Lost him. :(
His throat was obstructed again this AM, and he was back to not being able to eat or drink effectively. We removed quite a bit of the obstruction, but either we grabbed some tissue while we were getting it, or it was too firmly attached, but it opened a vein and he bled out. :(...
Great idea. Wish I'd thought to preserve a sample.
I"m about to pack up and go to a farmer's market... will treat our patient again this AM before I take off. He's still pretty much asleep just now but made it through the night OK.
What we've done should get him through until I'm back home...
I think you're right about the water, Kathy.
I wandered through the forum and the interwebs and am pretty sure this is thrush, rather than canker. The two prescribed cures for this (nystatin and copper sulfate) aren't immediately available locally. An old thread here on BYC recommended using...
One other thing - watch your birds for aggressive pecking behavior, following a victim bird around and pecking around the vent/rear end until she draws blood. Chances are one of your buffs is the leader in this. If she is back at it after you return your cochins to the coop, you'll want to...
You're heading in the right direction, for sure.
Since you already have a dominant bird issue going, set out multiple feeders so that everybody has a chance, and definitely give the pecked birds time and space to heal away from the bullies. Don't put them in the same cage or they're likely to...
He smells bad, but I figured that was from all of the wet feathers.
Will look into canker. Thanks for the link.
Edited after reading: We don't see a lot of wild doves around here, but plenty of starlings.
Am going to go grab my husband out of the greenhouse, he's been out there long enough...
Very minor noise when breathing, and not consistent. Occasional vocalizations.
My husband is still outside but I grabbed a headlamp and it does look like he has a deep obstruction of some sort. Looks like wet food, kind of an off-color yellow mass.
Good call.
Dr. Google is telling me that...
I'm thinking that most of the water is running back out of his beak. He is swallowing but I don't think much of it is getting down. I looked in his mouth again and didn't see anything, but will try again when my husband gets back in the house and can hold a light.
Just felt his crop, doesn't feel like there's any water in it at all. The front of his body is wet but not soaking. The water is down about a quarter inch.
I need to go take care of everybody else, will come back and watch him for a while.
Thanks for the link. Great resource.
I'm happy to report that none of it really fits, so I'm confident my boy will get better soon. :)
Honestly, I'm utterly stumped. I guess all I can do is wash my hands/change clothes after I deal with him, and watch.
Scratch is like feeding them a diet of Snickers Bars.
Special treats only. And if you want to give them a great treat, skip the scratch and get them some meal worms. Or veggie trimmings.
If I were going to buy scratch, I'd give them a handful at Christmas. That's about it.
Yesterday I gave...
Separate her, clean the wound, spray it with some Vetericyn and let her heal up before she goes back in with the others. They will just keep after her until they really do some damage.
She will be fine by herself for a few days.
Here is good information about feather pecking and cannibalism.
This is definitely something you want to nip in the bud, once they get into the habit of cannibalism it is a sad and very, very ugly deal...
How much feeder space do you have for how many chickens? That is the kind of wound a lower status individual could get from there not being enough feeder space.
Are these meat birds or layers?
A chicken having a heart attack will flip on its back and flap until it dies. Usually when it dies the death posturing will end with the birds on its back and its legs abnormally straight. It is a very common occurrence with one particular meat bird breed...
Only one thing I would add... be sure and physically separate her from the other chickens. Keep her in a cage someplace clean until the wound scabs over well. She can be in a cage in the coop afterwards while she is healing so she isn’t lonely, but the other birds will beat hell out of her if...