Hi all,
Blondie is a 3 year old chicken that has been sick for a week.
Edit: in the light of day, I see just how long this is! My apologies in advance!
(The short questions - how long does it take an antibiotic to work, any thoughts on the flapping question below, any ideas on what else to do to help her? She seems a little worse this Sunday morning... and still seems to have a fever. She seems too weak to eat, so I've added sugar to the water I give her...)
First, I should say that she has been lame in one leg for about 2 years (one vet said she had Mareks and another disagreed...and it could be due to a fall) So she's mostly a house chicken since she can't walk on her own. She's been fortunate we've been able to work from home the last two years, and so we've gotten to know her very well... She spends most of her time on her "throne" (a neck pillow with the opening behind her works very well!) She is normally taken outside in a harness to "walk" and to sit and eat grass several times a day.
- Last Saturday she didn't seem to feel well, started to have bad diarrhea (which she still has, but not quite as extreme) and then that evening she got really sick. She had labored breathing with a little click with each breath, a fever, and she stretched her neck way out and laid it on my shoulder, and opened her wings. I lay back with her and she was so completely listless she was pretty flat on my chest. I was even fanning her to cool her down. I eventually put her in her basket to sleep. I was pretty sure she was going to die overnight but she didn't.
- By Sunday she no longer had the "click" with each breath. I gave her water with electrolytes and probiotics and she drank very heavily but only for brief periods of time. I also added just a bit of powdered aspirin to the water later in the day and that seemed to help her with the fever.
- Monday she didn't drink or eat as much and her stool was very watery - but she actually seemed a bit better.
- Tuesday was the last day she ate anything on her own and she went back to drinking a lot. That evening, she refused any fresh corn or worms, which she normally loves. It seems she has an intermittent fever... maybe intermittent because of the aspirin.
- Wednesday she didn't eat anything... she looked a little interested but it seemed she didn't have the strength to actually eat anything. When I got home from work, I spoon fed her water and very liquid baby food (some with beef and veggies) and I think that if I hadn't, she wouldn't have made it.
- Thursday I took her to the vet. He force fed her some pieces of broken up kibble along with two pills of Enrofloxacin with instructions to give her half a pill twice a day. I also kept her hydrated and kept feeding her the baby food.
- Friday I force fed her the pills and pellets I made out of wet mash (and baked a little) and the various liquids - water, babyfood with beef, etc.
We were really giving up hope and starting to talk about whether she was in pain and if we should euthanize her.
- Today- we *definitely* see a bit of an improvement, she even tried a preen or two of her breast feathers. However, she seems to still be feverish and she is panting a lot... (pretty sure it's due to the fever because it goes down outside now that it's cooler.) This morning she actually tried to peck at some food a few times, but was still a little too weak to grab it except for a mouth of yogurt. (Besides being weak, eating has been harder for her because even before this, and possibly due to Mareks, she's had trouble connecting to her food.) So I've continued to force feed the pellets and a few other foods, and I offer the baby food in a spoon which she sometimes drinks...
- I have no idea of the antibiotic is working or not (I tend to think not, due to the fever) but I'll keep using it at least through tomorrow and call the vet on Monday (if she doesn't regress and we lose her.)
- Eggs aren't the issue: she hasn't laid an egg in probably 2 years and her abdomen is fine. Her eyes are clear and she seems relatively alert most of the time, and interestingly, she appears to be getting tired of all my attempts at feeding her and giving her water because she sometimes turns her head away from me!
- Poop....When she'd stopped eating, it was almost all water with urrates. Now it's pretty dark green with clear liquid and urates (the dark green is probably because we also force fed her some blueberries...
- Wing flapping - another very odd thing that started a few months ago, but has gotten worse right now, is that she will sporadically, almost spastically, start flapping her wings from one to 10 times each evening. We don't know if it is to cool down or something to do with her nervous system, but it doesn't seem like epilepsy. It first happens when we are holding her before putting her in her basket for the night, and she sometimes seems to startle, flap her wings furiously and has even hurled herself out of our arms (mind you, she is very tame and used to us, so it's not our of fear of us.) Then during the night, she has done the same, even ending up out of her box and on the floor, so we've taken to placing her basket on the floor and covering it with a cloth.... now when it happens, she's less likely to get hurt. (Last night she must have flapped and moved herself around about 7 times.)
- So maybe it's viral, even a flare up of Mareks....but I haven't been able to find if it causes a fever. I'll also add that although she sits outside regularly, we don't feed any wild birds or the chickens outside, so I think it's unlikely she caught something from a wild bird. In addition, our other chicken seems fine.
- I would really appreciate any advice... even though she is better, she is not out of the woods.
Thanks in advance!
Blondie is a 3 year old chicken that has been sick for a week.
Edit: in the light of day, I see just how long this is! My apologies in advance!
(The short questions - how long does it take an antibiotic to work, any thoughts on the flapping question below, any ideas on what else to do to help her? She seems a little worse this Sunday morning... and still seems to have a fever. She seems too weak to eat, so I've added sugar to the water I give her...)
First, I should say that she has been lame in one leg for about 2 years (one vet said she had Mareks and another disagreed...and it could be due to a fall) So she's mostly a house chicken since she can't walk on her own. She's been fortunate we've been able to work from home the last two years, and so we've gotten to know her very well... She spends most of her time on her "throne" (a neck pillow with the opening behind her works very well!) She is normally taken outside in a harness to "walk" and to sit and eat grass several times a day.
- Last Saturday she didn't seem to feel well, started to have bad diarrhea (which she still has, but not quite as extreme) and then that evening she got really sick. She had labored breathing with a little click with each breath, a fever, and she stretched her neck way out and laid it on my shoulder, and opened her wings. I lay back with her and she was so completely listless she was pretty flat on my chest. I was even fanning her to cool her down. I eventually put her in her basket to sleep. I was pretty sure she was going to die overnight but she didn't.
- By Sunday she no longer had the "click" with each breath. I gave her water with electrolytes and probiotics and she drank very heavily but only for brief periods of time. I also added just a bit of powdered aspirin to the water later in the day and that seemed to help her with the fever.
- Monday she didn't drink or eat as much and her stool was very watery - but she actually seemed a bit better.
- Tuesday was the last day she ate anything on her own and she went back to drinking a lot. That evening, she refused any fresh corn or worms, which she normally loves. It seems she has an intermittent fever... maybe intermittent because of the aspirin.
- Wednesday she didn't eat anything... she looked a little interested but it seemed she didn't have the strength to actually eat anything. When I got home from work, I spoon fed her water and very liquid baby food (some with beef and veggies) and I think that if I hadn't, she wouldn't have made it.
- Thursday I took her to the vet. He force fed her some pieces of broken up kibble along with two pills of Enrofloxacin with instructions to give her half a pill twice a day. I also kept her hydrated and kept feeding her the baby food.
- Friday I force fed her the pills and pellets I made out of wet mash (and baked a little) and the various liquids - water, babyfood with beef, etc.
We were really giving up hope and starting to talk about whether she was in pain and if we should euthanize her.
- Today- we *definitely* see a bit of an improvement, she even tried a preen or two of her breast feathers. However, she seems to still be feverish and she is panting a lot... (pretty sure it's due to the fever because it goes down outside now that it's cooler.) This morning she actually tried to peck at some food a few times, but was still a little too weak to grab it except for a mouth of yogurt. (Besides being weak, eating has been harder for her because even before this, and possibly due to Mareks, she's had trouble connecting to her food.) So I've continued to force feed the pellets and a few other foods, and I offer the baby food in a spoon which she sometimes drinks...
- I have no idea of the antibiotic is working or not (I tend to think not, due to the fever) but I'll keep using it at least through tomorrow and call the vet on Monday (if she doesn't regress and we lose her.)
- Eggs aren't the issue: she hasn't laid an egg in probably 2 years and her abdomen is fine. Her eyes are clear and she seems relatively alert most of the time, and interestingly, she appears to be getting tired of all my attempts at feeding her and giving her water because she sometimes turns her head away from me!
- Poop....When she'd stopped eating, it was almost all water with urrates. Now it's pretty dark green with clear liquid and urates (the dark green is probably because we also force fed her some blueberries...
- Wing flapping - another very odd thing that started a few months ago, but has gotten worse right now, is that she will sporadically, almost spastically, start flapping her wings from one to 10 times each evening. We don't know if it is to cool down or something to do with her nervous system, but it doesn't seem like epilepsy. It first happens when we are holding her before putting her in her basket for the night, and she sometimes seems to startle, flap her wings furiously and has even hurled herself out of our arms (mind you, she is very tame and used to us, so it's not our of fear of us.) Then during the night, she has done the same, even ending up out of her box and on the floor, so we've taken to placing her basket on the floor and covering it with a cloth.... now when it happens, she's less likely to get hurt. (Last night she must have flapped and moved herself around about 7 times.)
- So maybe it's viral, even a flare up of Mareks....but I haven't been able to find if it causes a fever. I'll also add that although she sits outside regularly, we don't feed any wild birds or the chickens outside, so I think it's unlikely she caught something from a wild bird. In addition, our other chicken seems fine.
- I would really appreciate any advice... even though she is better, she is not out of the woods.
Thanks in advance!
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