Baby Chicken Injection

[JayniPalmer]

Hi, I am new to raising chickens but my 13 yr old daughter wanted to. So we thought we would give it a try. We incubated 36 eggs and hatched 17. One died after 3 days. All were doing great but one started breathing hard after about 4 days. She has done this for 3 days now. My vet said try tylosine, went to the local mill and it was $50. The lady at the store said she gives her chickens Penicillin. I'm a nurse and thought I could do that. I gave it an injection of less than 0.1ml with a TB syringe in the thigh. NOW she barely uses that leg. Has any one ever experienced this? I have read alot of the posts about how they usually won't make it but I have to try (with in reason) to help her. She eats some, drinks some, poops a little but now I think I have made it worse. I'm a little scared of giving the injection in the breast, but I can't do it in her leg again. HELP!!!!

 

[CMV]

Sorry it is under such lousy circumstances.

First- don't ever listen to anything that anyone has to say at the feed store. You will get more misinformation that way than any other. I am so glad you found BYC because should you ever have a problem in the future you need to look here first. There are a ton of highly knowledgeable people here that would love to help you out.

Second- Tylan (tylosine) is the recommended treatment for respiratory symptoms, but it is hard on the little guys. It burns the muscles that it is injected into, so its sites need to be rotated. You did it in one thigh. Rotate to the other thigh. Then move to the breast. (You are only giving 3 doses, yes? I am not hugely familiar with Tylan because I don't deal with respiratory ailments, so I am not sure how long the course is.) The chick may be temporarily sore from the injections, but sore beats being dead from a respiratory infection. I doubt you have made anything worse. The chick sounds like it may not make it anyway.

You are a nurse, so deal with this injection as you would any other SQ. It is technically going to be an IM, but chicks are so tiny that you treat them pretty much like you would an SQ injection. Same parameters. Pinch, poke, aspirate, (if clear) inject. It's going to hurt. It's going to do temporary damage to the muscle it is injected into, but the alternative is much more grim. The chick should survive the insult. In fact, you will find that chickens are much sturdier patients than any you have dealt with before.

I hope this helps. I hope the babies are OK. If you need any other help send me a PM. I am no expert in respiratory ailments, but I give injections like a fiend. (Also a former nurse. I miss it sometimes, but not usually.

)

Good luck.

 

[JayniPalmer]

CMV thank you for the reply. She did start using her leg again after a few hours. I did talk with my vet and she said Penicillin is okay to give her x5days only. I thought she wasn't going to make it just a bit ago, she was very lethargic and was barely breathing then she snapped out of it and started her chirpy breathing again. What an emotional roller coaster, I don't want her to suffer but I don't know what else to do. Amazing how little creatures can really tug at your heart. Thank you again for your input.