My Crop Tube Feeding Journey With My Bird (Pics For Visuals- VERY detailed Post)

[casportpony]

I have used 18 french on small birds, OEGB's, 500 gram peachicks and poults. I also sometimes use a size 30 on medium sized birds, but that can be a little tight, lol. 30 is a good size to use if you're using crumbles mixed with water, but it is too big for many birds, 18 does work best with baby bird food. FWIW, I use a size 8 on baby pigeons and 18 or 30 on everything else.

I'll post some pictures of the different birds with a size 18 inserted.

If any of you have many different sized birds, just buy 1 each of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 and find out what works best for you.

The tubes I use are the red and orange catheters.

About the syringes... I also have a hard time making the 60's last and go through tons of them. For some strange reason the 35's last longer, but no clue why.

- Kathy

 

[kuntrygirl]

Update: (with past documented weights for comparison)

Initital Weight
Scale #1 - 3lbs 9.0 ounces
Scale #2 - 68.3 ounces
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Weight and pics of poop after 2 days of crop tube feeding.
Weights
Scale #1 - 4lbs 1.5 ounces
Scale #2 - 69.3 ounes
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Weight Gain
Scale # 1 - 0.25 ounces
Scale # 2 - 0.8 ounces
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7/16/2013 Weigh In
Scale #1 - 4lbs 1.9 ounces
Scale #2 - 75.25 ounces

PAST Weight Gain
Scale # 1 - 0.04 lbs
Scale # 2 - 5.95 ounces

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RECENT UPDATES ARE LISTED BELOW:
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7/17/2013 Weigh In
Scale #1 - 4lbs 6.2 ounces
Scale #2 - 83.2 ounces

Weight Gain from Last Weigh In: 0.43 ounces/7.95 ounces (Numbers from 2 scales)
Weight Gain from Initial Weigh In: 1lb .02 ounces OR 13.9 ounces. This gain is over the course of 7 days from first noticing my bird was not acting itself.

Poop Pic From 7-17-2013;
Looks Firmer. Looking Good.

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7-18-2013 - This time, I noticed that he was eating, so I purposely didn't crop feed so that I could get an idea of how much he was eating and to find out how much would be weigh (gain or loss) due to me NOT crop feeding. He dropped a little because I did not crop feed. Wanted to confirm that crop feeding his helping him eat and gain weight.
Scale #1 - 4lbs 3.7 ounces
Scale #2 - 75.2 ounces

Weight Loss From Last Weight in: 0.25 ounces - Because I purposely did not crop feed, my bird lost 0.25 ounces.

Poop does not look as firm as it did the day before.

7-19-2013 - Did not crop feed again on purpose for comparison again.
Scale #1 - 4lbs 2.7 ounces
Scale #2 - 75.3 ounces

Poop is looking a little firmer than 7-18-2013.

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7-20-2013 - Did not crop feed again on purpose for comparison again.
Scale #1 - 4lbs 3.9 ounces
Scale #2 - 76.3 ounces

Scale #1 - Weight Gain of 0.12 ounces
Scale #2 - Weight Gain of 1.0 ounces
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From Beginning To Present, he has gained an average weight of 8 ounces (if my calculations are correct). So many numbers. :/
If he would have lost these same 8 ounces or more because I didn't crop feed him, he would have been almost 2 lbs. So it is evident that crop tube feeding is working for my boy and it will work for others.

I will continue to weigh and will continue to crop tube feed so that he can gain more weight. I currently have him eating Flockraiser 20% protein (in addition to the Bird Feed Formula) but I think I will purchase Game Bird Feed 28% protein to up the protein for quicker weight gain. I think that he can benefit more with a higher protein feed (crumble). I must add that I changed the feed from pellets to crumble, so that he would have no problem eating his feed. I have decided to take a poop sample to the vet to see if they can tell me anything.

He had a surprising milestone on last night and I was so proud of him. For 2 weeks, he had been sleeping on the ground. When I started crop feeding him, I could tell that he was feeling better because he had more energy and was walking and trotting around. He had been looking at the roost and had made on many attempts the squatting motion/position as if he wanted to jump on the roost but I don't think that he had enough energy. Well, last night, I went out to check on him and he had already jumped on the roost and was roosting. e All I could do was smile and Thank God that he accomplished what he had been trying to do all week. To me, that is an indication that he is getting better.

I will continue to update every couple days to keep everyone posted. We are still not out of the woods yet, but I am doing everything to get him better.

 

[realsis]

I'm so glad he's getting better! I've been following your progress. Great job by the way

 

[kuntrygirl]

I doubt the tubing you have will work plus I think 18 french is going to be too big for an average chicken. I've been using a 12 french red rubber catheter for a 5 lb hen and I would think you would need an 8 french for a bantam.

This is basically what I was using, although I got mine from work: http://www.kvsupply.com/puppy-feeding-tube-french-12


Then I have another general question, is there any brand of syringe that works better? I have been using a monoject catheter tip syringe, and after one feeding with the Kaytee Exact food, the syringe gets really hard to plunge! I'm a vet tech that works with horses and a horse owner, so I'm pretty familiar with theses syringes and can usually make them last quite a while for oral meds for horses, but I did not have good luck using them to feed with. I do plan on just ordering an entire box of syringes so I'm fully prepared next go round and can be less stingy with them.

Kuntrygirl have you noticed a difference between the two brand you have shown in the pictures?

I would also like to say that my hen developed watery poop upon recovering from a raccoon attack and the consistency improved after only a day and a half of tubing feeding a more adequate amount of food. (I had only been feeding about 60 mls at a time and sometimes doing subcutaneous fluids instead of feeding.)

Yes, I started having the same problem with mine as well. On one of the, the little stopper came off as I was drawing up the feed and it's still in there. I will have to throw that one away. Looks like I have to stock up on a lot more.

Glad to hear about your hen.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I'm so glad he's getting better! I've been following your progress. Great job by the way

Thank you. I'm so happy to see him getting so much better and walking and trotting around like he use to do.

 

[kuntrygirl]

UPDATE:

Decided to weigh my bird on yesterday and was going to crop feed. I brought him in and he poop like he normally does. The poo was a little runny and darker in color. I weighed him and his weight was still good. It was 76.6 ounces = 4.7875 lbs. So, he didn't lose any weight from me not crop feeding. I noticed that he sounded "raspy" and kept opening his mouth and stretching his neck. To me that is in an indication of gapeworm. I had already did Safeguard paste for 3 days. I took the poo sample and bagged it up and dropped it off at the vet this morning. I called to make sure that they received it but the vet is in surgery. I will await the results.

 

[casportpony]

I doubt he has gapeworms, sounds more like a respiratory infection, fungal or bacterial, which is one of the risks one takes after treating with Baytril. Baytril kills everything, so it very possible that once you stopped the baytril, he got either a fungal or bacterial infection. Please, talk to your vet about how to proceed. Have you read the Baytril page on the poultry pedia site?

-Kathy

 

[kuntrygirl]

I doubt he has gapeworms, sounds more like a respiratory infection, fungal or bacterial, which is one of the risks one takes after treating with Baytril. Baytril kills everything, so it very possible that once you stopped the baytril, he got either a fungal or bacterial infection. Please, talk to your vet about how to proceed. Have you read the Baytril page on the poultry pedia site?

-Kathy

I will read it now. I'll see what the vet says. I can't even imagine what else it could be.

 

[Betsy57]

I will read it now. I'll see what the vet says. I can't even imagine what else it could be.

How 'bout an update?

 

[mg15]

Hi,
Here is the link to my story with tube feeding https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...es-i-have-baytril-but-not-sure-what-to-use/30

Tube feeding saved my chicken. She would have died from starvation. She could not eat enough. I used the Exact Bird Formula too. It was the best.
The tubing is NOT HARD, anybody can do it.

mg