MoosePijamas
Songster
) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
She is a 4 year old braHama. When I noticed her, she was underweight at about 4-5 pounds.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
This began in September. I noticed she didn’t come out for snacks. I picked her up and she was weak and underweight. I immediately gave her endocox powder since my flock and I have been battling a nasty strain of it - confirmed by necropsy done by OSU of other birds. She perked up after treatment but she was still underweight so I kept her in the garage hospital kennel.
She was putting on weight when she started to molt - which was about right for the time of year. I kept her in the kennel and fed her black oil sunflower seeds, her layer feed (scratch and peck), mealworms abs other goodies. She’s had good appetite throughout this entire ordeal.
After she molted I slowly started integrating her back into the flock. It was late November now. In December, I got into a light car accident and my plumbing exploded so I wasn’t able to really do more than basic care for her.
Late January, she gave me the classic “egg bound” symptoms. I could feel the egg and despite trying everything, I was unable to get the egg out. I took her to the vet and they did an X-ray (attached) and it showed a huge egg. They gave her some magnesium and she was able to push it out on her own overnight.
Since that Incident, she hasn’t quite been the same. She continues to be in her penguin stance and seems to be in pain. The doctor gave me an antibiotic and Meloxicam. After they ran out, she was weaker than ever. I took her in to discuss letting her go but they said she was looking great - they did another X-ray which confirmed she was not egg bound and that I just needed to give her time to heal.
Out of desperation because she continued to decline i began giving her baytril (.28 ml based on her weight twice a day for 5 days) and she started to get better. This is when I also began giving her at least 20ml of avian health shake from spring water farms mixed up in an egg. baytri is not what they initially gave me - I can’t remember the name. It was pink liquid and I think started with S?
We went back to the vet and they took yet another X-ray. Confirming, yet again, there’s no mass, no egg stuck, nothing. But it’s clear she is uncomfortable. She has been gaining weight thanks to the avian health shake but mom sneaks her in too many blueberries so she has blue diarreah. But she was pooping out green poo - not bright green but the green that means they’re not eating enough.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
See above
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
No
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Other than the large egg, no
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Coccidiosis is suspected, followed by egg bound symptoms
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She’ll peck and est at her food but the main thing I’m going is giving her 20ml of avian health shake to get some weight on her
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Dark green and/or blue diarrhea (due to the blueberries. She did get diarreah when she was on baytril)
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Baytril - .28ml twice a day for 10 days per her vet
Meloxicam
Hot baths
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I have discussed an implant so that she doesn’t lay eggs. My concern is that the egg binding cause Internal trauma abs that if she continues to release yolks, we’re not helping her system heal. I don’t know what else I can do for her at this point. The vet did supposed to call me sometime next week. Am I overlooking something? She is from Murray mcmurray so she’s vaccinated against Marek’s yet i realize it could still be Marek’s. There has been no lash eggs I’ve seen.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Posted pics of X-rays and penguin stance
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
She’s currently in a kennel with a puppy pad and a flat roost that she uses so she’s not in her own poo. She tends to just sit on her hocks all day but I take her out for about 10 minutes every day. Some days she walks around painfully and others she puts herself in the corner as far as she can. Recently, she felt well enough to go down a stair and then come back up but she has to use her wings to stabilize herself.
Her vet seems to think she’s getting better but my past expiriences with egg bound hens is they tend to get better, not worse, once they pass the egg. Am I just being impatient with her healing? If she does have salpingitis or is internally laying, would that show up in an X-ray?
Thanks everyone - I know this was a long read
She is a 4 year old braHama. When I noticed her, she was underweight at about 4-5 pounds.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
This began in September. I noticed she didn’t come out for snacks. I picked her up and she was weak and underweight. I immediately gave her endocox powder since my flock and I have been battling a nasty strain of it - confirmed by necropsy done by OSU of other birds. She perked up after treatment but she was still underweight so I kept her in the garage hospital kennel.
She was putting on weight when she started to molt - which was about right for the time of year. I kept her in the kennel and fed her black oil sunflower seeds, her layer feed (scratch and peck), mealworms abs other goodies. She’s had good appetite throughout this entire ordeal.
After she molted I slowly started integrating her back into the flock. It was late November now. In December, I got into a light car accident and my plumbing exploded so I wasn’t able to really do more than basic care for her.
Late January, she gave me the classic “egg bound” symptoms. I could feel the egg and despite trying everything, I was unable to get the egg out. I took her to the vet and they did an X-ray (attached) and it showed a huge egg. They gave her some magnesium and she was able to push it out on her own overnight.
Since that Incident, she hasn’t quite been the same. She continues to be in her penguin stance and seems to be in pain. The doctor gave me an antibiotic and Meloxicam. After they ran out, she was weaker than ever. I took her in to discuss letting her go but they said she was looking great - they did another X-ray which confirmed she was not egg bound and that I just needed to give her time to heal.
Out of desperation because she continued to decline i began giving her baytril (.28 ml based on her weight twice a day for 5 days) and she started to get better. This is when I also began giving her at least 20ml of avian health shake from spring water farms mixed up in an egg. baytri is not what they initially gave me - I can’t remember the name. It was pink liquid and I think started with S?
We went back to the vet and they took yet another X-ray. Confirming, yet again, there’s no mass, no egg stuck, nothing. But it’s clear she is uncomfortable. She has been gaining weight thanks to the avian health shake but mom sneaks her in too many blueberries so she has blue diarreah. But she was pooping out green poo - not bright green but the green that means they’re not eating enough.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
See above
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
No
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Other than the large egg, no
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Coccidiosis is suspected, followed by egg bound symptoms
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She’ll peck and est at her food but the main thing I’m going is giving her 20ml of avian health shake to get some weight on her
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Dark green and/or blue diarrhea (due to the blueberries. She did get diarreah when she was on baytril)
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Baytril - .28ml twice a day for 10 days per her vet
Meloxicam
Hot baths
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I have discussed an implant so that she doesn’t lay eggs. My concern is that the egg binding cause Internal trauma abs that if she continues to release yolks, we’re not helping her system heal. I don’t know what else I can do for her at this point. The vet did supposed to call me sometime next week. Am I overlooking something? She is from Murray mcmurray so she’s vaccinated against Marek’s yet i realize it could still be Marek’s. There has been no lash eggs I’ve seen.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Posted pics of X-rays and penguin stance
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
She’s currently in a kennel with a puppy pad and a flat roost that she uses so she’s not in her own poo. She tends to just sit on her hocks all day but I take her out for about 10 minutes every day. Some days she walks around painfully and others she puts herself in the corner as far as she can. Recently, she felt well enough to go down a stair and then come back up but she has to use her wings to stabilize herself.
Her vet seems to think she’s getting better but my past expiriences with egg bound hens is they tend to get better, not worse, once they pass the egg. Am I just being impatient with her healing? If she does have salpingitis or is internally laying, would that show up in an X-ray?
Thanks everyone - I know this was a long read
