how to get back? (Sorry, not sure you needed all that info lol)
Eating: she was getting Kalmbachs feed, 20%, which I know now was probably too high in protein. I've since switched to the lower 16%, but she was on 20% when she fell ill. She is foraging in her run area, she gets very interested in what the others are getting for a treat and she herself is eating and drinking well, but she doesn't eat much chicken feed at all. (My birds don't seem to care for any of the brands I've tried, and I'm struggling with that still).
She eats mealworms now, she will eat fresh corn, watermelon, black oil sunflower seeds, cabbage, tomato (which I've since stopped after learning it interferes with calcium absorption) and prefers most anything over chicken feed, but not in the height of her illness. She ate zero during that time, but she did always drink, so I alternated hydrohen and poultry cell in the water.
I keep her out of the indoor kennel as much as possible, because she seems depressed in it. She has begun to fight me now when its time to go back in the house. She tried to get in the coop last night with the others as I was putting them to bed, but stopped short of the pop door, eyeballed the others inside and changed her mind. Once back inside, I put her on the floor, and she literally runs to get inside her kennel.
Eggs: she's a new layer at 7 months, (Feb 24th, hatch date) all her sisters of the same age are laying everyday for several months now. To the best of my knowledge she has never laid, or if she did, it was only once or twice, then she got what I'm certain was EYP, probably in August. This was maybe caused by egg drop syndrome, maybe she got salpingitis and was unable to lay normally afterward, who knows? The LA-200 was for the suspect EYP, or salpingitis. Maybe not the best choice for the illness but all I could get my hands on.
Poop:This bird has watery diarrhea x a minimum 3 wks now. She ate very little at first, but her appetite picked up tremendously over a week ago, and she still has watery stool, mixed with tiny bits of food and grass. I can't get her poop firmed up, no matter what she eats. Maybe she isn't eating as much as it seems? Is she actually faking me out, pecking at it when I'm watching her, but not anytime else? I find that far fetched lol
Given her location its hard to get a pic of her stance, but mostly tail down, back appears hunched, and NOT in that upright penguin stance. She sleeps standing up most of the time, there is no roost bar in her kennel.
I have pics of poop.
The pics I will post are typical of evening/ overnight poops. Her daytime poops are always watery and mostly clear, never seen a drop of blood, but while treating with abx, I did notice mucous (or egg white?) once or twice, and/or egg shell type material. Hard to know which. She's a brown egg layer, and for a couple days, she was pooping what appeared to be soft shell, peachy tan colored pieces of snot-like material as if this was shell that never hardened, but it really didn't resemble egg shell in any way except the coloring. Her poops are still having the light yellow coloring.
If she had egg drop syndrome, I feel like I wouldn't be seeing yellow because the yolks would be dropping before they hit the oviduct, meaning she wouldn't be pooping out egg material. This is why I continue treating her as if its an infection, and not a genetic condition or defect.
Crop: in an effort to fend of vent gleet and sour crop, I made sure she had plenty of pre and probiotics at all times, offered yogurt, plus gave her monistat during the treatment with abx.I stopped the yogurt, as I thought it might cause watery stools, because she was eating quite a bit of it by day 3 of abx. She seemed to not have candidiasis anywhere at any time, however, 3 days ago I noticed her crop seemed larger, and in the morning it seems not to have gone down much at all. No smell of note.
Then again, she's still skin and bones, and her crop doesn't feel especially squishy or tight, or hard, it just larger now, and I haven't figured out why. Maybe its normal now, versus the empty crop I became used to seeing in a bird that had not eaten in weeks? I don't know...I'm new, this is my first flock.
As of now, I'm not sure what else to do for her, but I downloaded the Merck Vet manual, and am reading all about poultry. I have wondered out loud if its possible to have a low grade coccidiosis infection. She did get medicated feed as a chick, and should have had some ability to keep it under control. Maybe the EYP weakened her immune system, and now we are fighting a low grade cocci? There are a number of strains, it doesn't always result in the bloody, or yellow, foamy greasy stuff. Again, no bloody stool, no mustard yellow greasy or foamy poop, although, (I have periodically seen what could be shed cecal lining cells, per Merck manual photos of said cells) just the watery very light yellow, sometimes green stuff. I am noticing a definite lack of ANY cecal poop. Cannot find any literature on why she might not be processing anything there. Its seems ominous. No cecal poop for as long as she's been sick, as far as I can tell. I feel like the larger crop is playing into this, but I can't figure how, or what I can do to help.
Many have said the yellow looks like yolk, but I still don't feel it is. It would mean her body is still attempting to make eggs, and I don't see how it could be. She is half the size or less of her flock mates now, and clearly still ill. She still doesn't eat enough to be able to make an egg with or without shell. Ive seen shell-less eggs, with just the membrane holding them together, but she hasn't laid one of those even. Nothing she's "laid", or pooped could even come close in volume to an egg. Her vent doesn't drain anything at all. It's dry, likely a bit pale as well, but she poops with purpose, and has nothing on on or around her vent. No mites, no lesions, no swelling or redness.
Her lower half is not hard, bloated, squishy, oversized, or any of the things one would expect were yolks being dropped into the abdomen versus the oviduct where they could be pooped out, or, in a perfect chicken, turned into hard shelled egg. Nothing indicates a water belly except her stance.
I've done so much research on chickens in the last 3 weeks I feel like I could operate on her if I needed to. I am still no closer to an answer, and coming to accept that I may never get one, until she passes and I do a necropsy on her my own self. At this point I wouldn't trust anyone to be as thorough as I would be, as I am 100% invested in teasing out her condition. Its become a challenge now.
It would be so nice to find a vet willing to treat a chicken. I have a local vet who *claims* they do, but when I call, I get the run around. At one point, I tried to get a euthanization-only appt and was still not able to. If they won't be honest about their vet not wanting to treat chickens, how can I trust said vet with bird and her diagnosis, even if I waited out the 2 weeks "because they already have so many medical cases".
And when that failed
"I just need her put down, I intend to take her home and bury her, you don't have a single vet who would peacefully put my baby out of her misery?"
"I'm sorry", is the answer I get.
I apologize this is so ridiculously long, and late in coming, but I thank you for your willingness to try and help.