Unsecure chicken perches

[gongladosh]

Our top hen, Kiki hasn't laid since late last year - we were hoping that she'd start soon, but in the last week in particular she's not looked so well. For the last few weeks she's had a dirty bum (and I've had to clean it and then worm all of the hens with Flub).

 

We noticed on Wednesday that she was struggling a bit - not eating, drinking LOTS and with very wet poos, more liquid than water and it didn't smell too nice either.

 

By Friday she was no better - wing propping her up periodically when climbing up and down things in the garden and tail down. Still drinking LOADS. She also looked extremely tired - as she's been very sore, she'd clearly had little or no sleep in the last day or two.

 

We're lucky enough to have a vet at the end of our street that's an avian expert so we popped along on Saturday. Kiki's a particularly sweet little hen and she trusts us completely - she made no struggle at all when we popped her into a box.

 

He noticed the dirty bum and checked her underside which was sore and swollen. The next thing he did was take her temperature which he described as 'nearly off the scale'. Fortunately his diagnosis was a gut infection - we were fearing worse. Kiki was well-behaved (but was unimpressed as the vet examined the sore bits!) and was so tired that she nodded off as I held her while the vet examined her.

 

When we got back, we cooled her down with some cold(ish) water (the comb and feet are good places to douse with wet cloths when they have a temperature).

 

Kiki's now on Baytril for the week with an additional sachet of 'good bacteria' powder.

 

We're at the end of day two of treatment and things seem to be improving. Her tail has picked up and she's eating now although I've had to cut off a whole section of matted pooey feathers (she's still not pooing properly yet). Her walking has gone from 'tender' to a little more assured.

 

Here's hoping she has a speedy recovery!

 

The reason I write this incidentally is just to reassure people that while lots of hen illnesses can look similar (Kiki's illness certainly worried us!), it's not always an upsetting outcome, hopefully someone with a hen with similar symptoms may find this useful.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Guest

[Henslaved]

Sorry to hear that Kiki is ill , but glad to hear she is on the mend , and how lucky are you that you have an avian vet at the end of your street .

 

Very useful post .

 

Let us know how she gets on.

[Plum]

Thanks for posting and glad she's picking up. Well done for sorting her out.

[coco]

I had a hen with a gut infection a few weeks ago. She wasn't eating or drinking and was very hunched. After a metacam injection and a week of Baytril she is back to normal. Glad your girl is feeling better.

[gongladosh]

I thought I'd post a quick Kiki update...

 

She's still not well yet but appears to be recovering slowly. Every day I seem to notice a slight improvement, just little signs of her getting back to her old self.

 

She's now able to bend down to peck rather than having to crouch.

She's a bit more interactive

She's not guzzling gallons of water as of today

She's started to want to go back with the other girls in the cube rather than her Eglu.

 

...but she's still not pooing properly (wet and smelly) and she's lost weight as she's not eating much.

 

I've booked her in at the vet on Friday for more antibiotics and another checkup,

[Chucky Mama]

How is she doing?

[gongladosh]

Hi - cheers for asking!

 

She's still with us fortunately. She was at the vet yesterday - he removed a quantity of clear 'gloopy' liquid from her stomach for analysis - he'd have taken more but apparently she didn't enjoy the process and it would also have taken valuable protein out of her (given that she's lost weight with her illness). Apparently it was just sloshing around in her stomach.

 

So, Kiki's now on anti-inflamatories, antibiotics and a diuretic (to hopefully remove some of the liquid). She was not impressed with me at all when I picked her up from the vet yesterday...

 

By the looks of it, she had a comfortable night and seemed a fair bit happier today - in recent days she's been propping herself up in the egg box of the eglu for comfort reasons, but last night looked more like her old self.

 

The next thing to do is wait for results of the analysis of the sample he took. The lab he's using will try to culture it - in a way, a bug is the preferable option as that can most likely be treated. The other possible prognosis is a tumour - and if that's the case, there's not a lot we can do, and we'll have to monitor Kiki until her quality of life falls. The interesting thing here is that between last week and this week, the liquid has built up quickly - not something I as a layman would expect that quickly from a tumour.

 

My guess is that she did have an infection and the antibiotics have sorted it - but there may be a secondary infection or issue. If it's an infection, then we need to keep an eye on her and see if the new treatment regime helps.

 

I took in a printout of the posting about the Suprelorin implant. He mentioned that it's interesting that that hormone would be used, it's a male hormone and apparently it isn't licensed for chickens; in fact, he mentioned that in days gone by similar implants were placed in the necks of table birds to enhance growth - when culling the bird, the implant was chopped off with the head.

 

Here's hoping for a happy outcome though, she's such a sweet little thing. We get the results back before the end of the week, I'll update when I get them.

[gongladosh]

Good news - Kiki's tests have come back from the lab - they show an infection as first suspected by the vet.

 

She goes back to the vet tonight to change antibiotics as it appears that this infection has a habit of resisting Baytril.

 

The new regime of drugs has made a big difference to her so far - tail back up, head up (I'd not noticed how absent her head being up and alert was) and Kiki into everything again - even pooing normally and eating now.

 

The only thing we need to fix is that she still won't dustbathe with the others, so she's obviously not totally comfortable - the new antibiotics should get rid of the rest of the fluid and sort out the infection.

[Henslaved]

That is good news

[sparkysmum]

This is good news indeed. When I read your first post she sounded very poorly indeed & it's great that you have an avian vet. This makes all the difference. Hope she makes a full recovery. Alli xx

[chicken bark]

I will keep my fingers crossed that this change of antibiotics does the trick. Glad she is trying so hard to recover.

[gongladosh]

It looks like Kiki's stomach has filled up again with fluid so we'll need to get back to the vet to get her drained (probs on Thurs) so she's struggling with balance a little. She also hadn't eaten too much today, but when I held some food at head height, she ate like a hen possessed, so her appetite is there, it's probably just too tricky for her to bend down to eat, so we'll have to sort that tomorrow.

 

She doesn't seem to have a temperature but is drinking a fair bit again.

 

The bit I can't understand is that the lab tests came back with an infection last week on the fluid that was drained (related to the bacteria that causes acne!!). We've had her treated and it's cured her poo problem - she's now doing normal (non-evil) poo which is either normal or splatty (which doesn't surprise me since she's on diuretics to get rid of the liquid).

 

Something's causing the fluid to come back, but what's surprising me is that the symptoms don't really match the obvious candidate, sterile peritonitis.

 

Apart from that, Kiki's acting like nothing's wrong - her tail's up, she's chatty, she's involved with things etc.

I just want her fixed!

[gongladosh]

Kiki's been filling up with liquid again. She's fine with everything apart from mobility - it was restricting her ability to eat and move quickly, so we took her to the vet yesterday. He drained 2/3 of a coke can's worth (250ml or so) of liquid from her. Apparently unlike last time, Kiki took it in her stride. She was a lot happier afterwards, but must have been a bit tender as she slept standing last night.

 

Basically, any infection has now been sorted - it's now sterile peritonitis - not great but at least we MAY be able to help her.

 

We've got the hormone implant on order now, so next time she's due in to be drained again (either 1 week or 2 from now), she'll have the implant fitted at the same time. Really hope it works!

Edited April 8, 2011 by Guest

[Henslaved]

Oh no, poor Kiki . At least you got rid of the infection . Really hope the implant works.

Let us know how she gets on.

[chicken bark]

Keeping my fingers crossed for Kiki. You are doing a brilliant job caring for her.

[gongladosh]

Cheers! By the time we get the implant fitted we'll have spent £300 on her - it's a shame we don't have 'hen insurance'!! The things you do for hens....

 

On an amusing note though - since she's being given special treatment (ie balls of porridge filled with medicine), all of the other hens have started responding to Kiki's name - presumably they think it means 'food' now!

Edited April 11, 2011 by Guest

[oneyolktoanother]

that was like one of ours the bill was over 300 but like i told my family there worth it, there face was so shocked glad she is picking up hope evrything goes well for you and your hen

[miller30]

Hi im glad your girl is on the mend i have an old girl henrietta who has had sterile egg peritonitus for about 15 months now the last time i took her to the vets he wanted to put her to sleep as he said there was nothing he could do for her but i managed to get her drained and she still feels up with fluid but it dosent seem to effect her quality of life at the mo she still is top hen and goes about her daily business just abit slower im glad i decided to ignore my vets advice as she has had another 15 months of a freeranging happy life leanne

[gongladosh]

Unfortunately, after holding on for several days, Kiki took a turn for the worse yesterday and today she's barely able to move - hunched up, tail down, can't eat, drink and is very quiet. The other hens know what's coming next, and unfortunately I do too as we lost our other initial Omlet hen (Kent) to septic peritonitis.

 

We've booked an appointment for the vet at 5:40 (earliest we could get) tonight to have her PTS. We're gutted.

Really don't want to have her PTS, but I've seen this before and I want to save Kiki the suffering.

 

[Jools]

Sorry to hear that - I lost a Silver Sussex bantam to it last week

[Henslaved]

Oh no . I am so sorry, but you have done more than your best for Kiki. No one likes to see their pet suffer, and it is heartbreaking to make that decision, but best for Kiki.

Sending hugs.

[Tweety]

That is sad news, but you have done everything you could for her and I'm sure you are right to end her suffering.

[Minnie&Moose]

Very sad news

[Plum]

Brave decision. So sorry. x

[gongladosh]

Sadly Kiki was PTS at 6:45 tonight - it was very peaceful.

I spent a good hour with her after work, and she enjoyed the sun and a lot of stroking.

 

Here's Kiki ('The Keek') and Kent from last year when they spent an afternoon helping us dig up some potatoes:

 

 

We'll miss her following us into the house on a morning and hoovering up crumbs. We'll also miss the noise she made when she found some nice food...

 

RIP Kiki.