Bird Lethargic, Not Wanting to Eat

[Hollywood Chickens]

try some warm milk, or yogurt (not warm)

 

[derbygirl1961]

She is wanting to eat less and less, can I syringe feed her some rice water, pedialyte and some extra sugar?

 

[derbygirl1961]

Well, she made it thru the night which kinda surprised me, as she took in so little food and water yesterday.
I just finished giving her perhaps a half a teaspoon of applesauce; she really isn't interested. Going to try the hard boiled egg again in just a bit.
She had two watery stools during the night still with green formed poo in the midst.

I think she also ran a fever last night--she was hot as Hades, and panting. I put a fan on her and that seemed to help. I'll try to get some more grit into her.

Wondering if I shouldn't start her on antibiotics--a) she was feverish, b) it has lasted for at least 4 days that I noted (probably more that I didn't), should a general virus be gone by now?

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

I don't know about the virus, but only the egg yolk should be fed to her the white does not have nutrition and if she will only eat a light bit the it should egg yolk, yogurt, milk or cottage cheese, do you have meal worms? that might boost her appetite.

 

[derbygirl1961]

She made it thru another night, but is now becoming too weak to move from her poop--which is still green--despite addition of grit to yogurt, applesauce, rice, cottage cheese and (baby food)carrots every 2- 3 hours. I am having to syringe feed these, as she just isn't interested in eating. I just don't know what I am treating (besides giving her supportive care) and it is frustrating.

 

[new2chix]

You need to PM Threehorses - one of the best on here when it comes to illness. I had a similiar issue with my dorkings (rest of the flock just fine), but in addition to your symptoms they couldn't hold their heads up. They also didn't seem to have an issue with breathing. Still don't know what was wrong exactly, but I treated with probiotics and vitamins (polyvisol infant drops, without iron) and all recovered and seem fine. Best of luck.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

rimshoes has several pages about chickens illnesses maybe she can help you,

ETA: one of my chicks that lived through this was much worse so don't worry yet.
(strangely the one that died recovered within a day)

 

[derbygirl1961]

She had a good afternoon yesterday, ate bread and bits of nectarine all by herself. I gave her 5 drops of Poly vi sol and a squirt of vitamin E yesterday and this morning just in case. She had poops alternating between liquid green and white, to formed and almost brown.

Today though, she is again totally disinterested and I had to syringe feed her yogurt, carrot sauce and applesauce. It's a good thing I am on vacation for a few more days, otherwise, I am sure that she wouldn't be getting enough caloric content to survive.

Also when she is laying there--and that's all she does...her feet are all curled up. I have been doing some range of motion exercises with her feet and wings, but is the curled feet normal? I would expect them to be stretched out.

 

[Nif]

I would try and uncurl her feet and see if she'll put any weight on them and keep them flat.
You might want to try soaking bread in milk...this was just about the only thing my hen would eat when she went off her feed. If she doesn't like the egg yolk by itself, try making a scrambled egg.
Sounds like she is making a little improvement...poos are starting to be less green?

 

[derbygirl1961]

I uncurl her feet, but they curl back up slowly, and she won't bear weight at all. I took her outside with me while I was laying a brick patio. She was put on a pillow as her breastbone is sticking out so far-- don't want her to get a "bedsore". She was alert for most of the day, but still not able to walk, even when spooked by my cat or dog (they are harmless). Still with green semi formed stools with lots of white urate, not as bright green--but still green. My son gave her a beetle and she ate it. She ate more nectarine, and bread by herself today, too. But if she doesn't improve by Monday, I might think of putting her down--as it will be a week. I never really thought of killing my birds, as I bought them for eggs (and entertainment). What does that cost at the vet? Is there a humane way to do it at home? The rest of the flock are fine, although I think I heard a couple of sneezes but no lethargy, and no one else is off their feed. Tonight, more probiotic yogurt, vitamins and baby food if she doesn't eat enough. Thanks so much for continuing to support me and Apache Girl.