Anything else can I do to up Iseult's chances of survival? Long post, sorry!

[HollyWoozle]

I've had excellent success feeding ill birds a raw egg by cracking it into a pudding cup (small, shallow dish). They typically only eat the yolk, but they are often quite greedy, even if sick, to gobble it up. What the chicken doesn't finish in an hour, I then offer to my dog. Win-Win.

Thanks for your reply. Egg is usually my ‘go to’ for sick chickens too but until Iseult, I hadn’t tried it raw! I tried what you suggested yesterday and she did give it a go, but just a few ‘sips’ and wouldn’t take much on. Today she ate a little bit of oatmeal with tuna, peas, spinach (frozen and then cooked, very soft and hopefully not tricky to digest) and olive oil. I think she also got a teeny bit of grit too and she tried a few sunflower seeds but couldn’t pick them up very well.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Day... 18, I think, of being ill and she is still going. Hard to know if I am prolonging her suffering or what I'm doing anymore really! Her dropping sample came back negative for worms and coccidiosis (but after treatment for both). On Friday she looked a lot better, then on Saturday she suddenly took on the dreaded penguin-stance and then lay down as though she she was about to die, so much so that I cried and sat with her for her dying breaths... then after an hour or so she stood up like nothing had ever happened, preened herself a bit and ate again.

She is still looking 'penguiny' from time to time and I know that is a major sign of doom, but she is eating more than ever and has not lost any weight in the last 48 hours. I am now treating her for sour crop as it doesn't empty 100% and it sounds gassy, although no smell. She does not have the penguin look first thing in the morning and develops it after eating and drinking, but then sits down and goes to sleep for a while and seems more comfortable. Overall her droppings are much-improved. No fluid on her abdomen, no sign of infection or issues from her vent, although droppings still with a tinge of yellow. She stills preens fairly regularly (new feathers are growing in, although very slowly).

We have four doses of antibiotics to go and I think I will get through those, provided she does not further decline, and then assess whether or not it would be better just to end if for her.

 

[Sally PB]

For her.

For you both. Thank you for taking such good care of her.

 

[HollyWoozle]

For her.

For you both. Thank you for taking such good care of her.

Thank you, really appreciate it.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Oh my days, it never ends! She just did a much healthier poop and it was full of tiny worms - really tiny, wriggly little things! Argh! Maybe threadworm? Her worm test last week was all clear but I know tapeworm (and maybe threadworm?) don't easily show in those tests and the Ivermectin I used earlier in her illness won't touch them as far as I'm aware. These were really small and very thin, so threadworm sounds more accurate?

The only licensed option we have here is Flubenvet which goes in their food for 7 days, but that isn't overly practical when she doesn't eat enough yet and the situation is quite critical still. I am going to try and get Panacur 10% liquid and dose her with that... so many drugs for the girl! Not sure if that treats threadworm but am off to look it up.

 

[Painted Calls]

How is her weight? Is she still gaining or at least maintaining?

I am not familiar with Flubenvet. @casportpony would it be possible to dose her directly into her crop?

 

[HollyWoozle]

She lost about another 10g since yesterday after 2 days without loss. Thanks for your help @Overo Mare but I've managed to obtain Panacur liquid (Fenbendazole), looked up the dosage for chickens and given it to her by syringe. She is still eating, standing for longer periods and was preening quite a bit this morning.

 

[azygous]

Are you sure they aren't fly maggots? I know it's unlikely at this time of year, but I just can't believe the lousy luck.

 

[HollyWoozle]

I am 100% sure unfortunately. They are much, much smaller than maggots, I think they must be threadworm/pinworm (since they are about that thickness). I was right there when she produced the wormy poop as well and further ones have shown them too - I tried to get a video but they didn't show up very well.

Hoping the fenbendazole gets to work quick. I feel like everything is against this little chook but also realise our flock management is partly to blame (if not fully).

 

[azygous]

Have you had a random stool sample done on the entire flock? They may all have worms.