dreamofwinter
Songster
Tuesday afternoon I went to check on my birds and found my Silver Appleyard hen down - unable to walk, neck twisting strangely, flipping over, etc. She'd been a little slow for a few days, and I'd been worried she was having trouble laying, but this was clearly more. My daughter and I took her inside straightaway and set up a hospital pen. With the disgusting condition of the duck yard, botulism or blue-green algae were my two suspects. This was totally my fault; we've had a ridiculous amount of rain and the ground is so wet that even on higher ground puddles form when you walk. The duck yard had standing water in it that I should have fenced them away from.
I did a quick google and confirmed that my instinct to give activated charcoal was sound, so I spent the next half hour getting some into her. I wasn't sure she could swallow a whole capsule so I mixed it in water and dribbled it a few drops at a time into her, making sure she was swallowing it. She was still drinking if I dipped her beak in water, so I knew the swallow reflex was still good. Then my daughter held her for about two hours, offering her electrolyte water every 15 minutes or so.
Within a few hours she was able to stand and control her muscles again, though not with a ton of coordination. Since then she's grown stronger but again, not coordinated, so she's still inside. She can stand, walk drunkenly, drink, and quack angrily at us.
I'm concerned she isn't drinking enough, and I haven't confirmed whether she can eat. How long before these things become a major concern? I've read that if a bird survives 48 hours after botulism toxin, they will survive; but I'm not sure how intensive the recovery care needs to be. Has anyone dealt with this? My daughter has some very limited experience tube feeding, but we don't have any of the supplies (and live in a rural area, so will need to plan a drive this weekend if we need to get some quickly).
Of course the very next thing we did was move all the fencing for the duck yard to confine them to the highest, driest areas. We changed and scrubbed all water buckets and tubs and are watching closely, but have seen no other symptoms.
I did a quick google and confirmed that my instinct to give activated charcoal was sound, so I spent the next half hour getting some into her. I wasn't sure she could swallow a whole capsule so I mixed it in water and dribbled it a few drops at a time into her, making sure she was swallowing it. She was still drinking if I dipped her beak in water, so I knew the swallow reflex was still good. Then my daughter held her for about two hours, offering her electrolyte water every 15 minutes or so.
Within a few hours she was able to stand and control her muscles again, though not with a ton of coordination. Since then she's grown stronger but again, not coordinated, so she's still inside. She can stand, walk drunkenly, drink, and quack angrily at us.
I'm concerned she isn't drinking enough, and I haven't confirmed whether she can eat. How long before these things become a major concern? I've read that if a bird survives 48 hours after botulism toxin, they will survive; but I'm not sure how intensive the recovery care needs to be. Has anyone dealt with this? My daughter has some very limited experience tube feeding, but we don't have any of the supplies (and live in a rural area, so will need to plan a drive this weekend if we need to get some quickly).
Of course the very next thing we did was move all the fencing for the duck yard to confine them to the highest, driest areas. We changed and scrubbed all water buckets and tubs and are watching closely, but have seen no other symptoms.
