freya_chick Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 So Minnie, one of our two year old gingernut rangers has been poorly now for a couple of weeks. She's had swollen eyes and a foamy discharge from them - that's sent her perception all to pot and she struggles to pinpoint things with her beak. The feathers on her back at the base of her neck are also sort of gummed up and don't look good. She also smelled like a wet dog. I took her to the vet last week and he gave us a general antibiotic for £35. He explained that without doing a swab we were treating blindly but the swab was an extra £50 and we can't really afford that - so fingers crossed for the antibiotics and off we went. A week on and she's not better. DH said that when he did her medicine this morning a big lump of yellowy cheese-type stuff came out of her eye. Thing is, I really cannot afford £50 for the swab and another £35 for more antibiotics - is there anything cheaper that I can try? In herself, she's not 100% obviously - she spends her time sat by herself quite a lot but if you take the mealworms out she still rushes over to get her share and the vet said it was a good sign that she was feisty when being given her medicine so I think she's still got fight left in her. Has anyone got any ideas for anything else we can try? And if we really can't find the next £85, what else do we do? Just wait and see what happens? Thanks Freya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolly Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 So sorry to hear your girl is poorly. I'm no expert but it sounds like it could be mycoplasma from your description of the foamy, swollen eye. We had a girl with this a while ago and she was treated successfully by the vet with Tylan - I'm a bit surprised your vet didn't consider this - do they have an avian specialist you could see or perhaps consider another practice who have poultry expertise? The wet dog smell and gummed up feathers sound like a case of Northern Fowl Mite which were the first symptoms I noticed with our girl - part the feathers and have a look, you may see tiny grey mites and eggs stuck to the base of the feathers. We managed to get rid of this with Ivomec Eprinex (only available from a vet and not licenced for poultry - its actually aimed at cattle). Its a particularly difficult mite to get rid of but if you use the search box on the forum, you'll find more detailed info which may help. Both of the above need treating asap and a good poultry vet should be able to help her. As I said earlier, I'm certainly no expert and speak only from personal experience but hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will come along soon! Good luck and keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Myco is easy to catch but fortunately easy to treat - it can be quite contageous though so you'll either need to quarantine the ill hen or keep an eye on the others. A week of Tylan should sort it, that plus the consultation usually costs about £20-£25. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Sounds like you need to bypass the swab. Which antibiotics were used the first time around? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freya_chick Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 Hi Thanks for your replies everyone. She's got baytril at the minute - she's virtually finished her course now. I did check that the vets dealt with poultry and they assured me that they did but it's beginning to sound like he didn't have a clue and I've paid a fortune for something that was never going to help I'll investigate the mite thing - I presumed that and the eyes were related as they all started at about the same time - or it seemed like they did! Freya xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Northern fowl mites hit hardest when a chook is low so the two things are probably connected but unconnected if you see what I mean... for an over the counter treatment try Johnsons Anti-mite Extra spray which I have recently discovered and works well if you apply a few treatments a few days apart. Eprinex is good but is harder to get hold of (I have it but actually found the spray to be really good) Neither are licenced for use on poultry With the Myco I would ask for some Tylan instead of Baytril but thats only my personal recommendation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
