Side effects of antibiotic shot - is this normal? Please help!

[katienewcomb]

I have a 3 month old hen who has a sinus infection. I took her to the local farm store and they gave her an antibiotic shot in her leg (I have to give the rest of the doses for the next 5 days).

Anyway, now she is limping. Is it common for a shot to cause pain where it was injected? I can't remember what the antibiotic is called.

Thanks for your help! I'd usually call the farmer but the store is closed now.

 

[katienewcomb]

Bumping is against BYC rules. Just FYI.

 

[speckledhen]

The farm store gave her a shot?? Who does that? Very strange. Do they employ a vet in this farm store? I've never even heard of someone at a feed/farm store dispensing actual injections to birds like that in all the years I've been on BYC.

First of all, bad idea to give a shot in the leg due to hitting a nerve. The state vet told me that you should never do that, only in the breast muscle. The person hit a nerve. Hopefully, it isn't going to permanently cripple her and she'll get over it.

Do not give her another shot in a leg muscle!


Also, who diagnosed a sinus infection? Them? Could be something worse, like mycoplasmosis; in fact, it usually is not a simple sinus infection, though those do happen on rare occasions. Maybe you should tell us the symptoms, post a picture of the hen and tell us what antibiotic this person is giving her. Could be an exercise in futility.

 

[katienewcomb]

First, sorry for the bump Didn't know it was against the rules!

Second, thank you for your help. He didn't give the shot into the leg muscle. It was subcutaneous so it was right under the skin (I watched). The person is not a vet but a farmer that raises birds, so he has lots of knowledge based on experience (someone I trust and would call an expert, similar to the people on this forum).

I left him a message today to ask him about her leg, so hopefully I'll hear back soon. I wanted to try this forum also because sometimes the responses are so fast!

I can't tell if she's just sore form the shot or if he did in fact hit a nerve. I'm mostly concerned because I am supposed to give her another shot tonight, he told me to do it in the other leg, then under her wings, to prevent soreness. I don't want both of her legs to be super sore.

Her symptoms are sneezing, sounds congested a little when she breaths and has discharge from her nose (and its all smelly). She's still eating, drinking, and pooing fine.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Uh, oh. Smelly could mean Coryza, not a sinus infection, but he cannot know that with any certainty without testing.

Subcutaneously would not cause limping, IMO. He had to have hit a nerve. I've never heard of giving a shot under a wing. If you do subcutaneously, it's in the skin on the back of the neck closer to the head.

I'm betting not a sinus infection. Mycoplasmosis/CRD and Coryza each are highly contagious and make the bird a permanent carrier. In other words, they can't be truly cured. If he was a breeder, he would have told you to cull the bird, in the case of either of those. I don't know any honest-to-goodness farmers or breeders who give antibiotics to chickens for respiratory illness, to tell the truth. They use the only real method for curing contagious respiratory illness in their flocks--an axe.

My concern is that he has just off-the-cuff said it is a sinus infection when it's probably something contagious that will have future repercussions for this bird and for others in your flock.