Chicken bald back

[metallica1]

Got the results back from Retfords. The 2 girls have heavy Bacteria in their droppings. E -coli being one. In the last 2 days both the girs have developed water filled abdomens. This points to Bacerial Peritonitis! What treatment will the vet offer and will it just be a tempoary cure? I am very worried about taking Jenny to the vet. She is very nervous and gets very stressed if she is handled. She starts to pant and poo. Also I will be going to a new vets. After the comment my last vet made I will not be going again!! ' You coulds spent money on her but at the end of the day shes ONLY an Ex-Batt!!!'

[metallica1]

GeorgieB That sounds exactly like my Carol who was Pts on New years eve. Same symptoms and my vet said the same about her Abdomen. I did't think that hen keeping was going to be this heart breaking. I seem to spend every waking moment worrying about them all. I know Ex-batts are sickly birds, I just did't expect them to get so sick and die in such horrible ways.

[GeorgieB]

Did Retfords say they think it's bacterical peritonitis or is that what you suspect? Apparantly this is very difficult to successfully treat. Our test results came back similar to yours, with it saying heavy bacteria, but having a lot of bacteria in poo is going to be pretty normal I'd have thought. Anyway, I have lost faith in Retfords after last time and also vets in general when it comes to them treating hens. They just don't know enough about them and most also don't consider them as important as dogs etc. We have spent a fortune in the past on treatments and in the end none of them worked.

I'm afraid with things the way they are at the moment with vets I personally think it ends up actually being worse for the poor birds. Why put them and yourself through the stress of taking them to vets and medicating them when there is nothing they can do to help? You are better to just give them some nice treats and leave them to it. We only take them to the vets now if they are struggling to breathe or a similar emergency situation. I also ask the vet to give her some gas before putting her to sleep (less stressful for her).

[sandyhas3chucks]

it is sad to read your experience with the vet, I have 2 excellent vets I can go to and sometimes just like other pets and people too sadly palliative care is sometimes all that can be given and until post mortem due to so many things having similar symptoms, even specialist Avian vets struggle,

However on more than a dozen occasions my vets and or Retfords HAVE saved the life of various girls with their care and treatment.

[GeorgieB]

In my experience the only time a vet has helped us is with scaly leg mite but even that keeps coming back again about 4 weeks later. Sandy, have any of your hens had peritonitis and did one of the vets ever manage to save her? Their answer to everything seems to be Baytril but this has never helped any of ours.

[metallica1]

The girls went to the new vet sat morning. Although she was not an Avian vet she did know a bit as she has worked with farm animals. The most important thing for me was that she was lovely with the girls. Jenny who hates being picked up seemed more than happy for the vet to weigh her and check her over. Third day of antibiotics and guess what? No runny poo! The girls are more alert and Aggie has been jumping on top of the coop for a better view of the gaden. She hasn't done that for ages. She did say that the treatment is not a cure for Bacterial peritonitis, but it will help with the infection. I know they will not get better from this and the vet said as much, but today my girls are happy and thats all I can hope for. I will try and take each day as it comes.

[Egghead68]

Oh I'm sorry. I hope they continue to enjoy a good quality of life for a good while.

[Plum]

Good news the treatment is working, hope it gives them a good quality of life for as long as possible.