Infection or virus?

[StellaP]

Sorry that you are having so many problems with them. Fowl pox is a virus, and it doesn’t respond to antibiotics. Strep is present on the skin. Amoxicillin is usually given for 7 days. If the problem keeps on, it may be viral. Are you seeing any with yellow lesions or patches inside the beak and throat? That could be wet pox, a much more serious case of fowl pox. Supportive care, helping them to eat and drink is the most you can do. Can you try to keep the mosquitoes away from the flock with a spray or screens to keep it from spreading to more?

Thank you so much for the reply, one has dry pox, no respiratory symptoms, but she has been the most sick, sleeping a lot, one eye permanently closed and not eating, the other doesn’t have pox but has awful respiratory issues.
I can’t see any lesions in the mouth or beak.
The funny thing is we have pretty much no mosquito here.
I am assist feeding every few hours through the day and they are in a dog cage in my kitchen
So as a last resort as they were so sick I restarted the penicillin last night (they have just had the third dose), after the second dose they were massively improved, alert, eating, moving about and limited respiratory noise, so I’m continuing with it, I know it’s not usual to do such a long course, but the change is amazing.

 

[StellaP]

I'm very sorry.
If there is an underlying respiratory virus involved (not sure anything has been really ruled out??) it can weaken their immune systems and make them more susceptible to all kinds of things. Some of those virus's are chronic and symptoms recur during times of stress, they are not cured, just symptoms treated. If you do end up losing one, I would recommend you have it necropsied. That may be the best way to determine all that may be going on, and may point to the best treatment options for the rest of the flock. Not sure what resources for that are available where you are. I would hesitate to recommend trying other medications without knowing more, it could just cause you more problems.

Thank you, yes, I think it’s viral and I think there are probably multiple things going on, nothing has been ruled out, and in terms of necropsy, I have no idea what is available here in Portugal (only moved here two years ago).
As restarting the amoxicillin clavanete has made a big difference in 24 hours I’m going to continue with it until they seem more well.
I’m also nebulising the two in the house and two other sick point of lay who are showing the same symptoms, I’m using F10 which is an avian disinfectant similar to oxine, I had been using an anti fungal, but I think the F10 is probably going to cover a broader base of bacteria and fungus.

 

[coach723]

I'm glad the amoxicillin is helping. It's usually well tolerated, I have on occasion given higher doses and not had an issue. If it seems to be helping, then that is what I would do.

 

[Eggcessive]

Amoxicillin usually is not that effective for respiratory infections, but if they have improved with it I would continue it.

 

[Aoife123]

Hi everyone I have a hen that's had salpingitis for about 2 months now! She's had noraclav twice and an antibiotic called metrobactin. No luck with either she may have had cocci aswell in the middle of this as there was bloodbin her droppings. My avian vet just gave up and said its probably kidney failure without any evidence to support her claim. Do I went and go a fecal done myself and the results cam back as heavy growth of escherichia coli and heavy growth of alpha haemolytic streptococcus.

My little hen is hanging on by a thread at this stage and sobim starting treatment with baytril. An avian vet told me that baytril will be good to treat the ecoli bug not the best for the streptococcus. He won't give me anymore information because he hadn't seen this hen for me before. And he's over an hour away. I had just my local farm vet send away the sample and they have no experience with hens and they usually just default to bayril for everything.

I know a sensitivity test would be ideal but somehow the testing place claims that we don't really do that. Which is stupid also they won't discuss anything with me and wants the vet to call them to discuss further.

I'm wondering if anyone knows a better antibiotic to treat streptococcus? The avian vet that treated the hen the first 3 times is closed today but she may be able to give me a better antibiotic but as she has diagnosed this hen with kidney failure wrongly already I'm not full of confidence.

Vets in Ireland are fairly poor. Even the avian vets that charge top dollar! They are quick to rite of a hen because it just a hen. But she my little pet I'd like to give her the best chance at recovery

 

[coach723]

Sorry you are dealing with this, many vets do not take chickens seriously at all, getting testing is often difficult or impossible. With strep it is generally recommended that a sensitivity test be done to determine which medication might be most effective. Since you will be starting Baytril, you also need to make sure that if you use another medication, there will be no interactions, and you need to monitor droppings for any signs of possibly affecting the kidneys, in which case dosing might need to be adjusted. Many kidney issues won't be obvious without testing, sometimes droppings will look 'wrong'. I will attach a link below from Merck Veterinary on streptococcus infections in poultry, might help.
A couple of medications that are sometimes used are erythromycin and chlortetracycline, depending on the type. It also says that a chronic strep infection can be the cause of salpingitis. I have yet to save a bird with salpingitis, I've lost a fair amount of them. I've tried many antibiotics, many combinations, including Baytril. I may have bought them some time, but all of mine have eventually succumbed. I've had some live a fairly long time with it, and others pass quickly, it's hard to predict. It's often pretty advanced before we become aware that something is going on, they hide it really, really well. The more advanced it is, the less likely treatment will help. No reason not to try if you want to, but be aware that it's really stubborn and often doesn't respond well to treatment.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/streptococcosis/streptococcosis-in-poultry

 

[Aoife123]

Sorry you are dealing with this, many vets do not take chickens seriously at all, getting testing is often difficult or impossible. With strep it is generally recommended that a sensitivity test be done to determine which medication might be most effective. Since you will be starting Baytril, you also need to make sure that if you use another medication, there will be no interactions, and you need to monitor droppings for any signs of possibly affecting the kidneys, in which case dosing might need to be adjusted. Many kidney issues won't be obvious without testing, sometimes droppings will look 'wrong'. I will attach a link below from Merck Veterinary on streptococcus infections in poultry, might help.
A couple of medications that are sometimes used are erythromycin and chlortetracycline, depending on the type. It also says that a chronic strep infection can be the cause of salpingitis. I have yet to save a bird with salpingitis, I've lost a fair amount of them. I've tried many antibiotics, many combinations, including Baytril. I may have bought them some time, but all of mine have eventually succumbed. I've had some live a fairly long time with it, and others pass quickly, it's hard to predict. It's often pretty advanced before we become aware that something is going on, they hide it really, really well. The more advanced it is, the less likely treatment will help. No reason not to try if you want to, but be aware that it's really stubborn and often doesn't respond well to treatment.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/streptococcosis/streptococcosis-in-poultry

So I pushed to talk to the vet again and I told him that the avian vet thinks baytril will work well on ecoli but not so well on streptococcus. He then went an checked to see what could be used for both and he came back to me finding nothing that would treat both. He said said that he will give the baytril for the ecoli and I can't remember the name of the other he said its a powder specifically for poultry he said as far as he can tell there are no drug reactions between the two but said it will likely be very hard on the hen.

At this stage she really has nothing to lose. If I don't try well never know. If I wait a week to get a sensitivity done she could be dead. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. She's a lovely little hen i know they don't live forever but I'd like to give her more time if I can.

The vet had to check and see if he can ever order in the powder for the strep they don't have it cause they don't have use gor it and he's not sure if their suppliers even have it.

I will start with the bayrtil anyway and get some probiotics into her apparently they are hood at suppressing the strep so no harm in trying

 

[coach723]

No harm in trying. Some tetracyclines for birds come in powder form, so that may be it. I would certainly go with vet advice when you can get it. Best of luck with her. I know how hard it is when they are sick, and how it feels to just want to help and do what is possible for them. Hope the meds help.