Silkie hen won't eat, poor balance, can't poop URGANT!!

[BlueChai]

Alright, Ill use tylan. I've given birds 50 units in the past without issues. She doesn't poop often, but when she does it's very watery and brown or green in color.

 

[azygous]

Go ahead a treat her as you've treated other chickens. I suspect Clostridium perfrigens, a fairly common infection but deadly, and it can kill quickly. When a chicken of mine has the symptoms you describe, I don't even stop to try to figure out the possibilities. I just go right ahead and throw an antibiotic at it. Most of the time, it works.

 

[BlueChai]

Thank you for the help. Hopefully I'm not too late.

 

[azygous]

It could also be Clostridium botulinum.

Has your hen been in any compost this week? She may have scratched down into an anaerobic layer of soil and encountered some botulism toxin infected insects.

 

[BlueChai]

No, we do not have a compost pile, or anything like it. Also, if she isn't willing to eat, do I force her to? I don't want to accidentally choke her, how do I go about it.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Wow, I never heard of that one, thank you azygous need to look it up and read.

 

[azygous]

Good that you don't have a compost pile. Botulism is wicked and really tough to treat.

Don't worry about getting food down her right now. She will get her appetite back as soon as the antibiotic kicks in. Just dip her beak in water frequently to remind her to drink. Vitamins will help her a lot.

To get medication down a sick chicken involves prying open the beak and slipping it onto the tongue. She will automatically swallow when you close her beak.

When you see she's starting to perk back up, offer her yogurt or chopped boiled egg. And always water. Keep her hydrated.

 

[BlueChai]

Thank you. I just gave her a 50 unit shot of tylan 200 and she is now isolated in a cage with bedding in my room. I have some wet food mixed with oats in there for her, with sav-a-chick electrolytes in it. I'm also going to offer her some water. I don't have any vitamins on hand right now, are there any foods I can try to offer her that have a lot of vitimins.

 

[azygous]

As long as you need to go buy vitamins, look for Poultry Nutri-drench. If you can't find the one for poultry, there's one for goats that's identical.

Nutri-drench has a special formula where the nutrients are literally mainlined into the system, by-passing the digestive system and liver. It works immediately where other vitamins require hours for full absorption. It will make the antibiotic work so much faster.

She will eat when she's ready. What you've offered is fine. After she's on the road to recovery, you will want to feed yogurt or a probiotic to replenish the good bacteria in her gut.

 

[BlueChai]

Alright, thank you very much. I've heard of nutri-drench, the feedstore near my house has some. I'll try to go get some tomorrow for her.