Second sick hen

[ChicNmom]

Now that we have time to get prepared, what might be the best antibiotic to keep on hand? Penicillin?? Someting else?? Hopefully we wouldn't need it, but tough to try and run around at night looking...

Will post back with the results of the fecal float when we get them.

I keep Amoxicillin (Fish Mox) 250mg capsules and also Duramycin from Tractor supply. Also Metronidizole (FishZole) 250mg for canker and thrush.

After joining here I also added more to my chicken med kit in the way of supplies for crop issues.

You should look over all of the chickens tonight and again in the morning to make sure they are all eating. That way if something is going on you can catch it before it gets to far along.

Sorry about your hen. It seems the favorites tend to go first. I tried to change that trend by telling my least favorite hen, Psycho, that she was the favorite. It didn't work..

 

[ZedikerStation]

I keep Amoxicillin (Fish Mox) 250mg capsules and also Duramycin from Tractor supply. Also Metronidizole (FishZole) 250mg for canker and thrush.

After joining here I also added more to my chicken med kit in the way of supplies for crop issues.

You should look over all of the chickens tonight and again in the morning to make sure they are all eating. That way if something is going on you can catch it before it gets to far along.

Sorry about your hen. It seems the favorites tend to go first. I tried to change that trend by telling my least favorite hen, Psycho, that she was the favorite. It didn't work..

LOL... that's funny.
I agree with you. We have not gotten the results back from the fecal float test from the last hen yet. I'm not waiting on it. Based on the droppings on the board (flat and little to no white cap, as opposed to round with a white cap) they are all getting a 3 day course of dewormer.
We are going to check them all out for muscle, or boneyness to get a benchmark on them.
I will start a little better medicine cabinet with some antibiotics. I just came across a nice document describing what antibiotics are used for what ailment such as upper respiratory, lower respiratory, intestinal, etc. The problem is diagnosis... Its a good starting point. It doesn't have dosages though.
We are also going to remove all bedding and mist with a bleach/water solution. I hate to add humidity this time of year, but it is probably better than the alternative.

Thank you!

https://hoeggerfarmyard.com/treatin...ppropriate for this,only product in the water.

 

[ChicNmom]

L. The problem is diagnosis... Its a good starting point. It doesn't have dosages though.
We are also going to remove all bedding and mist with a bleach/water solution. I hate to add humidity this time of year, but it is probably better than the alternative.

Thank you!

https://hoeggerfarmyard.com/treating-illness-in-poultry-flocks-by-understanding-treatment-types/#:~:text=Common antibiotics appropriate for this,only product in the water.

Thanks for the link.

I have started a notebook as a quick reference. I've also put labels on the actual meds with the doses and what they are for. You can easily do a search here with the name of the med and the word "dose".
You will get a lot of results and the answer will be there someplace.

 

[ZedikerStation]

This probably should be it's own thread, but it's related. I'm going the individual route on wormer today. Using Safe-Guard Goat wormer at the chickie dose. I prefer not to use the water route because I never know how much each get. My question is this.... does the syringe account for the space in the tip? For instance, my dose will be .5ml for each. It looks like the tip would hold at least .25ml. Its wormer, so I doubt a little more is critical..... thoughts?

 

[azygous]

The answer is yes. Go by the calibration marks for precise dose.

And it's your thread so you can talk about anything you wish on it, including your drunk uncle and embarrassing Aunt Fanny.

 

[ZedikerStation]

The answer is yes. Go by the calibration marks for precise dose.

And it's your thread so you can talk about anything you wish on it, including your drunk uncle and embarrassing Aunt Fanny.

Thank you!

This morning the dropping board had a lot of very thin poop. Basically diarrhea. There were only a couple of normal looking droppings. We have not gotten the fecal float results back yet.... vet said possibly today. I suppose this could be attributed to worms, but what about the addition of apple cider vinegar to their water. They never had it before. Maybe that is the cause.

EDIT: We just got the results from the hen we lost yesterday. Fecal Float showed NO parasites. We are still waiting on the giardia results. Obviously it was only one sample from one hen, but now I'm not sure if we can rule out worms in the whole flock. I suppose the 2 hens we lost were a bacteria not having anything to do with worms...

I was just informed by my wife that we have had 2 sparrows coming and going from the pop door for about a week now. That can't be good, and might be related to the death of the 2 hens. I know those flying rats carry lots of bad stuff. Thoughts on this?

 

[ChicNmom]

The floats aren't 100%. I did one for my group recently that came back negative but based on some of the hens I de wormed them all anyway JIC.

Get rid of the sparrows. I am going through a lot of issues right now because of having doves in the yard this summer.

Also, is there any chance their feed got a little moldy or spoiled? If they all have diarrhea it could be from something like that. The cider vinegar can help with yeasty crop issues which could also account for the bad poopies.

 

[ZedikerStation]

The floats aren't 100%. I did one for my group recently that came back negative but based on some of the hens I de wormed them all anyway JIC.

Get rid of the sparrows. I am going through a lot of issues right now because of having doves in the yard this summer.

Also, is there any chance their feed got a little moldy or spoiled? If they all have diarrhea it could be from something like that. The cider vinegar can help with yeasty crop issues which could also account for the bad poopies.

Okay--- going ahead with the worming today. Although the feeder I built will hold a 50 pound bag, we only keep a couple days worth in it. The bags are kept in the house and we take up in a bucket, so definitely no mold in the feed. As of today, the remaining hens look fine and are all acting active as is normal. The poop board tells a different story though... Looks like all but maybe 2 have diarrhea. We are in the middle of the coldest weather so far this year, so they really don't want to go out. I'd like if they would so a good cleaning could be done.

 

[ChicNmom]

Mine don't want to go out much either. Last week there was a sort of sunny day and most of the snow is shoveled away from the run. So I went out about 2 hours before chicken bedtime and opened the doors. Any stragglers left as soon as the saw the rake. LOL

 

[Myrshine]

There’s a disease I know called Bactillery White Diarrhea