Wobbly Chicken

[Bephlam]

Hmm...by now I'm sure most of us are familiar with the tale of 'dozy Dora'....the araucana chick we hatched this year.

Well, she's been great for months....but last week she started sleeping outside in that freezing weather. Unfortunately I was working, etc so couldn't really do much in the way of treating her apart from ensuring she was indoors each night. I've since brought her in and checked her over, she's lost a lot of weight and has lost her balance. She staggers around and seems to fall over quite easily. I instantly thought Marek's...she's 5 months, and small, etc. However, having had her in the house now for a few days I am convinced it's not this. She is in no way paralysed...still flapping her wings, etc. She did have bad diarrhoea, but now that she's eating more indoors this seems to have cleared up. She is scratching her ears now, and although they look and smell fine, I'm pretty sure I should treat her for an inner ear infection. I have baytril to hand, etc...but cannot remember the oral dose. I'm guessing 15mg/kg twice daily, but not sure if that's for inner ear infections.

Question - do you think this is possibly an inner ear infection (or does anyone have any other ideas)? and does anyone know how much baytril she should be getting daily....?

Thanks,

Me x

[Nicos]

Yup- I'll check on my Lily post!!..hang on a tick!...

[Nicos]

Dose 7.5mg per day for 10 days. Simples!...oops- that was for a 680g bird!
...but rmember I ended up giving them to her for several weeks!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...s-up-lily.html

[Bephlam]

Smashing...did Lily get better?

I missed that entire thread - sorry!

I have no idea what's up with Dora, she doesn't have any of the symptoms Lily had. She's not eating much, staggering around like a drunk bird. She's lively, but sitting really odd on her legs...I'll upload a pic and show you. I think it's an ear infection because she's doesn't seem to be getting any worse...I worried it was Marek's, but she's not got any visible tumours or eye problems...and she is able to walk around.

Here's hoping it is an ear infection. She's been in the house since Hogmany, and I really don't want to keep her separate too long, or it'll be a hassle putting her back in the flock - however, if I leave her out she doesn't eat because she can't get out or in her high coup. So, it's a case of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Pic 1: How she sits.

Pic 2: How she stands..until you prod her, then she walks quite normally, albeit a little wobbly.

[Nicos]

[QUOTE=Bephlam;586992]Smashing...did Lily get better?

QUOTE]

nope!

..and nope- Lily didn't behave like that.

..no harm in trying with the antibiotics is there!

[RichmondHens]

Bephlam, she looks very poorly. Have you considered a cerebral hernia? We had a cock with one a couple of years back. No cure except culling I'm afraid. The symptoms are a progressive imbalance - the bird behaves like it is drunk, with wobbling and sometimes falling completely over when attempting to feed/drink. Can be confused with an inner ear infection but if antibiotics don't work then chances are it's not an infection. Sorry. Our cock was also lively, even attempting to crow and, in the early stages, tread his women (although he kept falling off them, which was what initially alerted me to something not quite right). It can be a hereditary problem, or just a one-off caused by a knock to the head. By all means try antibiotic treatment if you think it is an ear infection, but please don't let her suffer if there is no improvement.

[Bramble-Poultry]

we were chatting to a 'poots breeder the other day and they say that sometimes (especially in inbred flocks where the genepool isnt very big) the birds go off their legs - especially around moulting times. They have found that the addition of some extra vitamin B12 can help and gets them back on their feet quicker.

The easiest way to do this is to either crumble some brewers yeast tablets over the corn or feed, or alternativly put some marmite on a bit of toast.

This may or may not help in this case as the photo (particularily the one of the feet) would seem to suggest a developmental issue. Again this could be donw to lack of vitamins. Before you go all out and start dosing everything with vitamins, it may have been down to the parent birds not passing enough on into the shell and the chick developing issues when it was developing in the shell.

if it is feeding, try the extra vitamins for a few days and see if it improves. If not, then i would suggest a trip to the vet for diagnosis incase its communicable

[Bephlam]

The pics make her look awful...she does stand perfectly well and walk about fine. She was VERY bad day 1...falling over all the time, but now the dog tries to knock her down by nudging her, and she can keep herself up. She's looking bored in her we cage though, so I'm going to try a few days of baytril...and then if she doesn't improve I'll put her out her misery. I don't want her to suffer at all, but I truly don't believe she is at the moment...she's brighter than she was day 1...a definitely improvement...and I'll I've done is fed her up and put some warm olive oil in her ears.

She's never been well...that's the problem...she was ALWAYS a poorly chick, but she always pulls through. I'll give her another few days then see where we're at.

I'm worried sick about her though, because she's a definite favourite!!

[Bephlam]

Oh and Richmond...yes, I see where you're coming from. I have sort of established in my own mind that it may not be something I can fix this time. However, I haven't tried everything I can yet...I've tried some warm oil to loosen any wax, etc...I've fed her up...and now I'm going to give her a few days of antibiotics whilst looking for improvement. If none of these things work then I will have her culled, but I've tried so hard for so many months to pull her through, I'm not going to give up right now.

I won't allow her to suffer though, that's not my style. She's walking around the hall just now, having a heat in front of the fire...she'll be popped back in to her cage shortly for bedtime...and we'll see how she is in the morning. :/

[Bramble-Poultry]

sounds like she is giving it a go. i know if i was adopting a commercial view, it wouldnt have got this far, but from a human point of view, if the animal doesnt appear to be suffering and is trying to give life a go, then let her.

i have a pekin cockerel in a basket by teh fire at the moment as he has got a chill from the snow. all the others put themselves to bed by he stayed out. It would appear he was being bullied by the others to the point that he would rather take the decision to stop out knowing that it would finish him off than to go in the house with them.

Brought him inside, got him warmed up and some food down - which he is gobbling like no tomorrow. He wants to give it a go so i will happily find alternative house for him somewhere on the holding as he seems a lot happoer than when he was with the others!

[di]

Aaaaww Bobbie,sorry she's still not good.
Sure you won't be surprised at my lack of knowledge but just wanted to send you hugs and hope you find something to get her better...aren't favourites just a total pain?They always seem to either be the one that gets poorly or the one that starts to crow. {{{{x}}}}

[Flummery]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with her. I hope she's strong enough to pull through.

[Nicos]

How is Dora today???

[Bephlam]

Oh, she's a wee bit better today...but I'm convinced it's her ears now. Her right ear is now gunky and smelly...she's scratching it like mad, and when I rub it she'd shutting her wee eyes and wincing. So, I'm starting her on the baytril...(when it arrives, over the weekend) and I've used some earex tonight, just to soften things up a bit. I've tempted her with some salt/sugar water to keep her levels up...and she's not keen to eat, but tucking in to pre/pro biotic yoghurt, so that's good. Less of the funny sitting today...so, I'm hoping after being on the anti biotics for a couple of days she'll pick up a bit. I hope so...feel so sorry for her stuck in her wee cage all day!

[frias]

Fingers crossed. I use baytril quite often on one of my old girls and it works wonders. I get it from the vet. About £9 for a small pot but there's about 4 courses at 1ml a day for 7 days. Vet also supplies syringes as 1ml is hard to measure and dose.