Pullet cannot fully open mouth

[Bkaye]

Could it still be respiratory even if she has no other symptoms? No foamy eyes, no nasal drainage, no coughs or sneezing etc. It appears the gaping and head shaking had reduced significantly too.

I will continue for the full 10 days (marked out the full 10 days on my calendar when I gave her the initial dose). I do have a question thought. As far as cleaning and packing her ears, how long do I continue doing that. Do I do that for the full 10 days as well or is there a point I stop prior?

 

[azygous]

Upper respiratory tract infections include ears and eyes as it's all connected.

Continue cleaning and packing the ears for as long as it takes for symptoms to disappear.

I would hazard a guess that if you had not started the antibiotic early, the symptoms could have spread to eyes and nares by now. There is a chance this is not respiratory related but is a local bacterial infection, but both ears likely wouldn't be affected. It's a moot point, though. You would be treating it the same way you are now.

 

[Bkaye]

Yesterday morning she actually ate some on her own. Didn’t end up being much but more than she had been. By yesterday afternoon she wears back to not wanting food. She was active yesterday morning and again by afternoon she was more distant from everyone.

This morning after meds I put out the wetted food again. She jumped in it and pecked around for a couple mins, didn’t even eat enough for anything and went back to the roost. Her ears look good, I can’t see anymore puss or anything in them. Still don’t see anything in her mouth. She still gapes occasionally but not anywhere near as much as she did before I started treatments. Her beak still won’t open very far just enough when I pry it open to her a finger in to give her her pill.

I started the 3rd day of antibiotics last night. Im new to all, does it usually take this long or could something else be going on? I feel like the antibiotics have done something since I’m not getting anymore puss out of her ears unless the neosporine is the cause of that.

 

[Bkaye]

Not sure if it’s worth mentioning or not but most of my girls are also molting. I haven’t noticed where she is yet.

 

[azygous]

As long as we see improvement, it's reason for optimism. Let's check the dosage of the amoxy. Is she getting 250mg per day?

Have you offered her any foods other than wet feed? Cooked runny soft boiled egg is usually a winner with a sick chicken. Make enough so all the chickens can have some. I find that when I make a "party" of the food, the sick chicken is more likely to want to eat it.

 

[Bkaye]

I may be giving her to much amox. I thought it was 250mg each dose. The pills I have are 250mg but I’ve been giving her one whole pill morning and night.

I did try scrambled eggs yesterday. I made a dozen eggs for everyone, even put it in 2 separate dishes and she just looked at it. I can try the eggs again later today.

 

[Eggcessive]

Amoxicillin dosage is all over the place if you look on BYC threads. One thread I just checked from 2014-2021, gave 3 different dosages by the same person. We try to be consistant, but 250 mg twice a day, or 57 mg twice a day is pretty average. For some reason, chicken require a larger dose. Here is a drug book:
https://avianmedicine.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/09_therapeutic_agents.pdf

 

[Bkaye]

Thanks @Eggcessive i was thinking I read 250mg twice a day. I’ve noticed egg withdraw is all over the place too.

The link to the book is very helpful. I will have to save the link.

 

[Bkaye]

Figured I’d post a mid day update. Had some errands to do this morning so left early after her meds. She was asleep when I came home. Put up the things I got and went back out and she had her head in the food bucket. Couldn’t tell if she was actually eating the dry food or not since I have the homemade no waste feeder so I left her alone and figured I’d check back on her later. Just went back out and her head was still in the bucket. Figured I would go ahead and check her crop. She has food in her crop! Not a lot but prob around the size of a bouncy ball. So she’s eating but it’s almost like she’s taking her time with it. IMO this is progress. Yesterday morning was the only time she ate yesterday. I’ll scramble up some more eggs later today and see how that goes.

 

[azygous]

Progress in any increment, large or small, is good.