On the mend, but still questions: UPDATE, 20 week old banty wormy as heck,

[lalaland]

Yeah, I am thinking you are right. She isn't rapidly improving. Steadier because she is eating better, but her droppings are moving in the wrong direction. She doesn't have a lot of energy. I'll have time on Saturday to do a necropsy, so it will wait til then.
thanks

 

[delisha]

Yeah, I am thinking you are right. She isn't rapidly improving. Steadier because she is eating better, but her droppings are moving in the wrong direction. She doesn't have a lot of energy. I'll have time on Saturday to do a necropsy, so it will wait til then.
thanks

Quote:

Being a good Stewart sucks sometimes

 

[aoxa]

Being a good Stewart sucks sometimes

Yeah... Had to cull a pullet last night. I am very sick with the flu, so no time for a necropsy. She was having trouble walking - meat king. 9 weeks.

 

[lalaland]

Justine, sorry you are sick yourself. What was wrong with your pullet?

THis morning, Mrs. Murphy was showing some good improvement. I hate that when you have decided to cull and then they make you second guess. When I opened the kennel door, she wanted out! She gave one of the cats an evil eye, and when the cat cautiously went to sniff at her, she pecked the cat on the nose. Later, she pecked at the cat's tail, and she was grooming herself. Tail up, too, and better posture. Not so puffed out with her feathers.

She was moving away from me when I went to pick her up instead of passively letting me handle her. Eating well this morning too, and a couple of good droppings.

making me wonder about worms that you can't see in the poop. Before I cull her, I am going to see if I can get a danged stool sample into the vets. Difficult with my work schedule.

 

[aoxa]

Justine, sorry you are sick yourself. What was wrong with your pullet?

THis morning, Mrs. Murphy was showing some good improvement. I hate that when you have decided to cull and then they make you second guess. When I opened the kennel door, she wanted out! She gave one of the cats an evil eye, and when the cat cautiously went to sniff at her, she pecked the cat on the nose. Later, she pecked at the cat's tail, and she was grooming herself. Tail up, too, and better posture. Not so puffed out with her feathers.

She was moving away from me when I went to pick her up instead of passively letting me handle her. Eating well this morning too, and a couple of good droppings.

making me wonder about worms that you can't see in the poop. Before I cull her, I am going to see if I can get a danged stool sample into the vets. Difficult with my work schedule.

I have no idea. I think she may have injured herself (her legs). Not uncommon in my flock with goats and the alpaca walking all over them. She couldn't stand without obvious discomfort, so I culled. Susan did not want to use her for meat. She was all covered in mud from being out in the rain and dirt. She was not overweight at all, so that is not the cause of leg issues as far as I'm concerned.

If I wasn't sick I would have happily done the necropsy. Just feel like my head is going to explode. Need to rest or this could turn into bronchitis.

If I had of waited to feel better she would have been suffering. I just sucked it up and did it.

 

[ten chicks]

Worms are a possibility. When you brought her inside and fed her,you mentioned that she ate a fair amount of food,is it possible that the other hens are not letting her eat,this does happen. She is weak from weight loss,chickens have a high metabolism and require constant food to fuel their body,no food and they become lethargic/weak,etc.

 

[lalaland]

ITs possible that hens and roosters weren't letting her eat, but because I had soo many roosters and there was much chaos in the run, I had 6-8 feeding stations throughout the run, so she should have had easy access to feed.

I admit, the last few weeks I was pretty much ignoring pullets and hens because I was so focused on observing the roosters so I could figure out which two would be saved, so I could cull the rest. culled them last weekend, and also removed the extra feed stations, bringing it down to two feed areas.

 

[Eggcessive]

ITs possible that hens and roosters weren't letting her eat, but because I had soo many roosters and there was much chaos in the run, I had 6-8 feeding stations throughout the run, so she should have had easy access to feed.

I admit, the last few weeks I was pretty much ignoring pullets and hens because I was so focused on observing the roosters so I could figure out which two would be saved, so I could cull the rest. culled them last weekend, and also removed the extra feed stations, bringing it down to two feed areas.

I would give her some more time to make it. I have a big flock of all ages, and just got rid of 9 extra spring roosters and 11 older hens, so I know it's important to get the numbers down for winter especially if one is sick. I have a couple of small banties, and they are pretty scrappy little individuals, very entertaining to us. It seems that she may be making a comeback.

 

[lalaland]

update: she's still alive, but not really making progress. I've decided if she has a cocci overload, it is her weakend state letting it flourish. So I am back to thinking worms, which would explain the severe emaciation.

I am going to worm her with either vabazen or safeguard, because from the reading I've done it appears worms could definitely be it. My choice is to worm tomorrow, or wait for vet results on Monday which would also require taking time off work...

So although I agree it would be best to have a fecal test done, I am not sure she can make it that long. I have never seen such an obvious keel . She is eating, just not getting anything.

 

[lalaland]

ok, I consulted with Dawg53, and others, and ended up dosing her with a tiny pea sized dollop of safeguard 10% equine paste. I was reassured that you can't really overdose on that, and although I would hav preferred the safer but way more expensive valbazen, I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this.

Gave it to her last night, and followed with buttermilk and canned cat food. I noticed this morning that a) she was still up and about - was fearful a clog of dead worms would kill her and b) her very pale practically white comb started to pink up a tiny bit!

So, I'm going to see if she can tolerate being out with the flock today. I am home and can observe. It will be in the 20's tonight, but I'll put her in the coop after taking her in for some serious hand feeding. i figure if i can hand feed her at least once daily, and if she is holding her own with the flock, better for her to be with them then in my house in solitaire.