Roo attacked: comb gnawed off. treatment help needed.

[oliv]

hey
so force feeding your rooster, hold him in you lap facing away and get something solid but easy to digest, scrambled or boiled egg sometimes soaked dog bickies are good, kind of wedge him under your left arm and have a blob of food ready in right, prize the beak open with the right hand and push food to back of beak(if you have to use two ppl, i to hold and prize the other to insert food., not down imto the breathing apperatus but as far back as you can. the baytril should start to kick in between 1 and 2 days. if you absolutley have to it is possible to crop feed a chicken, using a big maybe 20cc syringe giving him 5 ml at a time. and a crop feeding attachment(from most vets of pet supply stores) or a softish plastic pipe attached very securely to the end of same syringe, have a look for crop feeders on the internet, you should also find some good quality intsructions.. (crop feeding can be very usefull but the consequences of getting it wrong are immediate aspiration / death. but a chicken is a pretty big bird and if you feel confident after reading instructions give it a try, once again a preservative free dog biscuit soaked in warm water and blended to the thickest consistency that will flow through syringe.
roosters are strange creatures, whilst they can be very strong a lot of it is bluff, as well as being very injured, after nearly being eaten he is also depressed, keep on treating, if he doesnt give up, he will come round and either way you will have done the best you can.
good luck

 

[Snozzle]

Maybe try some really yummy stuff, fresh corn, squash, my guys went nuts over strawberries this morning, raisins are an alltime favorite and live mealworms, maybe if he can't smell his food he may instinctivly go after something wiggly.

 

[Birde]

He probably can't.see well. That's the problem I had. This is what I did. Fist off I buy the big containers of meal worm. I just stuck her whole head & chest in the container. She couldn't see but she knew food was there. Sometimes she would peck at air. OMG I can't imagine force feeding a chicken. Just remember no salt. It will kill it. Maybe try sugar water as a supplement.

 

[7L Farm]

I don't really no what to tell you to feed him. But I do know that my last Roo never seemed to eat. I know that roos don't have to eat as much as hens they don't make eggs.Hope he will be fine. I know not much help.

 

[WasabiChicki]

I lost a Leghorn Roo because the hens kicked him out into the cold after I spent 2 weeks treating his wounds from an attack:
(I'm an herbalist so these are just the things I did as a natural medicine type person & I was successful in treating his shock & injury)
Dr. Bach's Rescue Remedy (Flower Essence) is great for treating shock & trauma in ppl & animals... 3-5 drops in water dish daily
I also used goldenseal & echinacea tincture in the water to avoid infection... 5-10 drops in water dish daily
(*When I say in water dish, I'm thinking at least 2 quarts of water & changed daily)

I kept the comb clean w/ hydrogen peroxide & applied a salve I made out of comfrey, goldenseal, plantain, chickweed, self-heal & lavender (extracted in olive oil & mixed with bees wax). I saw improvement in less than one week & my guy was completely back to normal in two weeks, but when I tried to put him back in w/ the girls, they kicked him out of the coop & he slept outside the one night I was away from home... of course it also snowed for the first time that year & my husband called me in the am to say we lost him. I'm sure he froze.

I fed him scrambled eggs w/ shell crushed into it & yogurt (he was eating on his own, I hope yours is soon!)

He slept in a large dog kennel under a covered porch & got to free range during the day tho he wouldn't even try it for the first 4 days.
My roo's comb was split to the scalp & only one point torn off so it sounds like your boy has it worse... I'm so sorry... its so scary to see them go thru that!
You're welcome to private message me if your interested in any more info on herbal/natural treatment... most ppl seem to use the vet & antibiotics, I prefer to save that stuff as a last resort. GOOD LUCK!
**I wonder if anyone knows a pain killer for chickens..? U would think he's gotta be hurting! Again, I'm so sorry you both are going thru this!

 

[mysweetpeeps]

Oh, poor guy. I feel so bad for him.

They need to eat in order to heal... if you still can't get him to eat, this is what I do to force feed them by hand:

Take the feed and add water, 1:1.5, feed:water. After the water is absorbed, stir.
If they are not drinking, add more water so that the consistency is on the loose side but still stays together.
If they are drinking, add more water so that it is like play-doo which is easier give and not as messy.

1. Put newspaper on the floor or go on the grass.
2. Kneel down and put the bird between your legs, facing away from you. Put bowl of food on floor.
3. Take the feed in your right hand - for wet mix -between your index finger and middle finger; roll play-doo type to the size of a large pea.
4. Put hand near chick's head.
5. With left hand, pull slightly on the wattles until the mouth opens.
6. Put food in beak - more like wiping it into the beak. You have to work QUICKLY with "pull" and "put".
7. Give them a break for a 1/2 minute after a few swipes.
8. Be sure to burp them frequently - they seem to swallow a lot of air. Put your thumb on top of the crop & the others on the bottom, massage it a little, and GENTLY squeeze... you only want air to come up, not food.

It does get easier and faster. Once he starts eating on his own, he may find the wet food more appetizing.

Hope that helps! Keep us posted as to how he is doing!

 

[Birde]

I'm sorry but I totally disagree with force feeding a bird. You could force fluid into the lungs which can be fatal. An eye dropper at the tip of the beak placing a drop on the beak is the way to get a bird to drink from an eye dropper. I have to wonder how successful the methods I've read about force feeding would be but when I think off it I just shake my head in disbelief. :/

 

[oliv]

hi birde,
Im a wildlife carer with wildlife rescue australia, i specialise in birds, and yes you are right the drop on the end of beak with an eye dropper is preferable but not particularly good with soilds and when you force feed anything there is always a risk of aspiration but truthfully, sometimes its the only way to keep the animal alive untll it comes round and starts eating by its self. you learn that each species has its own trick and in the twenty years i have been doing this i have only lost one bird to aspiration and in that case the circumstances were unusual. a regular sized chicken in comparsison to say a honey eater is or even a kookaburra (they intentionally regurgitate all the food you've just fed them if they're stressed, they also bite) is easy. as long as the animal is reasonably alert and your consistancy is right ie, not too runny/ obect too small, is soft and clings together (eg, scrambled or boiled egg, mash with the right amount of water (as above), mealies, bits of beef heart (for kookaburra's even pasta would be reasonably easy and relitively risk free for force feeding. indeed in the case of most chickens if you can get something tastey inside their beak even a half dead chicken will eat it..
the steps written by mysweetpeeps are very appropriate for a chicken, though be very carefull of expunging air from crop as like she/he said that is risky.. if you think they are swallowing too much air sometimes is best just to come back later.

wishes/
olive.