I gave the girls tylan in the water for a full three weeks and Salmon was still wheezing at the end of this. It’s now been a week and a half since I stopped the tylan and Salmon seems no better but no worse.
I worry about the fact that she is still wheezing and I can tell where she is when she is nearby by the sound of her. But she appears fine in every other way. She is doing all the usual chicken things. She runs to the treats, she is eating well, she is pecking and scratching and she is dust bathing. Today I took a couple of photos of her dust bathing.
Salmon having a dust bath
Dust bathing contortions
There is plenty of space but the girls seem to like to dust bath up against the wire. You can see several dust bath holes. I always think it must be rather cold dust bathing at this of year but it doesn’t seem to put them off.
I don’t know what to do about Salmon. I haven’t had this happen before. In the past the girls either got better after tylan or rapidly reached a point where I knew there was no coming back. I have read that untreated myco won’t go away and the bird will die. Yet Salmon looks and behaves like a healthy girl but with a wheeze.
I was thinking of taking her to the vet this week but last time she got very stressed and I am reluctant to put her through that if there is nothing that can be done for her. I think that I will ring the vet and see if I can get a phone call appointment and ask her advice.
That is my new vet of course. I know exactly what my old vet would tell me and I don’t want to have Salmon put to sleep while she still has quality of life. My new vet said that it is all about quality of life and an unhappy bird doesn’t dust bath.
In other news both Marmite and Smoke are broody. I lift them from the nest box three times a day to give them a break and I lift them again at bedtime and put them on the perch in the chicken shed. Marmite has now been broody for two weeks and Smoke has been broody for one week.
Two broody girls together
I said to my husband that they are crazy going broody at this time of the year. He said maybe not as they are sitting cosy in a nest box all day instead of being out in the run in the cold! At least they have each other to keep warm.
Oh well, they will decide when they have had enough, I guess. Ebony is still laying the odd egg but has slowed right down so I think eggs are about to stop altogether any time now. I don’t imagine that Marmite and Smoke will lay again this year either. Time to start buying eggs again which are never as good as our lovely eggs.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I always take along a friend so that it isn’t quite so stressful. She does look good though! xx
If I take her to the vet I will follow your advice and take a friend but at the moment I would rather just talk to the vet and see if there is anything else that can be done. I am afraid that there won’t be anything more that can be done for her though. xx
I wouldn’t take her to the vets at the moment. I can’t think of anything else they could do for her, and it won’t make any difference to the others, so I think I’d just leave her be unless she goes downhill. It may be that she’s become a bit resistant to it now so won’t get better but won’t get any worse either.
I totally agree. I just felt that I should be doing something but I have researched so much over the last few years and I know that there isn’t anything a vet can tell me that I don’t already know. The vet actually said that I probably know more about this than she does. I think that before, they have either got better or worse, so this has surprised me. I think as long as she is doing all the usual chicken things she has quality of life. If she starts looking hunched and miserable then that is the time to consider the next move.
I think that sound sounds like a very sensible approach. Fingers crossed she’ll be OK.
Thank you so much because I question myself all the time if I am doing the best for them not for me and I do always try to keep to what is best for them even when its so hard for me. I have argued with myself if it’s best to let her go although it would break my heart again but then again I see her dust bathing and I think I can’t let her go too soon. If she is still having good times then I should let her for as long as possible. I think I have to trust my instincts that I know my girls and I will know when I have to let them go.
She certaily seem to be fighting it off, she looks good, and acting as though she is ok.
Hope she get better soon.
She does look okay so I keep hoping she will pull through but I keep worrying about her too.
It is a great pity that the medication has not cleared the wheezing but, if she’s well in her day-to-day health and still enjoying doing what chickens do, then I’d just leave her. I’ve lost Jappy, my white Japanese this week – she looked iffy on Monday and by Tuesday lunchtime, I had found her dead in the hen run. Best way for them to go, when it’s not drawn out and taking her to the vet was never an option, as she hated to be picked up – I learnt that lesson from what happened to Dart! May Salmon continue to dust bathe for a long time to come.
So sorry to hear about your Jappy. I agree that it’s the best way for them to go at home when it’s quick as it’s always stressful taking them to the vets. I think that I can only wait and see how it goes with Salmon. I don’t want to lose her but I don’t feel there is anything else I can do for her. I am just keeping my fingers crossed for her.