- Dec 21, 2014
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We have a sick hen and are trying to find ways to help her. We raised her from a chick and she is about 8 months old. Her breed is a light brahma.
About 2 weeks ago, we noticed that her eyes were closed and she was lethargic. This lasted about a day and a half before we took her inside to try and warm her up and hope to get her back to normal. Since she did not improve by the next day, we took her to the vet, who tube fed her about 25 ccs of critical care formula and gave her a course of Baytril antibiotics.
We have been keeping her inside, in a big crate, bedded with shavings (same as her coop). We are tube feeding her at home twice a day for 2 weeks. We ran out of "critical care" and the vet recommended that we switch to "exact" formula. She gets about 35 CCs twice a day.
The improvements we see are that she is opening her eyes more often now and is a bit more energetic - enough to take a few steps around the room after we feed her. Overall, she is more alert than she was two weeks ago. The bad side is that she is still weak, has lost some more weight, shows no interest in eating or drinking on her own, and her head nods to the side when you put her down on her own outside of the crate. It sort of looks like she is drifting off to sleep and then catching herself - that kind of a head nod, but to the side and down. Also, when he put her down, she curls one foot as if she is looking for the roost. When she finds none, she straightens that foot out and stands normally. Also, she has lost some weight - not unexpected since we're just giving her the liquid diet.
We tried putting her outside today, since it was relatively warm and sunny, but after 5 minutes of doing nothing but standing there, we brought her back in.
The other hens she was housed with all are fine so far.
So, at this point, we are really looking for ideas. If there is anyone reading this who has had a similar experience, please let us know if you figured out what it was or how to treat it. If not, any other ideas on how to get her back to her old self are much appreciated.
Please be aware that this girl is a pet - we don't care about egg production or even getting her back outside - we just want to try to get her back in good health again so she can feel good. If we don't figure something out in the next day or so, we will have her in for x-rays and blood work. (The vet doesn't really know what he's looking for at this point, but hopes that maybe something will leap out as a cause when we review the x-rays and blood work...)
Thanks.
About 2 weeks ago, we noticed that her eyes were closed and she was lethargic. This lasted about a day and a half before we took her inside to try and warm her up and hope to get her back to normal. Since she did not improve by the next day, we took her to the vet, who tube fed her about 25 ccs of critical care formula and gave her a course of Baytril antibiotics.
We have been keeping her inside, in a big crate, bedded with shavings (same as her coop). We are tube feeding her at home twice a day for 2 weeks. We ran out of "critical care" and the vet recommended that we switch to "exact" formula. She gets about 35 CCs twice a day.
The improvements we see are that she is opening her eyes more often now and is a bit more energetic - enough to take a few steps around the room after we feed her. Overall, she is more alert than she was two weeks ago. The bad side is that she is still weak, has lost some more weight, shows no interest in eating or drinking on her own, and her head nods to the side when you put her down on her own outside of the crate. It sort of looks like she is drifting off to sleep and then catching herself - that kind of a head nod, but to the side and down. Also, when he put her down, she curls one foot as if she is looking for the roost. When she finds none, she straightens that foot out and stands normally. Also, she has lost some weight - not unexpected since we're just giving her the liquid diet.
We tried putting her outside today, since it was relatively warm and sunny, but after 5 minutes of doing nothing but standing there, we brought her back in.
The other hens she was housed with all are fine so far.
So, at this point, we are really looking for ideas. If there is anyone reading this who has had a similar experience, please let us know if you figured out what it was or how to treat it. If not, any other ideas on how to get her back to her old self are much appreciated.
Please be aware that this girl is a pet - we don't care about egg production or even getting her back outside - we just want to try to get her back in good health again so she can feel good. If we don't figure something out in the next day or so, we will have her in for x-rays and blood work. (The vet doesn't really know what he's looking for at this point, but hopes that maybe something will leap out as a cause when we review the x-rays and blood work...)
Thanks.