sneezing chicken

[lurky]

I dont think she does scratch, i watched her close when it first began but saw nothing else. I will check her out this AM. Can you usually see ear mites on the ears? This is one that lets me handle her.

 

[robin416]

No you can't. Most times you can see skin/feather mites with a powerful flashlight in a dark area. They are tiny. But if she's not scratching I don't know what is going on. That's why I said I wish I could see her when she does it, the way they shake their heads can tell quite a bit.

 

[bantymum]

Hi She is a sweety, I just noticed that her eyelids look rather red or else its the photo.
Give her a garlic clove minced in with some favourite food as a dose for anything!!

 

[cakkleberrylane]

I have one that is shaking her head too. She's about 5 months old, she started, "looking funny". She stopped getting excited about food, kind of kept to herself and tucks her head under her wing and sleeps a LOT! Now she's started jerking her head. We have had kittens too that have ear mites and we are trying hard to deal with that, so it may be a factor. She's also lost her balance a couple of times. Think the garlic would help? What about terramycin in her water?
Thanks.

 

[robin416]

cakkleberrylane, she's showing signs that she is not eating. Isolate her, encourage her to eat. Chopped boiled egg with some cooked rolled oats add a bit of sugar if she refuses even that. Get some polyvisol childrens vitamins if you don't have poultry vitamins and dose her twice a day, a couple of drops. Hang a light where she can get under it for warmth.

Watch her droppings, check her eyes, beak. Try not to handle more than you have to until you've got a good assessment at what you're looking at. Then let us know what you find.

Have she ever been wormed? And what did you use? Check her for mites.

 

[cakkleberrylane]

The first thing I did was to isolate her, she's been with 4 other chicks for several months, so hopefully, whatever is wrong with her is something they are immune to. She has had the same friends and neighbors since she hatched, so I kind of wonder if maybe she's more sensitive to the environment than the others? If she was sick, would the others not show signs of it too? And where would the sickness come from? There have been no new chickens near her, only the kittens.

She loved the oatmeal. I gave her that, some water with terramycin in it and will go out for the vitamins tonight. I also gave her some Basmati Rice - one of her favorite foods and she seemed quite interested in that. Maybe she's tired of cracked corn.

We had a couple of rainy days, I wonder if the dampness got to her. Her feet are quite cold even now. I have her in the bathroom in a plastic tub with straw, but left the window open because it's in the 90's outside, but we have the air on indoors.

I forgot to mention, she looks like she may be albino - white feathers, but pink legs, pink beak etc.

 

[robin416]

The last thing she needs is junk food which is what cracked corn is.

Right now you need to concentrate on getting the most wholesome food in as possible. If you have a pet store when you go to town pick up some bird hand feeding formula, she should be more than willing to eat that. If you don't have a pet store make a gruel with the cooked oats and some of her crumbles or ground up pellets.

Why the antibiotics? I've been seeing a lot of antibiotic use lately and I'm uncomfortable with that. Just because a bird is not up to par does not mean anitbiotics will fix the problem or that the antibiotics are the right one for the problem being treated.

Here's why I question the antibiotics. I had a hen that was my favorite bird. She and I had gone through a couple of different dramas in her short life. I noticed she was different so I began to watch her, check her over with my hands. Two days after noticing she was different I found a tender spot in her abdomin. I took her for X-rays. She had spots and splotches in her belly that shouldn't have been there. I had to put her down because it was probably cancer. My point is I did not put my bird on antibitotics the moment I saw something wasn't right. I took the time to do an assessment. Giving the wrong drug can mask the existing problem just to have them rebound because it was never fully cured.

Locate a light over her, see what she does. If she stays under the light then she's needing the warmth.

I don't think I've seen an over all assessment of her. Her crop, eyes, feathers. Sometimes rain can cause problems but without more info on her over all effect nothing can be decided.

No, if her problem is bacterial or a physical problem it will not affect the others. Are albino's, if that's what she is, more delicate? I don't know, in some species they are.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Quote:
In addition to the excellent advice given to you by Robin, I would like to add that the minute a bird is ill (and in particular when for an extended period of time) malabsorption of nutrients to one degree or another occurs complication matters substantially in many cases...
You asked why the others weren't ill especially if it was nutritional...this is very easily explained > for the same reason that one chick hatches with problems and another will hatch perfectly healthy...

If you can possibly see your way to order AviaCharge 2000 (online from McMurry or Strombergs) I would urge you to do so as this is a complete poultry nutritional/vit supplement especially formulated for poultry in the correct ratios ...give three drops of POLYVISOL (childrens liquid A-B-D vitamins) until it arrives. It may not "cure" all that is ailing your bird but it will ensure that no further deficiency occurs and help any malabsorption issues and in this way support your birds immune system to fight off whatever else may be wrong.

 

[cakkleberrylane]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice.

Crop, feathers and eyes look normal. She seems better today, but still a bit of a problem with balance, although it's not as bad as it was. She gobbled down the good food (oatmeal and basmati rice) She just pooped on my desk so I got a good look at it, watery with some white and in the middle of the spot, something that looked yellowy-brown, almost the color of cooked egg yolk but a little darker. I've been keeping her in a plastic bin in the bathroom, but she much prefers to "roost' on the side of the bin.

I got the vitamins, but she didn't really eat last night, she may have been full with of oatmeal, I felt her crop, it was pretty hard.

She was born to a wild hen, but I removed her from her mother just prior to hatching becuase we were having a problem with fire ants getting into the eggs when the chick first pecked a hole. Her mother is fine, as are her siblings. I have the mother in a pen since we have a lot of predators and the wild chicks rarely survive if left alone. Mom occupies the pen next to the one this chick was in.

I'll order the AviaCharge 2000 if I can't get it at the feed store today. Also working on getting a picture of her to post.

Thanks again, will keep you posted!

 

[cakkleberrylane]

Here's our sickie - eating her oatmeal.