Sulmet or Orbax for sick pullet..Don't want to loose another. Photos

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The Accidental Coop

The Accidental Coop

In the Brooder
11 Years
Jul 30, 2008
95
6
41
Central East Coast of Florida
Pullet is squirting out her poo every time is see her go. She has done this consistently for about a week. This is a photo.



She is one of two Buff Orpingtons we bought as chicks in October. She has always been the smaller of the two.

She is lethargic today and holding her tail down when she lays down. She seems to be depressed.

I have Sulmet and a bottle of Oral Suspension Orbax 30mg/ml (only antibiotic in the house...is it safe for chickens?).

Any thoughts on which Rx I should try first. I'm thinking the Sulmet just incase it is coccidiosis.

An older hen, Millie, died of egg yolk peritonitis this morning. Classic symptoms.

We don't want to loose another....

'Hospital' is set up, disinfected, and waiting for the new patient.

Thank you!
 
I wouldn't give an antibiotic. If she's sick, you don't know what is ailing her. It's possibly bacterial but more than likely viral, fungal, parasitic, nutritional or environmental.
The sulmet would probably be a good interim measure.
I would get some probiotics in her. Some plain whole fat yogurt or better yet, something formulated cage birds or for chickens like Gro2Max.
 
A lethargic chickens always worries me. If she was mine I would give her some Tylan. It helps loose stools and I would worm her. I would give her Tylan 50 1cc orally for big bird and 1/2 cc orally for bantam. Then I would worm her with safegaurd liquid for goats. I like to use that alot it works well and you can give it to 1 bird at a time. I give big chicken 1 cc orally and bantam 1/2 cc orally. I add tylan 50 injectable to the water at a rate of 3cc per gallon. I would boil me some egg too and add some oatmeal to it I mash it with potatoe masher shell and all and add oatmeal and tetratcycline and mix together and feed that to them to increase their proteint and oatmeal gives them fiber to help with loose stools. The tetracycline powder on it will help to make sure I get her bug covered. If I want to be real aggressive with it I will give Tylan 50 1cc with 2cc of penicillin mixed together in syringe. I give a big chicken 1 cc of that under skin on breast and a bantam 1/2 cc under skin on breast instead of Tylan orally. Tylan works miracles with respiratory illnesses and it also covers quite a few diarrheas and infections in the abdomen. Lethargic birds can die pretty quick if you don't doctor them fast.
I would feel her crop and see if she has food in it if she is empty you can take some bread and break it up pour milk over it and open her mouth and give her pieces of the bread towards back of mouth for her to swallow until you get her full. I would make sure she eats and drinks. I even take a syringe and give them liquids slow by mouth and I will even tube feed them with tube if I think they need it.
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?t=7933
I have learned Tylan 50 is a wonderful medication to give to your poultry. Depending on how cold it is there a sick chickens tends to get hypothermia so I either give them light over them with 100w bulb or heat lamp or bring them in the house in a box so they are warm. Good luck and let us know how she does.
 
Your best bet would be to take a poop sample to a vet and have them look at it microscopically and tell you if it's parasites, bacterial or fungal.

Your Orbax is like Baytril, I think, so it's probably a very good antibiotic to have, but I can't find any dosing info on it for birds.

This link talks about it being used in a bird, but it doesn't mention dose:
http://www.justanswer.com/bird-vet/6h65k-bird-named-oliver-around-one-year-old.html

-Kathy
 
Hi Wayne & Kim,

Thank you so much for your response.

I wormed her Nov. 26th with Wazine.

The pullet is in the 'hospital' on our back porch....85 degrees yesterday. Cooler the next few days (cool for Florida). I will bring her in to keep her warm.

Her crop was not empty yesterday evening...Felt like about two tablespoons full. I'll check again this morning after she has a chance to eat.

Yesterday afternoon she ate small amounts of yogurt, oats, her feed and drank water. She is not acutely lethargic just not herself. She was lagging behind the others and slow to get treats.

I will head to a feed store today and try to pick up Tylan 50. I presume that is where I find it?
 
casportpony said:
Your best bet would be to take a poop sample to a vet and have them look at it microscopically and tell you if it's parasites, bacterial or fungal.

Your Orbax is like Baytril, I think, so it's probably a very good antibiotic to have, but I can't find any dosing info on it for birds.

This link talks about it being used in a bird, but it doesn't mention dose:
http://www.justanswer.com/bird-vet/6h65k-bird-named-oliver-around-one-year-old.html

-Kathy
Click to expand...
Thank you Kathy...The Orbax was prescribed for out cat. I too found nothing about dosing birds.
 
Tylan is always good to have for, but if she has an e. Coli or fungal infection, it won't help that. If she were mine I would worm her with a massive dose of Safeguard (Wazine only gets roundworms) and probably start her on the Orbax (if it hasn't expired) since it's probably the better drug to use if she has a bacterial infection Due to it's similarity to Baytril I think you can give it at the same rate as cats and dogs, which is 2.5mg/kg - 7.5mg/kg once a day. Given her age, I might also start her on Corid for coccidiosis.

You'll find Safeguard or Panacur (either will work), liquid or paste in the goat, cattle and horse section of most feedstores.











Again, if she were mine, I would have her inside and she would get weighed daily. If not drinking/eating or losing weight she would get tube fed, period. Giving the proper amount of fluids with a syringe is way to risky and stressful to a bird.

Crop feeding threads:

Crop feeding videos

These are using a crop needle, not a plastic tube.




This one uses a tube like I use

French
Gauge​
Diameter
(mm)​
Diameter
(inches)​
3 1 0.039
4 1.33 0.053
5 1.67 0.066
6 2 0.079
7 2.3 0.092
8 2.7 0.105
9 3 0.118
10 3.3 0.131
11 3.7 0.144
12 4 0.158
13 4.3 0.170
14 4.7 0.184
15 5 0.197
16 5.3 0.210
17 5.7 0.223
18 6 0.236
19 6.3 0.249
20 6.7 0.263
22 7.3 0.288
24 8 0.315
26 8.7 0.341
28 9.3 0.367
30 10 0.393
32 10.7 0.419
34 11.3 0.445




​


-Kathy
 
Last edited:
FWIW I tend to be very aggressive when I treat... If you want to do something more conservative you could try just worming with Safeguard and treat for coccidiosis.

The Corid powder dose is 1.5 teaspoons ger gallon and the liquid is 2 teaspoons per gallon. You find Corid in the cattle section of some feedstores. The Safeguard dose my vets told me to use is 50mg/kg, which is .5ml per 2.2 pounds.

-Kathy
 
I am glad you had food in her crop. If a chicken has food in the crop I used that to tell me how sick they are. If totally empty then they are real sick and don't feel like eating. If they have some food then they are not quite so sick they will eat. A chicken who has no food in their crop is not only sick but in danger of being dehydrated and low blood sugar from not eating. Sounds like you are getting her to get better. Good luck and let us know how she does.
 

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