Go team "Tube Feeding!" - Updated 12/29/2019

[casportpony]

I'm glad you answered so quickly. I was wracking my head to try to convert 40 grams into a form of volume... My brain just doesn't work that way I'm afraid. Even with Google I couldn't figure it out. LOL. Thank you so much for your help.
I don't know how much her crop will hold. I guess I'll just go up slowly, a couple of ml. at a time and watch her carefully.

What I do is convert pounds to grams, so she is about 800 grams. Most veterinary literature says to feed 3% of their weight per feeding, so the math is this:
800 x 0.03 = 24 ml

Total crop volume is said to be 5%, so you should never try more than 5%
800 x 0.05 = 40 ml

Does that help?

-Kathy

 

[pee-ridge chick]

Well, I got to the 40 grams for 5‰ of her weight, but that's as far as I could go. I didn't know that a millilitre actually weighs a gram.

Does my plan of slowly increasing the amount sound like the way to go? Is there anything I should look for that would tell me she's in danger of aspirating? I certainly want to prevent that.

 

[pee-ridge chick]

I want thank you again for all your help. I am so glad I found this thread, my girl has more energy already.

The new food came today, so I mixed it 25% new to 75% old. Same way I do when I change my dog's food, hopefully it will be a smooth transition. Thanks again!

 

[casportpony]

Those interested in tube feeding really need to check out this link. Normally it's only viewable to vets, vet techs etc, but for some reason today it's viewable to the public. Truly the best tube feeding article and video I have seen to date!

http://lafeber.com/vet/tube-feeding-birds/#Contraindications_and_potential_complications

-Kathy

 

[Chickendrama]

Kathy all your info on here has been so helpful. Just started tube feeding a chicken today that won't open her eyes and therefore won't eat or drink. It was super easy to do myself with all your graphics and info.

By the way, saw on here that feeding catheter tubes were on Jeffers....I live chatted with them today and they said the diameter of the tube sold alone and with the 60 cc syringe is about .25 inches, so it should be a French 19 by your helpful measurement table! Close enough for my chicken and I could order some other supplies and get free shipping!

Thanks again!

 

[casportpony]

Kathy all your info on here has been so helpful. Just started tube feeding a chicken today that won't open her eyes and therefore won't eat or drink. It was super easy to do myself with all your graphics and info.

By the way, saw on here that feeding catheter tubes were on Jeffers....I live chatted with them today and they said the diameter of the tube sold alone and with the 60 cc syringe is about .25 inches, so it should be a French 19 by your helpful measurement table! Close enough for my chicken and I could order some other supplies and get free shipping!

Thanks again!

Welcome to BYC!

So glad your found the info useful. Tubing tip... start with just pedialyte or gatorade for the first 6 hours, then do food.

-Kathy

 

[Chickendrama]

Kathy all your info on here has been so helpful. Just started tube feeding a chicken today that won't open her eyes and therefore won't eat or drink. It was super easy to do myself with all your graphics and info.

By the way, saw on here that feeding catheter tubes were on Jeffers....I live chatted with them today and they said the diameter of the tube sold alone and with the 60 cc syringe is about .25 inches, so it should be a French 19 by your helpful measurement table! Close enough for my chicken and I could order some other supplies and get free shipping!

Thanks again!

UPDATE!!!! Jeffers feeding tube is actually French 14 size. Just arrived in mail. Online chat was misinformed

 

[casportpony]

Quote: It's okay, a 14 will still work with Kaytee.

-Kathy

 

[sbhkma]

Question.. when tube feeding, once you've given them fluids, when you start the food, you still need to do fluids I assume...so how to you combine them? Alternate feedings or is the fluid used to mix the food sufficient?

 

[casportpony]

It's part art, part science... I shoot for no less than 10% of their body weight per day in fluids.