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My lovely bantam hen is ill. Am worried she will die.

25 replies

hellymelly · 03/07/2013 11:39

She is my favourite, the clever one out of the group. She has had a darker comb for a while-initially the vet thought it was gape worm, so we wormed the flock (4 altogether). But no improvement, in fact her comb is darker and she is slower than usual. She went back to the vet on Monday evening and the vet thinks now it is a respiratory thing of some sort, but probably not micoplasma as it isn't "wet". She is now on antibiotics and separate from the others in the day. She looks slightly worse today, but she's only had one full day of antibiotics so too soon to take her back to the vet I suppose? She is eating things she loves, like mealworms, and laid an egg yesterday, but had a big fright the night before when a fox was trying to get her (she is in a large dog crate next to the others' run, foxy was trying to bite her through the bars and she cut her comb a bit jumping about). She just looks less bustly generally and is a lot slower on her feet as she is breathless. No discharge from her nostrils, I can't hear her wheezing, and she isn't gaping but her chest is rising more than normal when she breathes. Anything else we can do? Anything it could be that vet might not have thought of? (we live in a farming area so sick hens tend to just get despatched, not taken to the vet). She is 4 btw. And aside from me loving her, my dds have had a year full of illness and death (my Dad and others) and will be really upset if anything happens to her.

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hellymelly · 03/07/2013 13:06

Bumping in hope chicken expert will appear..

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hellymelly · 03/07/2013 22:37

bumping again.

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mummymeister · 03/07/2013 23:21

sorry helly wish I could say something positive. at 4 I don't think she is going to recover tbh but they do often prove me wrong. they are quite fragile things really these hens. you have done your best. what about moving her inside so she isn't scared by he who cannot be named. has her back end dropped at all?

hellymelly · 03/07/2013 23:34

Thanks mummymeister. She is in with the others from about 7p.m, and has been out foraging in the garden today too with the flock as I was out with them. (Ready to chase away any large predators). The isolation is only because the anti-bs are in the water, so the others would all get a dose. Is four old then, for a chicken? I thought bantams lived to about 12, is that not true?

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hellymelly · 03/07/2013 23:38

She is a fancy breed bantam, so not an egg-machine type of hen.

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hellymelly · 03/07/2013 23:41

Oh and no, back end not dropped, but she has a very pointed up tail. She looks like this <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=readebaker.com/images//silverSpangled%2520Hamburg%2520Grass.JPG&imgrefurl=www.readebaker.com/poultry.shtml&h=296&w=448&sz=25&tbnid=Np7VQfzH_pfgjM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=136&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsilver%2Bspangled%2Bhamburg%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=silver+spangled+hamburg&usg=__CrnZUvLOP1OuxI-A5-WmT9ORCnk=&docid=YFnjofmWH7hk1M&sa=X&ei=V6jUUfRTg_rSBZDogbAK&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQ9QEwAg&dur=244" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=readebaker.com/imagessilverSpangled%2520Hamburg%2520Grass.JPG&imgrefurl=www.readebaker.com/poultry.shtml&h=296&w=448&sz=25&tbnid=Np7VQfzH_pfgjM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=136&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsilver%2Bspangled%2Bhamburg%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=silver+spangled+hamburg&usg=__CrnZUvLOP1OuxI-A5-WmT9ORCnk=&docid=YFnjofmWH7hk1M&sa=X&ei=V6jUUfRTg_rSBZDogbAK&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQ9QEwAg&dur=244

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hellymelly · 04/07/2013 16:46

bumping again in hope

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hellymelly · 06/07/2013 23:24

She looked a lot better yesterday, comb more red, she was more active, so I thought the anti-bs were working but through the afvternoon today her comb went very dark, and her tail drooped suddenly, at supper time. What does the droopy tail mean? We rushed her to the out of hours vet, he has given her a different antibiotic, but she looks really unwell. I am very worried ,I really love her, she is a darling.

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hellymelly · 07/07/2013 14:02

still alive today, but wings a bit droopy. Due a second anti-b dose shortly. Is there anything else I should be doing? Vet didn't know what the problem was specifically, just that it is a respiratory thing.

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hellymelly · 07/07/2013 16:25

no one?

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LaurieFairyCake · 07/07/2013 16:30

I've no idea but I've come in to give you a {{{ hug}}} Smile

If she's really tame can you just bring her in the house and let her peck round the kitchen? Stroke her and talk softly. Mine love spaghetti so you could boil some til it's soft.

hellymelly · 07/07/2013 17:19

Thank you Laurie. She does love spaghetti, I think it is the wormyness! Will go and boil some. She has had mealworms and some grated cheese. She is feeling v thin, but is eating whenever I take her a treat, and they have food out all the time, so eat when they like. She's due her antibiotic when DH gets back from the beach (will need two to get it into her beak I think, the last one was just in her water). I really thought she would be dead or dying this morning, but she is much the same as yesterday.

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mummymeister · 07/07/2013 23:07

sometimes the antibiotics can just prolong the inevitable. you need to decide if she is actually improving or not. if she isn't and she is still on the drugs then go back to your vet. it might be kinder now to let her go if she hasn't improved.

hellymelly · 08/07/2013 16:44

She seems much the same today. Comb dark etc, possibly more energy- she runs out of the house and into the run if she hears me go into the garden. She is eating treats and looks too much "herself" to have her put to sleep just yet, if she was huddled and looked very miserable I would take her straight to the vet, but if she does get worse then I think we would have her PTS. Feel gutted thinking of it though, she really brightens my day, we are all very fond of her.

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LaurieFairyCake · 08/07/2013 20:26

It sounds like she is fighting back - have you considered changing her name to Rocky ? Grin

hellymelly · 09/07/2013 12:42

Haha. She is called Dotty. She is like a terrier, small, clever and tenacious. Much the same today, not liking the heat I think, the run is shady but everywhere is hot.

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hellymelly · 11/07/2013 16:48

Still alive, but no better. Started another different antibiotic today, vet thought it worth a try. She is eating but so skinny. I had her indoors yesterday as it was cooler in here than outside, and today she is in a dog crate in a bit that is shady and cool. She has "respite" chicken remedy in her water.

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hellymelly · 17/07/2013 16:02

Am updating in case it helps anyone else. She is much the same, but seems at her worst in the morning, when she comes out of the house and into the run. We have spoken to the vet again, and she has spoken to a more experienced (with birds) vet. He thinks it is fungal, but sadly not curable, so we will just keep her going until she looks as though her quality of life has gone downhill and then she will have to be pts. Sad. She has been happily pootling about with the others in the garden today though, so hopefully not imminent. I am going to really scrub the hen-house with citricidal (anti fungal) . And we will probably go and buy a new sack of wood shavings just in case the ones we have are carrying fungal spores.

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LaurieFairyCake · 17/07/2013 16:11

So maybe it's from resting all night and once her joints get warmed up she's fine running about?

It sounds like she's happy in herself though.

Good on you keeping her going Smile

SconeInSixtySeconds · 18/07/2013 09:27

Helly, no real advice for you, but to give her treats as much as you think you dare.

I have just nursed one of my young chickens through mycoplasmosis and now it looks like the oldest (and friendliest) has caught it.

My now recovered chicken was spoiled fed scrambled egg with mealworms, some natural yoghurt mixed in. She wolfed it down and it did seem to help. my vet was useless it took about a week.

The tail going down is the worst sign I think, it is a bit of a sign that thy have given up I think. :( :(

hellymelly · 18/07/2013 13:53

Dotty's tail has been down, but then will perk right up again. Today her comb is more red, less dark, and she is pottering about in the garden happily digging for grubs. She is panting, but looks good. The vet thinks the lungs have permanent damage, so it will get her in the end, but while she is reasonably chipper and having good days then there is no reason to pts. She is so underweight that I am concentrating on trying to feed her up. Today is the best she's looked in a while, her house was scrubbed out yesterday, so maybe dust build up etc aggravates her chest?

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SconeInSixtySeconds · 19/07/2013 22:09

How is dotty doing this evening?

hellymelly · 19/07/2013 23:31

Much the same, her comb was so dark it was nearly navy blue when she came out in the morning, but fairly quickly was red, slightly darker than the other hens. She is eating and seems happy. However a fox must have been lying in some long grass in my garden as I let the hens out, went down to my lower garden to potter about, the hens followed me down, and suddenly it must have pounced on one of my two younger (year old) hens.
We lost all our first three hens to a fox four years ago, and so since then have been really vigilant, we only let them roam free if someone is out with them. My garden is a small cottage garden, but areas are wilder than others and the fox must have had enough cover to hide. Amazed it hadn't legged it as soon as I went down though, as I was only about ten feet away, and the foxes here are shyer than city ones. Possibly it had been asleep there, was woken by me, and by chance that was just as a hen went straight in front of it . I am so upset, she was a very pretty little hen. My older dd was sad but ok, however my smaller one was very upset and has gone to bed with a toy spotty chicken. Sad. I suppose we will stick at 3 for now (I also have a cockerel) and get another hen if and when Dotty goes.

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SconeInSixtySeconds · 20/07/2013 08:28

Oh no helly :( so sorry to hear that. Rip poor chicken.

hellymelly · 20/07/2013 23:25

Still can't believe it took her virtually right in front of me- but Dotty has looked good all day today, even though I kept the hens in the run out of fox paranoia.

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