How Quickly Does Albendazole Work?

[jenniferrose]

I wonder if anyone can help with my poorly little chicken?

 

On Tuesday Georgina was fine - tearing around the garden, munching grapes and generally being great, but yesterday when I got home from work she had really bad gurgly breathing, and was really quite pathetic - falling asleep on her feet and had no energy at all.

 

I read quite a few other people have had similar problems and it was a chest infection, so we took her to the vet and got some antibiotics (Baytril), but I was really not impressed with the vet. He didn't understand she was our pet, and kept suggesting things like "if you want to know what's wrong I could put her down and do an autopsy", and telling us not to eat her while she was on antibiotics!! He just wasn't that bothered - he said he shouldn't really be giving her antibiotics and not to bother trying anything else if they didn't work.

 

So I have 2 questions:

 

Is there anything else we can do for her at home - we think it could possibly just be a cold gone wrong, as she has been a bit sniffly since she arrived 3 weeks ago?

 

And - does anyone know a good chicken vet in Southampton? I'm sure the one we saw is fantastic for standard pets, but even said himself he doesn't know much about chickens!

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jen

[Daphne]

unfortunately some vets just seem to be like this - they're not trained/inclined to deal with small backyard flocks; I'd be inclined to find a more sympathetic one. I think there's a list of vets on this site somewhere or you could try looking in Practical Poultry magazine. Having said all this, chickens can be very hard to diagnose, so its not particularly easy for any vet.

 

Make sure you give her the meds as instructed, make sure the house/bedding is dry and ventilated. Keep an eye on her eating and drinking and tempt her with whatever she likes if she starts being a bit feeble at eating - some people have reported that going onto Baytril seems to depress the hen's appetite; we have found that pellets in water (or Weetabix in water if very bad) can be more paletable if the appetite is down.

 

Really just TLC is the thing. Some people use ACV and/or citridal in the water as well as a preventative, but personally if a hen is on meds I don't like to put to many other things into her system as well. Its quite common for birds to be a bit sniffly after moving, so thats not unusual. Just keep an eye on her.

[rsaxton]

Hi Jen, I know your post was a long time ago but we found it whilst trying to find out what was wrong with our chicken. We bought the chickens from a farm in Fordingbridge and after struggling finding a vet we gave them a call. They've been brilliant. They're trying to nurse her back to health for us and gave us lots of advice about the best way to try and keep them healthy.

 

Regards

Rob

[Plum]

Vet's bedside manner isn't great but it's the right treatment. Keep it going for 10 days though if he'll let you to make sure you nail the infection. Fingers crossed she responds. High chance of others getting it so listen out for any more rattly chickens and get them some antibiotics as well if they show signs.

Hope she picks up quick.

[Chucky Mama]

Hi Jen, I know your post was a long time ago but we found it whilst trying to find out what was wrong with our chicken. We bought the chickens from a farm in Fordingbridge and after struggling finding a vet we gave them a call. They've been brilliant. They're trying to nurse her back to health for us and gave us lots of advice about the best way to try and keep them healthy.

 

Regards

Rob

 

That's great Rob to hear that they were happy to help look after a sick chicken that came from them. I was hearing just this weekend about how some farms don't want to know if a hen they sold dies or becomes ill. This opening post was sooo long ago I don't know how relevant this topic is now so it is going to be locked.