How Quickly Does Albendazole Work?

[GeorgieB]

Hi, I don't suppose anyone knows of a site like the NHS direct but for hens, where you put in the symptoms and it comes up with the most likely cause/s? This would be really useful and I was thinking of doing one myself with the help of my fella who does websites. Maybe we should call it the 'National Hen Health Service'!?

 

Any comments on this would be greatly appreciated. If this kind of thing doesn't already exist and anyone wants to help please let me know. Even just taking photos/short video clips of poorly hens with different problems/illnesses would be useful. If anyone knows of a retired vet/vet with time on their hands who would like to contribute in any way that would be brilliant.

[Budgies]

Hi Georgie B. It sounds like a good idea, I'm certainly not aware of any websites like it in existence.

 

There is a book called the CHicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow that is set out in this way. So you look up, say "limping" and get directed to various illnesses that may cause limping.

 

The only difficulty I can foresee really is that so many different ailments can cause the same or similar symptoms. So a chicken with dirty vent feathers might have eaten too much protein, might have become too hot, might need worming, might have an infection, and so we go on! I guess it would take a lot of cross-referencing of pages, but it would still be a great resource.

 

On the plus side, where the symptoms were obviously related to something quite serious, people could get an instantaneous idea of whether to get to a vet, instead of waiting for others on a forum to respond.

 

Sorry I don't know of any retired vets that might want to help.

[GeorgieB]

Hi Budgies,

 

Thanks for your response. The book you mentioned sounds good.

 

I know what you mean about there being a lot of similar symptoms for different ailments but at least people can try and narrow it down a little and gives them something to go on. Especially for people who don't use forums for one reason or another.

 

I looked through about 200 different diseases etc when looking for an answer to Scampy's problem (as the first vet didn't pick up on the build up of fluid) and narrowed it down to about 10.

 

This was obviously very time consuming but with the website people would put the main symptom which could be like you said 'dirty bum'. It would then come up with the most likely cause at the top, for example 'worms' followed by 'too much protein' and so on.

 

This way people can work through the list making sure they are doing things right and not have to wait for people to respond on here or waste time and money going to vets, if they don't have to.

 

So where it says 'dirty bum' it would then take you to other options (like the NHS does) where it says 'eating well', 'not eating well', 'eating normally'. If you clicked on 'not eating well' it would take you down the route of infection as being the most probable cause perhaps or 'eating well' to being worms and so on.

 

I'm not pretending I know a lot cos I clearly don't but as long as I stick to facts and not put in what I personally think then it should be helpful. It could also have photos and video clips of hens with certain ailments so people can actually see how they look as well.

 

We have a short video of Scampy with Ascites so that's a start. I'd recommend if other people can do the same it could be really helpful to everyone, especially those new to keeping hens. It's just knowing whether people think this is a good idea and they would use a resource like this as it would take a lot of time to set up.

[The Dogmother]

I'm not sure that it would be worth all the trouble that would be needed to get it together - there are already excellent resources out there in t'internet and this forum is a good place to start - you can post a question, and be guaranteed a flood of experienced answers almost instantly!