Alternative Foods?

[MsChickenMomma]

Hello everyone,

One of my 11 week old pullets either injured her neck or got something stuck in her esophagus on Tuesday. She can't bend her neck right now to eat and drink on her own, so we have been giving her water with a syringe, and feeding her watered down feed with a baby spoon. The feed isn't going so well. It's hard to get it down this way, and our pullet really doesn't like it. So I was wondering if there are any food alternatives that I can give her. Preferably stuff that can be given to her through a syringe. The watered down feed gets clogged in the syringe, and we can't keep feeding her with a baby spoon. Especially now that she is gaining her strength back and pulls away and twists her head when we try to feed her.

Giving her water with a syringe works great, and it would be really nice if we could feed her that way as well.

Can we give her baby food? (Gerber) It has to be something soft because she can't eat anything dry right now. It hurts too much for her to swallow dry foods. I'm not sure what to give her that has the nutrition and protein she needs, so I have no idea what we can give her as an alternative to chicken feed.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Anyone able to help with this?

 

[five is my dog]

you can wet the feed to where its soupy. i always feed this to my chicks they love it! grits too the only problem is that it doesnt give many nutrients. i have gotten sick chicks/pullets too and i have always mixed sugar with their feed to help with weight loss.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

you can wet the feed to where its soupy. i always feed this to my chicks they love it! grits too the only problem is that it doesnt give many nutrients. i have gotten sick chicks/pullets too and i have always mixed sugar with their feed to help with weight loss.

We tried making it soupy, but the problem with the crumbles is that some of the pieces never soften, and they get stuck in the end of a syringe. Would crushing the crumbles with a rolling pin before adding the water work?

 

[five is my dog]

yes that would help!

 

[poodlechicks]

Have you tried pureeing a hard boiled egg with plain yogurt? It might work through the syringe. You can alternate this puree with her soupy crumbles for more nutrition.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Have you tried pureeing a hard boiled egg  with plain yogurt? It might work through the syringe. You can alternate this puree with her soupy crumbles for more nutrition.

No we haven't tried that yet. I can do that though. Thanks for the advice.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Thank you so much for the suggestion poodlechicks. We gave her some pureed yogurt and scrambled egg and it worked great. We were able to give her 2 and a half teaspoons of this and she is now full of energy because she has some food in her system. This is the best she has looked in 3 days.

Thanks again!

 

[poodlechicks]

You are so very welcome! I am happy it worked out for her. I hope she feels better soon.