2 weeks after severe injury hen still not drinking nor eating effectively.

[Kathy Golla]

Good job...40 ccs is very good. Hopefully you will see her perk up. Make sure she’s digesting the food.
The other thought is make sure she is sleeping. It’s been two weeks so I’m pretty sure you’ve got that dialed but sometimes you never know...sometimes I have felt like putting a very low perch a 1.5/2 in board on its side in the hospital cage helps with that, but still giving the room to lie on the floor if they wish. Then by their droppings in the morning I can see what they have chosen.
Another thought I had is the antibiotics may have made her stomach not feel good, e.g. not eating on her own. Also a small detail, poultry vitamins are only supposed to be administered no more than 5 days in a row, then a break, they cause diarrhea after 5 consecutive days.

 

[micstrachan]

Great! I typically feed 10mL in those little 0.5mL increments. If she tolerates the tube feeding, that’s great! You two can try out both methods and see which is most effective for you.

 

[laurensinthegarden]

Good morning. I'm happy to report we've made it through another night. Not much obvious change, but I do believe I see part of the problem and I'm not much looking forward to the solution.

Watching her try to eat, pecking at food and coming away with little to nothing made me put on my glasses and carefully scrutinize the maneuver. I do believe her beak is overgrown. Come to think of it she was making motions on the ground or floor of the cage as if to rub her beak, almost like honing a knife on a stone, swiping one side and then the other. I can put a cement paver in there for her to have an abrasive surface for this but it may take a while to rectify.
The alignment of her beak looks off to me and that would make sense. She does the motions, but comes away with almost nothing to eat. Still not drinking.

If I can figure out how, I'll upload a pic of my hen. On a brighter note, I took her out to her safe adjacent yard with a dog igloo for temporary shelter and found that she hopped up onto the lowest part of the igloo, then ascended the summit. Also found a fairly compatible companion for her to hang out with. Outdoor temperature up to 49 today. Yay! Any thought on how to handle the beak issue and if I leave it up to her how long this might take?

Maisey and I had an argument about the tube feeding this morning but I did prevail. She received 30 mg aspirin, 5 cc water and approximately 35 cc homemade food as before with an addition of a little mackerel whirled around in the mix as well as a teaspoon of yogurt and literally 2 drops of apple cider vinegar. She seemed to perk up after the feed and she's back in her crate for a little while.

Going to fetch a cement paver now. Eagerly awaiting comments about about how to handle the beak issue. Thanks with all my heart for all the helpful comments, suggestions and encouragement. Lauren

For some reason I can't attach the beak photo on this reply so I'll try again right after i post this.

 

[laurensinthegarden]

Maisey's beak looks overgrown. Still has scabbed wound on right side of her face.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Hmm. I will be interested in what others think. That beak looks OK to me.
I think my question would be... do you feel like that is how her beak has always looked, or do you feel it is now after being inside, slightly overgrown?
A 6 mo old BO (is that right?) pullet, weighing 4 lbs is about right, so seems like she was eating fine previously.

 

[Bird-Whisperer]

A cement paver is a good idea for her to scratch her beak on. Based off that picture, it doesn't look too overgrown and she can probably scratch it down by herself.
For my birds, I use an emery board and just file it down a bit until their beak is even.

 

[laurensinthegarden]

Thanks for the input re: beak. The little part at the tip of her upper beak that looks like a drip on the wall is actually a part of her beak. I used an emery board and did just a bit. She pecks like crazy but hardly picks anything up. I thought she'd really fuss but she seemed to like it. Go figure.

OK. We've turned a corner today thank God! I've had her outside 3 times: she just doesn't want to stay in, but it's getting chilly again so I'm keeping an eye on the temp and her reaction. She hopped/flew back up on the Igloo, so I think I'll let her enjoy her day. She's solo in the pen now but I've got scratch right on both sides of the wire fence line and the chickens are all right there with her. Maybe she's sneaking water while I'm away from her (but the water level in the fount seems about the same) What would a minimum OK amount be for water intake, 'cause if she's drinking we're talking about a half teaspoon volume, maybe 2-3 ccget over the crisis. Maybe I've got too lofty a target for fluid intake. Any thoughts?

I think getting a good tube meal and some aspirin gave her some energy and made her feel pretty feisty.

 

[laurensinthegarden]

I'm a Luddite. That last post was not the edited one - not sure what happened there. Sorry about that. Anyway we had a very good day. Thanks everyone. Will update. Maisey and Lauren

 

[Kathy Golla]

Great great news.
I would go with what is working for you right now with the goal of making it a short term plan...the ultimate goal is for her to get her energy back. A lot of things follow after that.
If you can also try to ease her into eating "treats" such as blueberries, etc herself, that might ease her back into eating chicken feed.
We are not sure why she's not eating herself, but maybe put some food and water in her outside pen, maybe once she figures out the other hens cant get to her and with the fresh air and company she will dig in.
If she was on deaths door and eating nothing, I think the suggestion is 35 ml like three times a day. The liquid in the 35 mls is enough liquid (water). But she is not on deaths door, so me personally weighing the invasiveness of the tube feeding and how much she needs it, I would try 35 mls morning and night, if you can. Then if you see her start to eat herself, you can cut it back to maybe once a day.
One tip is, I personally would just feed her the Kaytee baby bird feed, mixed to make a liquid you can get through the tube. If you can use distilled water to mix thats great in that no ones really sure whats in their water! You can get the Kaytee very easily over the internet or most larger pet stores. Because if her stomach gets upset with some of the other things, you might be hurting her more than helping her. I dont think it would hurt to put some powdered poultry probiotics in the liquid feed, plus the aspirin, but if I remember the probiotics arent supposed to be administered for more than 5 days in a row either. The baby bird feed will have a lot of vitamins in it.
Have you checked her crop as azygous suggests? Once you tube feed her, is she digesting the feed, crop emptying, and is it coming out the other end?

 

[micstrachan]

I don’t think her beak looks bad. Maybe I don’t know what an overgrown beak looks like. I do wonder about her VISION. Could she be missing when she pecks at things? Can you provide a dampened feed that she can grab at somewhat blindly and see how she does?