Second chicken now ill - medication questions please

[RoseyB]

We had three chickens and lost one a week ago on a hot summer day. Out of the three, 2 of them lost weight, stopped laying, had runny stools. The stools look just like the photos for clostridium perfingens. They were wormed with wazine months ago when symptoms started; followed up a month later with ivermectin. Nothing changed. Two days ago Victoria, our buff orpington came out of the coop and wasn't able to eat. She was pecking at air and missing the food like her depth perception was off. I tried all her favorites without success. Yesterday she started to eat yogurt mash, her perception somewhat improved. She can see because she goes after the dropped food. I have human 100mg doxycycline caps, probiotic caps and nystatin liquid on hand. Worth trying? doses?

At this point there is nothing to lose and will try anything to help her. Anything I can give her to firm up stools? Any suggestions? They are 2.5 years old. The third girl (gold lace), is very robust and healthy and still laying eggs. A bully situation perhaps. We are heartbroken.

 

[RoseyB]

Please, we really need some direction on this. We are first time chicken owners and these girls have been raised from babies. Am I asking the wrong questions? Do you need further information? Thank you.

 

[Eggcessive]

Wazine will only treat round worms, and chicken worms have built up resistance to ivermectin. Most use a medication that treats most or all worms, and Valbazen is very good. Fenbendazole (SafeGuard, Panacur) are also good. A vet could diagnose enteritis if you suspect Clostridium perfringens. I would worm them with Valbazen, and treat for possible coccidiosis with Corid or amprollium for 5 days. C. perfringens and enteritis sometimes happen in chickens with an underlying cocci infection. Many antibitotics will treat enteritis. Some of them are Gallimycin, Aureomycin, bacitracin, penicillin, neomycin, and amoxicillin among others. Here is some reading about cocci and enteritis:
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/coccidiosis/overview_of_coccidiosis_in_poultry.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis

 

[RoseyB]

She is so thin and weak at this point I hesitate to worm her. Will call our vet and see if she will run a fecal and go from there. Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

The worming can wait. Corid or amprollium would not be harmful to use though, until you get to the vet. It is found in the cattle medicines at feed and farm stores in liquid or powder. Dosage is 2 tsp of liquid (or 1.5 tsp of the powder) per gallon of water for 5-7 days. It can be put on feed to increase the intake. I was just reading a study about enteritis in Egypt, and it says that the strains there were resistant to doxycycline 98% of the time. It recommends amoxicillin. Here 's the link if you are interested: http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/e...thematique/2013/No09072013-00003-EN-Osman.pdf

 

[Outpost JWB]

Please let us know what the vet says. I read your post, but didn't want to speculate on this especially not knowing for sure & you are losing chickens. Good luck.

 

[RoseyB]

Thank you for your help. My vet would not do a fecal but referred me to 2 vets in the area who might. They are both closed today. Found an avian vet nearby, but she is also closed on Saturdays. Victoria spent the day inside in an ex pen resting. She has been eating yogurt, oatmeal, scrambled egg mash and pecks at her grain food (which is passing through whole in her loose stools). If we can keep her going until Monday, will get a fecal done and go from there. She is just a sweet pea - I'm saying some prayers.

 

[Nambroth]

I've dealt with Clostridium perfringens before; if you can you might want to offer mostly or only easily digested foods until you can get to the vet. As you noticed, grains that require more mechanical digestion pass through without being digested. Go easy on the yogurt for now. The cooked oatmeal is good, eggs are great, if you want to offer her any soft veggies that she likes (cooked squash is great), etc. I don't know what your temperatures are right now in Auburn but keeping her warm but not hot will also help a bit.

 

[casportpony]

My vet had me use metronidazole when we thought that one of my peahens had Clostridium perfringens. The gram stain didn't reveal a sign that she had it, but she said that it can be hard to test for and the best poop to test is the "morning" poop. The gram stain did reveal a gram negative infection, so in addition to the metronidazole at 50mg/kg, she prescribed Baytril 20mg/kg.

Not making a suggestion, just sharing my recent experience.

The clostridium perfringens treatment was based on the necropsy report from another hen that this one had been with.

-Kathy

 

[Nambroth]

My vet had me use metronidazole when we thought that one of my peahens had Clostridium perfringens. The gram stain didn't reveal a sign that she had it, but she said that it can be hard to test for and the best poop to test is the "morning" poop. The gram stain did reveal a gram negative infection, so in addition to the metronidazole at 50mg/kg, she prescribed Baytril 20mg/kg.

Not making a suggestion, just sharing my recent experience.

The clostridium perfringens treatment was based on the necropsy report from another hen that this one had been with.

-Kathy

Just wanted to second this. My hen also didn't have the c. perfringens show up in a fecal-- my vet also indicated that it won't always show up. X-rays showed an excess of reproductive gas and along with her other symptoms the best guess was the c. prfringens. My hen was also prescribed metronidazole and it saved her. I found that giving my hen probiotics (yogurt doesn't have much. I used a powdered probiotic and kefir grains) after her medication course was completely done seemed to help her get well faster, but that is anecdotal only.