Please help! Pullet is very sick!

[Island Chick]

Our vet sees chickens, but has the mindset of running every test under the sun because they don't see them very often. I live on an island and I highly doubt city vets would even know where to start.

I have a prevet degree so can understand everything and how certain types of meds work for certain types of diseases etc but there just isn't much researchable material out there it seems regarding identifiable diseases. Unfortunately most problems have same symptoms so without a necropsy I won't ever know true issue. My guess there is some sort of fungal or bacterial internal infection that may have damaged organs so he just isn't running at 100%.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Our vet sees chickens, but has the mindset of running every test under the sun because they don't see them very often. I live on an island and I highly doubt city vets would even know where to start.

I have a prevet degree so can understand everything and how certain types of meds work for certain types of diseases etc but there just isn't much researchable material out there it seems regarding identifiable diseases. Unfortunately most problems have same symptoms so without a necropsy I won't ever know true issue. My guess there is some sort of fungal or bacterial internal infection that may have damaged organs so he just isn't running at 100%.

Agree with you there. I have a dim view of taking chickens to the vet, even my avian vet, just because they are so darn hard to diagnose without a lot of expensive testing and checking. And yeah, regular small animal cat/dog vets don't have a clue.

I think you are probably on the right track and doing everything you can for this bird at this point. The only other thing I might try is giving Tylan 50 and dosing orally rather then the Duramycin in the water. That way you know the bird got exactly the dose it needs every day. Good luck.

 

[Bantamlover124]

Sometimes it is inbreeding, maybe you could contact the place where u got them from. But it is odd that the rest are fine and she is not.
Perhaps boost her with electrolytes, and give her antibiotic supplements, if available.

 

[Bantamlover124]

Ohhh oops, sorry, I pretty much copied Cafarmgirl!

 

[Island Chick]

I wish I still had tylan on hand, I had a bunch from the cattle but it went bad so threw it out. Only tylan I can find on my island is the bigger $50 bottle...

At this point I think I'm going I have to start tube feeding him. He has lost almost another ounce since yesterday. I opened up his beak and there is clear gooey fluid in trachea opening and gurgle sounds come grom trachea not esophagus (if I remember fright from school and the tiny hole at base of tongue is tracheal opening). I am assuming wheezing and congestion is from aspirating egg or fluids yesterday. Which would suck because recovery from that is rough at best

Wish there was a way to suction the fluid out without damaging tissues. He seems to do a bit better if I hang him upside down, I figure gravity helps pull fluid out not in, but don't want to cause more harm either. The way he coughs makes it look like a huge breath and a few good coughs would blast it out, so it must be rather sticky stuff.

 

[Island Chick]

Update: little guy (ok girl) weighed 580g. Tube fed 20cc of starter crumble dust mixed with pedialyte. Weighed 610g after feeding. Will repeat in a few hours.

Now to figure out how much duramycin to administer for body weight daily so I can just add to soupy mixture I'm tubing.

 

[Bantamlover124]

Update: little guy (ok girl) weighed 580g. Tube fed 20cc of starter crumble dust mixed with pedialyte. Weighed 610g after feeding. Will repeat in a few hours.

Now to figure out how much duramycin to administer for body weight daily so I can just add to soupy mixture I'm tubing.

Poor little girl, hopefully you can save her! She sounds like a sweet little thing, I give you best luck with getting her better

 

[Island Chick]

Another update. Been tube feeding every 4 hours. So far Kevin has gone from 580g to 700g in 18hrs. So much perkier and the phlegmy sounds are very rare now. Not very excited for tube feeding anymore, and i look at the resisting as a good thing. When I say her name she actually cheeps back now. It's adorable. I say Kevin! And she goes cheep-cheep-cheep. Too cute.

For the duramycin, Im using the 1 teaspoon per 1000ml dosage (tiny bit higher than suggested) and assuming a healthy bird Kevin's weight drinks roughly 150ml a day, that would mean Kevin needs a little less than 1/8 tsp of duramycin daily. So I have been puttin 1/32 tsp of powder in 4 feedings a day.

Here's Kevin, looking much brighter today!

 

[Bantamlover124]

Aww, that is good!!!