[blossom]

Hi Folks, this is my first time on the A&VG site, could do with some help as
one of my lovely girls constantly twitches her head.  She had gape worm about a month ago.  I gave her Flubenvet, the gapeing stopped but the twitching continued.  Took her to the Vets he diagnosed a cold and put her on antibiotics for a week, but she's still twitching.  When I pick her up she feels a bit thin, but she's eating and laying well, but is not the bossy outgoing girl she used to be.  Any Ideas, xxx Blossom

[Aunt Sally]

Does she have any discharge from her nostrils, eyes or ears ?

Have you checked her for lice and mites and the accomodation for mites ?

Are her poos normal ?

Did the antibiotics improve her condition ?

[blossom]

Hi Aunt Sally, thanks for getting back to me, it must be fate or something because my poorly hens name is Aunt Sally, I checked her eyes and nostrils which are as clear as a bell, have looked for mites on her, and had a good look inside and out of the coop and all is ok.  Her poo's are normal, so I seem to have drawn a blank unless I need a new pair of glasses. Where do I go from here???

[blossom]

By the way, the antibiotics didn’t improve her condition.

[Aunt Sally]

:shock: Aunt Sally is stumped over Aunt Sally's condition  

We have loads of chook keepers here who will be along to try to help you  

[MontyTom]

considered ear mites?

[Aunt Sally]

That would be a good bet Monty  :!:

[GrannieAnnie]

How old is Aunt Sally?  And you say she is still eating well?  Only our older ex battery girls get the head twitching when they are getting ready to expire.  But when they do, they don't eat much and they just stand around, even when there's corn about!

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I don't know a lot about chook illnesses.  Munty should be here soon, he may know better than me.

I'm sorry she isn't well, she should be fighting fit with a name like that!!!!    

[muntjac]

id plump the ear mites one . also she may have reacted badly to the antibiotics in the first place i doubt very much she had a cold .......... lame excuse from a vet who doesnt know what the hell they are looking at . treat her by looking in her ears for mites if you see them use ear mite treatment for dogs .bought off the shelf in pet shops etc .antibacterial stuff as well cant remember the name of it .much cheaper than the stuff the vets sells ,being its the same and they charge £15 a visit and the meds ..... usually 10 times the cost . give her some cod liver oil in her feed  3 drops to a meal of soft moistened feed this will boost her vitamin levels . also let her have   dandelion leaves , ( laxative ) lastly check the bedding you are using to make sure its not to dusty .ears are moist inside and they root around in it they can get mucky lug  

[blossom]

Thank you my beauties for your response, Sally is 9 months old, so just a baby really, I had a look in her ears and couldn't see anything, but I will check again, however, the other day I found a poo that was full of small whiteish/yellow worms, but i couldn't tell which one of my 4 girls had deposited it, so the following morning I checked all of them and they were all clear, I thought if a hen had worms it would show up in all droppings!!!

I will have to keep checking until I find out which one has the problem, but I should think it would be Sally, as the other girls are really healthy and robust, should I give her Flubenvet again or would that cause her problems, as it's only been two weeks since the last dose finished.

I will give her som cod liver oil, and dandelions in the meantime.

Cheers Blossom

[muntjac]

do em all ........  

[jack russell]

grannie wrote And you say she is still eating well?  Only our older ex battery girls get the head twitching when they are getting ready to expire.  But when they do, they don't eat much and they just stand around, even when there's corn about!

Hi grannie do you just let them stand around untill they drop or do you dispatch them yourself when they get like this.

cheers

jr

[Beth]

Hi

I'm not sure of this will help but my chicken twitched her head a lot when she was unwell. It seemed to be when I offered her food and water and it was almost like she was shaking her head!

Anyway, she's fine now so hopefully yours is nothing to worry about,

Good luck

ps What you said about going to work - I feel the same!

[GrannieAnnie]

I don't like just dispatching them Jack when it doesn't seem as it they are in pain, but I leave the final decision to the OH, who is the slaughterman.  I hate killing things myself.