Hi friends
@Wyorp Rock @Shadrach @Eggcessive @staceyj @rebrascora @azygous @casportpony
I could really use some advice with Margo. Sorry once again I am focused on my own flock, but we took on three chicks this year, I've been sick this week, I'm still working over summer, and I received some bad (family) news this week, so I only have so much bandwidth.
Margo is really struggling. You may recall last summer that Margo has a low threshold for pain. But this time seems worse; she seems pretty immobile. I wouldn't say paralyzed, as she managed to hobble a few inches, but she's either so weak or in so much pain that she is sitting in one spot and hangs her head.
In case she has a reproductive infection (penguin stance, lots of pain, feels hot, dark red face), I am treating her with enrofloxacin, ibuprofen and calcium (just in case she has something in the oviduct that needs expelling). She laid the last two days, but not today. She's a three year old leghorn and my most prolific layer. She is also top hen. Today she can barely move.
I'm not sure if I should try anything else or just wait the antibiotic out another day or two (if she makes it that long). I think she stopped pooping, which is a huge concern. There was no egg that I could feel in her vent this morning. I fed her a couple times with baby bird formula (10mL once and about 6mL a couple hours later), but thinking that should stop, since she isn't pooping. She acts hungry, but seems too tired (or something) to eat. She has had a couple periods of shallow breathing, so I'm not sure if I should continue giving her small amounts of fluid. As long as she can swallow on her own, is this still OK to do? She is not voluntarily drinking from a water dish, but will swallow if I put a little in her beak.
She stayed in a carrier in the house last night and will again tonight. Today she is in the hospital pen. I dug a shallow ditch to help prop her up, since the rolled up towel was making her warm. Heat seems to make her breathe with her mouth open, so I stopped that last night.
I will try to get a video of her shortly for an update. When I drove up (coop and run are out front), she was alert, but still in her shallow ditch. I suspect she had her head hanging before all the commotion of my arrival (birds expect to be let out to free range when I come home... even the chicks have learned this).
Do you have any advice/words of wisdom to share? Anything else I should be doing? Have I done anything drastically wrong? Margo is a huge cuddler and normally tolerates handling just fine, so I don't think I'm stressing her out. Wondering what I should try to make her poop. Coconut oil? She consumed about half a tsp or so in the feedings. Stool softener? Worm her with Valbazen? Lift her up in a sling so her vent is more free? Do nothing about the poop yet?
You all know I am a worrier, but this is definitely real. Thanks in advance for your help. I will tell you this: I will definitely NOT be bathing her. Learned that the hard way. But I would do the damp towel over heating pad if it seemed she was egg bound.
