very sick hen

[dfchaser]

I responded to an add today about free chickens that needed to go to a new home. I had a feeling that there would be something bad, and there was. There was 7 hens and 2 roos. One of the hens is VERy sick. She has two very swollen feet and can hardly walk, she has one eye swollen shut and pussy. I can hear a gurgle when she breathes and she has some mucus on her nose. She has been sick like this for about 2 months. She sits in the corner and will lay eggs (from what the previous owner and children have said)

there is another chicken that came from auction with her and she is beginning to have mucus from her nose.

all of the new birds has been quarantined. I am planning on worming them all and giving them antibiotics. I am going to need to treat the two sicker ones more strongly.

I have bio-mycin and pen g here at the house. But am not really sure if that is the best thing for them.

Any help would be great (medicines and dosage would be super helpful), i would like to get these little gals feeling better and living the good life.

 

[silkiechicken]

Can't provide too much help on antibiotics or what they have per se, but I do know that part of quarantine is to not treat them until you figure out what they have. Reason being, if you treat them and it hides a disease or virus, you can infect your flock with birds which may be carriers of something for life.

 

[threehorses]

Two months of illness is a very long time. Personally because of the foot involvement I would **highly** recommend taking the bird to an avian vet and having a culture and sensitivity done. There are some serious mycoplasmal diseases that include joint swelling and can cause a chronic respiratory illness like this.

Alternately, you could call a tester that tests for things like Pullorum and additionally tests for Mycoplasma synoviae and Mycoplasma gallisepticum and have those diseases (MS and MG) ruled out. MG is vertically transmittable and thus can be passed to offspring sometimes in the egg. As it's also called Chronic Respiratory Illness, it will mean that your birds will become carriers.

It may seem like an unnecessary expense, but it's way less expensive than multiple rounds of antibiotics (particularly when you don't know which to use), and losing your investment in birds, never being able to sell carriers, etc.

Here are some NC avian vets (http://www.birdsnways.com/articles/abvpvets.htm):
Durham, NC - Gregory Burkett (Avian Veterinary Services - Birdie Boutique) - 919-490-3001 - http//:www.birdieboutique.com
Huntersville, NC - Lauren Powers (Carolina Vet Specialists) - 704-949-1100 - http://www.carolinavet.com
Kannapolis, NC - Chris Griffin (South Ridge Vet Hosp) - 704-933-1414
Kernersville, NC - Carmen A. Lindheimer (Hopkins Road Animal Hosp) - 336-996-2190
Raleigh, NC - Laurel Degernes (NCSU) - 919-513-6800
Raleigh, NC - Keven Flammer (NCSU) - 919-513-6353

Here are some extensions (NCSU) and poultry specialists who possibly can hook you up with a tester so you don't have to pay avian specialist prices:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/poulsci/faculty.html

And a contact number to NC's NPIP contact who might also be able to get you in touch with a tester: (919) 733-3186

If you absolutely refuse to use a tester or vet (I hope this isn't the case) you could try using Tylan injectable in the sick bird. Three days of treatment, it works against MS and MG, but it will NOT do anything about a bird being a carrier. So it's best to test.

Please do let us know your thoughts. Thank you.

 

[dfchaser]

Thank you threehorses for the info and contact info. I am going to divide the new group up again and put the healthy looking ones in a coop of their own and keep the two inside until i can get up with someone tomorrow about what to do next. ::Shakes head:: guess you need to be ready for anything when you open your home up to those that need a place to go!

we'll get this taken care of and hopefully she can recover.

 

[threehorses]

I'll be crossing my fingers that all is well. You should be able to get LIVE testing done. If you don't get that answer at first, keep working for it. You're your chickens' only true advocate.

Please let us know how it goes, if you wouldn't mind.