4 day old chick w/broken leg

[TJAnonymous]

I cleaned the baby's eye this morning. It was pretty much like yesterday where the hard stuff would not budge....so I got a little more firm with it and started kind of pulling on it and squishing it. It was clearly not pleasant for the baby but the hard glob DID finally come off where I can see the chick's eyeball now. There was still yellow pus coming from the bottom eyelid. I rinsed it over and over until it stopped coming out. Then I put a big glob of Terramycin on it. I will probably wash it again this afternoon just to make sure it doesn't close up again.

The poor chick is not a fan. She began gasping again as I was washing her eye. She was not gasping when we started....so I think it's from stress & pain.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad you were able to work that out. Chicken pus can be hard to remove.

The panting and gasping does sound like stress, but do take care how much water or saline is getting into the nostrils or beak while rinsing the eye. Keep her head pointed down if possible and don't squeeze the crop.
Hopefully since you got the majority of that worked out, the Terramycin will help the remaining pus come on up so you can remove it over the next few days.
Easier said than done with a tiny wiggly squiggly squirming chick

Do you have any Poultry Nutri-Drench or electrolytes? Forgive if you've mentioned those previously. If you do, then I'd give her 3-4 drops of PND twice a day (undiluted) to help with stress and give her a boost.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Glad you were able to work that out. Chicken pus can be hard to remove.

The panting and gasping does sound like stress, but do take care how much water or saline is getting into the nostrils or beak while rinsing the eye. Keep her head pointed down if possible and don't squeeze the crop.
Hopefully since you got the majority of that worked out, the Terramycin will help the remaining pus come on up so you can remove it over the next few days.
Easier said than done with a tiny wiggly squiggly squirming chick

Do you have any Poultry Nutri-Drench or electrolytes? Forgive if you've mentioned those previously. If you do, then I'd give her 3-4 drops of PND twice a day (undiluted) to help with stress and give her a boost.

Thank you so much for sticking by me in the thread....

Yes, I do have some PND. You can give that undiluted? I didn't know that.... I will do that today after I clean her eye again.

I put a mirror in her basket today just so she won't feel so alone. She likes to chatter to herself in the mirror but is generally the quietest chick I've ever seen. She rarely chirps. I hope that isn't a bad sign.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much for sticking by me in the thread....

Yes, I do have some PND. You can give that undiluted? I didn't know that.... I will do that today after I clean her eye again.

I put a mirror in her basket today just so she won't feel so alone. She likes to chatter to herself in the mirror but is generally the quietest chick I've ever seen. She rarely chirps. I hope that isn't a bad sign.

Yes, PND given orally can be a good boost.
For chicks, a few drops given twice a day is a good. For older chicks and adults that can be weighed, the direct oral dose is 1cc per 3 pound of weight, so you may want to tuck that info away, but I think it's also printed on the bottle as well.

Do what you can for her. I know she has some issues against her.

 

[TJAnonymous]

The chick is pretty much the same today. Eye still swollen shut. I'm cleaning it twice a day and putting Terramycin on it. Not much improvement though...

I've also noticed the chick is picking at her toes on the deformed foot to the point that I think she is causing sores which might cause her to pick more. Should I maybe try to cover them with vet wrap?

Here's a video that shows what she is doing....

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She may be anxious, hopefully the foot is not painful.
I'd try wrapping and see what happens.

Do you have any Tylan/Tylosin? If the eye doesn't improve in a couple of days, I'd consider giving her an antibiotic to help her fight off the infection. They eye still needs cleaning of course, but the antibiotic may help.

 

[TJAnonymous]

She may be anxious, hopefully the foot is not painful.
I'd try wrapping and see what happens.

Do you have any Tylan/Tylosin? If the eye doesn't improve in a couple of days, I'd consider giving her an antibiotic to help her fight off the infection. They eye still needs cleaning of course, but the antibiotic may help.

I don't have any of that... Is it available OTC? Or can you only get it from a vet?

In the past I've used human antibiotics as a last resort.

I have 500mg tablets of Metronidazole. My vet has prescribed this for my dog and horses. Obviously 500mg is too much but I could smash it up and dilute in water

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You may be able to find Tylan50 at your local TSC or similar store. If not, you can order it online.
I wouldn't use the Metronidazole.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Just a little update... No major changes with the chick other than she is growing. Her eye is still nasty and infected despite the Terramycin. I've also had her on amoxicillan for 5 days. Still hasn't helped clear the infection. And cleaning it is clearly very painful for her. Not sure what else to do...


I'm also worried about her being so lonely. I only get to interact with her twice a day. I do have a mirror in her basket which worked a little at first but now she ignores it. I'm sure it can't be healthy for her to be alone so much...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The pus still won't work out of the eye? Anytime there's pus it has to be removed, chicken pus will not dry up on it's own, it will continue to fester.

Sorry to hear the Amoxicillin is not helping. It's a good antibiotic, but you may need to try something different or ask your vet to run a gram stain to see what would most effectively treat the infection. For example, MG is a bacteria like infection but it has no cell wall, so Amoxicillin won't touch that since it works on the cell wall. So finding the right meds can make a huge difference.