Sick hen. Help!

Molly41

Oh so sorry. You tried your best x

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Poor little hen.
Poor you OP.
I had hens as a child and loved them dearly as they are so endearing so I know how attached you get to them.
They each have their own little character don't they.
At least she's not suffering,so sorry.

rachbc

sorry to hear -one of mine got sick a few weeks back and it was a horrible time - sill not sure what it was but I know we all wou.d have been bereft if she hadn't pulled thru

Molly41

Just a question but are chickens generally sturdy little creatures? I ask this because a MSE friend has recently got some and it has really made me think again that I would love some. However Im so worried that I would become so attached and be distraught if anything happened?

Mrs_Veg_Plot

I too have been following your story. Sorry that the poor hen did not make it.

pickledtink

Thanks to everyone for the help and kind responses.
Yesterday I was fit for nothing. Felt really dreadful seeing just the 3 of them without her. None of them have ever been ill or off colur in the 3 and a half years so i wasn't prepared.
I want to make sure I have some sort of decent chook med kit ready in future. I can get vitamins/nutri drops and everything locally or online but antibiotics seem to be script only.
I can't afford vet bills. They are extortionate and useless round here anyway.
Does anyone know if or where I can buy some?
As sour crop is infection the antibiotics were really her only hope. Now I know about this I'll be checking for it but need to get the antibiotic in them quickly I realise.

Gigervamp

Hmm, I'm not sure. When we saw the vet yesterday, I asked her what if any of the others start showing the same symptoms, hoping that she'd give us enough Baytril to give to them as well if needed. But she told us to bring them to the surgery and then they'd be given antibiotics after they'd been examined.

I don't mind paying for the Baytril, it's the consultation fee that bumps the cost up. The Baytril and the powder cost £8, but the consultation was £15.

pickledtink

Gigervamp wrote: »

Hmm, I'm not sure. When we saw the vet yesterday, I asked her what if any of the others start showing the same symptoms, hoping that she'd give us enough Baytril to give to them as well if needed. But she told us to bring them to the surgery and then they'd be given antibiotics after they'd been examined.

I don't mind paying for the Baytril, it's the consultation fee that bumps the cost up. The Baytril and the powder cost £8, but the consultation was £15.

Thanks. From what I'm reading Baytril has been banned in the US since 2005 and hen keepers over there are horrified we're still using it so not too sure about that anyway now.
Good news is that I found some clear info on how to treat sour crop without it.
Do the massage thing twice daily to clear the the muck from the crop. Then give them ACV in water and lots of probiotic yoghurt in mash if they are still eating or syringe if not. If the treatment is started as soon as it's spotted they do recover.
I'm sorry our 2 ladies died before finding out about this but at least we know now. It's not that common apparantly so I don't feel 'quite' so bad for not realising sooner.
My other 3 are clearly upset. The 4 of them have lived together since day one and they are clearly disturbed. Nobody has laid a single egg since either....

Gigervamp

I didn't realise that about Baytril.

I'm pretty sure hens do make *friendships*. The first hen we lost, we'd got with another from the same clutch. (Don't know what was wrong with her, she was right as rain one day but the next morning she was all floppy and she died by lunchtime.) They always used to hang around together, so when she died, we took her outside and put her on a cushion on the ground so her sister could see her. Tabitha gave her a few pecks, then seemed to realise that Agatha was dead, so then she sat down on the cushion next to her for a while. Still chokes me up thinking about that.