Diary of a Crossbeak: Support for Special Needs Chickens and their Keepers

[brittfish]

Sorry to not post been busy with work and a different hen of ours ended up with egg yolk peritonitis so haven't had a chance to get on here. Cinnamon is doing 80% better. Not eating quite as much as she normally would but is eating pretty well and acting normal. She is taking a nap on my shoulder right now. We're keeping our fingers crossed she continues to do well. I work at a veterinary hospital and spoke with the internal medicine doctor that does our ultrasounds and she is willing to try to do an ultrasound on her although she has never done a bird before. Not certain why she does this. We are going to keep her beak trimmed and her feathers clean and hope for the best. Thinking maybe sometimes she just hurts her neck although she would still fly up onto my arm while she was inappetant. She acted interested in food and would scoop some food up but not do the jerking back and forth motion she has to to get the food down her throat. Thanks for being there for our little hen. So nice to have someone that understands the love of a cross beak.

@brittfish
 how is she doing?

 

[artsyrobin]

Sorry to not post been busy with work and a different hen of ours ended up with egg yolk peritonitis so haven't had a chance to get on here. Cinnamon is doing 80% better. Not eating quite as much as she normally would but is eating pretty well and acting normal. She is taking a nap on my shoulder right now. We're keeping our fingers crossed she continues to do well. I work at a veterinary hospital and spoke with the internal medicine doctor that does our ultrasounds and she is willing to try to do an ultrasound on her although she has never done a bird before. Not certain why she does this. We are going to keep her beak trimmed and her feathers clean and hope for the best. Thinking maybe sometimes she just hurts her neck although she would still fly up onto my arm while she was inappetant. She acted interested in food and would scoop some food up but not do the jerking back and forth motion she has to to get the food down her throat. Thanks for being there for our little hen. So nice to have someone that understands the love of a cross beak.
Quote: sending a pm, in case you need to get with me during the byc transistion

 

[brittfish]

Well Cinnamon is acting off again. We were convinced she had gotten clostridium perfringens from her food trays that are made of galvanized steel so they get gross after a while of having wet mash in them all of the time. I had forgot to pick up new ones and then she started acting off and her poop looked like what we could find for the c. Perfringens. So we put her on a week of amoxicillin and did some tube feeding. She has been drinking water usually more than she normally would right along. We also have her on a probiotic and give her a dose of nutri-drench every 2-3 days. We did a fecal culture which actually came back negative so that was confusing. She has been acting cold but otherwise acting fairly normal. She has been sitting on a heating pad which she likes but is eating very little. She has been off for a couple weeks now so I'm not sure if she lost weight and therefore can't keep her body temp up. Yesterday she ate barely anything until 8 pm after we warmed her up on the heating pad and sat with her for a while. Her crop was full before she went to bed. We are at a loss with her. She I has been enjoying being out in the sun as long as our schedule allows and chases bugs and stretches out. She hasn't scratched in the dirt with what we call a scratchy bath in a while. Any ideas or suggestions would be great. We are thinking of bringing her to a referral hospital maybe they could help diagnose her.. not many vets experienced with these kinds of things.

 

[FrankHomestead]

I will start by saying that I wasn't sure where this thread should go, and chose this sub-forum because I wanted to make a thread for chickens with genetic issues and I felt it did not belong in Emergencies, Diseases, Injuries, and Cures since it was none of those things.

Any sort of special needs chicken is more than welcome here. I would like for this thread to become a wealth of information for owners of these animals, a line of support for those not sure what to do, and a place to share pictures and be proud of our special chooks. They may not be the prettiest birds but they more than make up for it in personality.

Let me begin by introducing my feathery dog, Bird.



Bird began her life at a hatchery and it was sheer luck that I found her at our feed store. She had made it past the cull squad with a severe crossbeak and a crater where her eye should have been. I saw her, felt intense pity for her, and offered to buy her. They said if I bought a normal one, I could have her for free. I agreed and went home with two black stars who would eventually be named Sally Sweet and Bird.





While Sally grew up normally, recognizing that she was, in fact, a chicken who liked to do chicken things, Bird has none of these notions. Bird likes to consider herself people. She doesn't like being outside, doesn't like other chickens, and is pretty convinced she needs to live in the house with the other people. She follows me around and if I am going inside, she ninjas her way in with more deftness than my cats.

Having both Bird and her direct hatchmate has given me an interesting look at what Bird would have been, and is a way to see just how far behind she is. Her deformity, in the beginning, only made it hard for her to eat, but now it is very close to impossible. I tube feed her these days, and I want to be able to teach others how easy it is to do this.

Bird is shockingly smart as well. For a chicken with a slightly-smooshed-in-the-egg skull, she is insanely bright. This is a picture of her after she snuck onto the porch with the singular intention of jumping into the food bag and cutting out the middle man. I found her like this, gleefully flinging food around in the bag and pecking haphazardly into its depths.



Her personality and antics have made her by far my favorite chicken, and I love her very much. She is unique, talkative, smart, hilarious, and so worth all the work I put into taking care of her- and honestly it is not that much.

So if you are on the fence about whether or not to cull your chicken with a deformity, we would be more than happy to help you out here.

Awww bless her heart, and yours!

 

[artsyrobin]

Well Cinnamon is acting off again. We were convinced she had gotten clostridium perfringens from her food trays that are made of galvanized steel so they get gross after a while of having wet mash in them all of the time. I had forgot to pick up new ones and then she started acting off and her poop looked like what we could find for the c. Perfringens. So we put her on a week of amoxicillin and did some tube feeding. She has been drinking water usually more than she normally would right along. We also have her on a probiotic and give her a dose of nutri-drench every 2-3 days. We did a fecal culture which actually came back negative so that was confusing. She has been acting cold but otherwise acting fairly normal. She has been sitting on a heating pad which she likes but is eating very little. She has been off for a couple weeks now so I'm not sure if she lost weight and therefore can't keep her body temp up. Yesterday she ate barely anything until 8 pm after we warmed her up on the heating pad and sat with her for a while. Her crop was full before she went to bed. We are at a loss with her. She I has been enjoying being out in the sun as long as our schedule allows and chases bugs and stretches out. She hasn't scratched in the dirt with what we call a scratchy bath in a while. Any ideas or suggestions would be great. We are thinking of bringing her to a referral hospital maybe they could help diagnose her.. not many vets experienced with these kinds of things.

what kind of fecals have you had done? Have you checked for fungal? Pic of poop? I have a crossbeak i battled similar for 4 months, i put her on medpet 4 in 1 and that was her turning point- might get that and start her on it 1/4 teaspoon per quart water- it treats protoaoza's, besides cocci there are other protozoa that can affect them, other thought is fungal, antibiotics won't help either of these conditions- here is a link for the 4 in 1 - until you get that can you get her to eat wet feed with cayenne pepper mixed in? that can help if you have a protozoal thing going on- i also have the crossbeak group on facebook that maybe someone can help you figuring it out - here is medpet

http://www.jedds.com/shop/4-in-1-powder-100-g-medpet/

and the crossbeak group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/587948771309216/?ref=bookmarks

 

[brittfish]

what kind of fecals have you had done? Have you checked for fungal? Pic of poop? I have a crossbeak i battled similar for 4 months, i put her on medpet 4 in 1 and that was her turning point- might get that and start her on it 1/4 teaspoon per quart water- it treats protoaoza's, besides cocci there are other protozoa that can affect them, other thought is fungal, antibiotics won't help either of these conditions- here is a link for the 4 in 1 - until you get that can you get her to eat wet feed with cayenne pepper mixed in? that can help if you have a protozoal thing going on- i also have the crossbeak group on facebook that maybe someone can help you figuring it out - here is medpet

http://www.jedds.com/shop/4-in-1-powder-100-g-medpet/

and the crossbeak group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/587948771309216/?ref=bookmarks

I did a fecal ova and parasites with Giardia which was negative so that was for coccidia also. I also did a fecal enteric pathogen culture with clostridium perfringes and difficile and was all negative. The culture was negative for Salmonella, Shigella, Plesiomonas, Edwardsiella, Aeromonas or campylobactor.

I mixed up canned pumpkin and baby food (sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, corn), cornmeal and oatmeal cereal and she seemed very excited about it and ate for a long time. I tried mixing a hard boiled egg in but she wasn't into it. Was thinking some protein would be good but at this point I'm happy with whatever she eats. I'd like to add something that might make her gain some weight back quicker any ideas? I'll try mixing some baby bird formula powder in with her food see if she will go for that.

I don't have Facebook but thank you so much for your suggestions. We are so worried about our poor girl. I will get some pictures of her poop tomorrow to send.

 

[artsyrobin]

ok, also look over this on fungal,
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/chicken-fungal-infections
maybe that could be, metal toxicity is another thought, test for metal poisoning- as far as calories, you can get this and give her some about a 1/2 tsp a day @chickenzoo has recommended this

 

[brittfish]

Update on Cinnamon: She had us very worried Saturday was listless and weak but in doing research on the fungal infection we realized the corn I had been giving her was probably making matters worse so I mixed together canned pumpkin, a jar of baby food either sweet potato or squash, a jar of beef baby food, applesauce, baby rice or oatmeal cereal and water and she has been eating very eagerly. We gave her raw apple cider vinegar mixed with water with a syringe. Also adding a poultry vitamin with electolytes and probiotic to her water as well as giving a probiotic paste. She is much more peppy although weak still in that she can't hop up onto the couch like she usually can. She's so skinny. I'm ordering nutrical and nystatin for her. She seems more like herself and talking to us so I'm taking that as a good sign. I wish we hadn't given her antibiotics but her poop looked so much like c. Perfringens. Should've waited until the culture results came back but as they say... hindsight is 20/20.

I work at a vet and hill's prescription diet makes a recovery diet called A/D. I was thinking of giving her that. Do you think it's okay if food I give her has chicken in it? I've been staying away from it as I don't know if it could be harmful to her.

Her poop is crazy looking. It's very orange from the pumpkin and pretty loose but I figure she is pretty much only eating fiber so not expecting it to be more formed than a pile but a lot of the time it is what is pictured.

We're crossing our fingers for our girl she's a tough little thing and we want to do all we can for her she's our family.

Thanks!

 

[artsyrobin]

Thanks for the update- praying for your girl, alot of chicken keeping is detective work, i don't know on the food, but look at the label, keep an eye on salt content, i think high protein is a good idea when you have a crossbeak, the more calories you can get in them the better

 

[MESOFRUFFEH]

I know I am a little late to the party on this old post, but i was hoping someone could give me some advice on helping a crossbeak to eat on it's own? I am doing wet mash in a deep bowl. I had to start tube feeding him because he was literally wasting away. I am currently tubing him in the morning, syringe feeding him when I get home from work, and tubing again before bed. I do not mind having a needy chicken, but I would like him to be somewhat self sufficient if possible. Are there some crossbeaks that have it so bad that you just HAVE to tube them? Or is there hope he may figure it out one day? I feel like his beak needs to be trimmed very badly, I feel like that would help him but I am scared of cutting it too short, or otherwise making things harder for him.

Here are some pictures of his beak, I feel like his top is way too long it is starting to curl under and it's like it impedes his ability to eat? I need suggestions, this is my first time dealing with this! I just want this poor lil fella to have a happy healthy life and his beak is making it hard!