I have a two year old barred rock hen who's crown has become pale and is becoming increasingly lethargic. She also shakes her head a lot but she has done that her entire adult life, so I haven't paid much attention to that symptom.At this point she isn't interested in water or food but she does seem alert. And thankfully the rest of the flock isn't bothering her. Today she pretty much sat in the shade all day.
Initially I thought she might have worms even though I haven't seen any worms in the droppings. This past Saturday I went to every feed store in town and all they had for poultry was wazine 17. So I applied that this weekend to the water for the flock.
Last night she didn't join the rest of the flock on the roost. She just doesn't have either the strength or energy. After doing more reading it sounds like mites can cause some of these symptoms.
Yesterday morning I gave her a bath and checked out her vent which was pretty dirty. I cleaned her up and found that her feathers on her bottom below her vent are really thin and there is a lot of bare skin. The skin and her vent looked very healthy though. I nice yellow like the rest of her skin. I applied some Sevin 5% there, under her wings, and around her neck in case there were mites I wasn't seeing.
While I was cleaning her up I noticed that she had labored breathing. This along with the breathing made me wonder if she had gape worm. I'm pretty certain wazine won't touch gape worm. I did a qtip test for gape worm which was negative.
If it's not worms or mites it has to be a virus or bacteria. It doesn't seem like she has much time left. I'm wondering if giving her an antibiotic would be worth trying? She does seem alert and has clear eyes.
What antibiotic treatments are commonly used? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Initially I thought she might have worms even though I haven't seen any worms in the droppings. This past Saturday I went to every feed store in town and all they had for poultry was wazine 17. So I applied that this weekend to the water for the flock.
Last night she didn't join the rest of the flock on the roost. She just doesn't have either the strength or energy. After doing more reading it sounds like mites can cause some of these symptoms.
Yesterday morning I gave her a bath and checked out her vent which was pretty dirty. I cleaned her up and found that her feathers on her bottom below her vent are really thin and there is a lot of bare skin. The skin and her vent looked very healthy though. I nice yellow like the rest of her skin. I applied some Sevin 5% there, under her wings, and around her neck in case there were mites I wasn't seeing.
While I was cleaning her up I noticed that she had labored breathing. This along with the breathing made me wonder if she had gape worm. I'm pretty certain wazine won't touch gape worm. I did a qtip test for gape worm which was negative.
If it's not worms or mites it has to be a virus or bacteria. It doesn't seem like she has much time left. I'm wondering if giving her an antibiotic would be worth trying? She does seem alert and has clear eyes.
What antibiotic treatments are commonly used? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
