Found A Sick Chicken Crossing the Road (no joke, really!)

[AllCreatGr8nSml]

Hello all,
Hubby and I came upon a little chicken crossing the road on our way home from town the early evening of June 6. She didn't even have her eyes open and was taking, small tentative steps. Luckily, we live out in a country neighborhood. UNluckily, we live out in a country neighborhood, because it's obvious this poor little thing was bought at Easter and was now let loose. I say obviously because after ALL the research I've been doing online, she sure does look like she's around 12 to 14 weeks old. (I have a soap box set aside for my rantings of what some of these [insert derogatory remark here] people out here do with regards to NOT taking care of animals...!!)

And research I have! I've let my other responsibilities go as I've been searching, looking up and reading -- *pouring over*, actually -- SO much information about what this poor little chicken could possibly have wrong with it. And over and over again, I've been referred to link after link to this wonderful community. So I hope it's okay if I post this thread with questions about our little "Tildy."

- Brought Tildy home the night we found her, set her in a biiiig box with soft towels in it and a bowl of fresh water (we have *good* well water).
- Next day, after researching, went to TSC and got some feed for her. Set up a kind of coop out on the deck: deer wire set up in a circle set on top of spread-out newspaper which lays on top of a cleaned tarp.
- Cleaned a wooden crate with bleach water, set a wooden dowel, also cleaned with bleach water, across the bottom of it, and have been laying shredded paper in the "hen house" where Tildy likes to sleep at night.
(- Have been cleaning up this "coop" *every* day by clearing away the paper, cleaning the tarp with bleach water and laying down new newspaper.)
(- In the "hen house," I've been taking out her poops with rubber-gloved hands and changing the shreds every other day.)
(- Been changing her electrolyte water [one packet to one gal water; been keeping the water cool to cold] often and even more often during these hot days here in east TN.)
- Tildy's eyes had opened and was drinking the water and feed just fine. Would be listless after eating and drinking but went back to eating and drinking with a good appetite. Researched some more and figured out that she probably has intestinal worms.
- Went back to TSC to get Strike III worm feed (I didn't know at the time, yet, how old or young Tildy is) and electrolyte water treatment. According to the Strike III-to-pounds-of-feed ratio, I put only a few granules into her bowl of feed.
- By June 10, poop was still runny and weird at times along with listlessness, and she was stretching her neck out really wide. So I researched some more and figured out she had gape worm. Based on a LOT of recommendations on here (BackyardChickens), I decided to get ivermectin 1.87% paste and give it to Tildy in a BB-sized dose with some bread.
- A day later, noticed Tildy was sneezing/coughing, so I researched some more. Found out she has an URI and took the advice I read over and over again on here to use saline wash for her eyes and VetRx (back to TSC I went) for her sneezing. (I've been doing this treatment for over a week now.)
- During the trip to TSC to get the VetRx, I also got Wazine because I couldn't be sure if the Strike III was being eaten, especially the way I've been clearing everything away every day. Gave the Wazine according to package directions in the proper ratio in her water for *one* day; that was around June 12 or 13.
- Poops have been, according to many sites and the pics included I've found in more research, looking good since then.
- Have been keeping up with saline washes and warmed (not hot! -- check the temp on my wrist before applying) VetRx applications.
- One VetRx application method I found online many times was applying warmed VetRx with a cotton swab gently up into her cleft. Have done that a few times.
- Have kept a box fan going -- not directly, of course -- on the coop, especially during these past few very hot days.
- Tildy was doing well, even scratching in her feed and bopping back and forth between her feed and water bowls (I did that so she'd get some "exercise.")

Today is now, officially, June 17, 2:40 a.m. and I'm at my wits' end. The heat has been abnormally bad. Late morning, yesterday, poor Tildy was laying with her wings spread out from her sides some, and her little head was laying down on the floor. I immediately brought her inside and placed her in the laundry room. She bounced back but her snicking was getting worse, in that, she was doing it more.

She just hasn't been the same, even after I kept the box fan going, the water cool with ice cubes added in every once in a while. It rained yesterday, so it even cooled things off, but she didn't feel right.

I couldn't stand it anymore and we've taken Tildy in for the night and set her up in the laundry room. Hubby feels like the humidity outside might be beneficial for her URI, but I just can't stand it. She's snicking *and* coughing now... and she was doing so well before!

I'm going to have to get an antibiotic, it looks like, but TSC hasn't gotten any in and they've had it on order for over a week now. I guess I should've ordered something online, and I guess it's going to have to be Tylan 50? But she's just a wee thing, barely three months old, it looks like. I can't give her Tylan 50 injections; she's too young, isn't she? Someone mentioned a very small dosage to be given right down the throat; that's what they do with their young chickens. But what if that isn't actually a good thing to do? And what if she's coughing because the paper shreds are too dusty and that's what's stirred up her increased snicking and *now* her coughing? Or is it because of the heat? I'm also adverse to going to the vet: both Hubby and I are still looking for jobs. That might be a sorry excuse, but....

I'm sorry this has turned into a novel, but I thought more details would be better than not enough. I sure would appreciate ANY advice y'all can give me, even if it *does* mean having to go to the vet.

I'm not even a new chicken keeper... we just found this poor little chicken crossing the road.

 

[dawg53]

Welcome to BYC. She has some type of respiratory disease. Taking her to a vet will be costly, and giving her antibiotics will only mask symptoms and not cure the disease. The symptoms will continue to flare up when she's stressed and if she survives, she'll be a carrier for life. Do not let her around other birds. I recommend that you cull her and end her suffering.

 

[AllCreatGr8nSml]

Hi, dawg53;

Thank you for the welcome and thank you for the advice. I was afraid of this (best to cull the poor thing) but not surprised, especially after reading so much of what Tildy's been going through on here and of much of the advice given to others, actually, by you. This isn't my first rodeo with helping a sick or injured animal, sometimes with success, sometimes not. But ya gotta have hope for all creatures great and small, right?

After going through all of this -- researching, doing the work, caring for -- we've also noticed what a great, supportive community this is. Also, after learning what we have, we're now seriously thinking of actually raising chickens!

And we owe it all to Tildy: the poor little chicken who crossed the road.

We'll be seein' y'all around! Thanks again!

 

[AllCreatGr8nSml]

So little Tildy is now at peace. I can't help but wonder and ask:
Did I do anything wrong, i.e., any procedures performed improperly or neglected doing for her?
Was there something I should have done?
Was there something I should not have done?
After bleaching everything, can I burn the newspaper I used these past 10 days?
Or will that make the virus/bacteria air-born even though I've sprayed the newspaper and shreds with the bleach water?
Do I just bring it all to the landfill?

I can tell y'all what, though: this is the last straw for me. Being here for 33 years and seeing and experiencing some of the (call it what it is!) stupid things that have gone on around here with regards to animals and livestock is mind-boggling. There's gotta be a way to get some kind of education and enforcement out here with properly keeping animals and livestock.

Thank you for "listening" and for any answers y'all have the time to give me.
Sure do 'preciate it!

 

[dawg53]

So little Tildy is now at peace. I can't help but wonder and ask:
Did I do anything wrong, i.e., any procedures performed improperly or neglected doing for her?
Was there something I should have done?
Was there something I should not have done?
After bleaching everything, can I burn the newspaper I used these past 10 days?
Or will that make the virus/bacteria air-born even though I've sprayed the newspaper and shreds with the bleach water?
Do I just bring it all to the landfill?

I can tell y'all what, though: this is the last straw for me. Being here for 33 years and seeing and experiencing some of the (call it what it is!) stupid things that have gone on around here with regards to animals and livestock is mind-boggling. There's gotta be a way to get some kind of education and enforcement out here with properly keeping animals and livestock.

Thank you for "listening" and for any answers y'all have the time to give me.
Sure do 'preciate it!

You are asking the same questions that many chicken owners ask themselves after having to put down a chicken for whatever reason. The key is not to second guess yourself, you did the right thing. If you saw online photos what respiratory diseases do internally to chickens, you would understand that you wernt letting Tildy suffer.
You can dispose of the newspaper as you see fit since you dont have any other chickens.
Dont let this experience deter you from getting chicks in the future. Purchase chicks from a reputable hatchery and not from swap meets, craigslist, nor the farmer down the road. I wish you the best.

 

[SkylineFarms]

So little Tildy is now at peace. I can't help but wonder and ask:
Did I do anything wrong, i.e., any procedures performed improperly or neglected doing for her?
Was there something I should have done?
Was there something I should not have done?
After bleaching everything, can I burn the newspaper I used these past 10 days?
Or will that make the virus/bacteria air-born even though I've sprayed the newspaper and shreds with the bleach water?
Do I just bring it all to the landfill?

I can tell y'all what, though: this is the last straw for me. Being here for 33 years and seeing and experiencing some of the (call it what it is!) stupid things that have gone on around here with regards to animals and livestock is mind-boggling. There's gotta be a way to get some kind of education and enforcement out here with properly keeping animals and livestock.

Thank you for "listening" and for any answers y'all have the time to give me.
Sure do 'preciate it!

I'm from East Tennessee as well and I have also had a bad experience with sick chickens. Let's just say that there are some very shady sellers around here that don't have any problems with selling obviously sick animals. I would avoid purchasing chickens at the many auctions and swap meets around here because there is no one there that makes sure that these animals are healthy. Also, since these animals are usually in close quarters with one another during these events, if just one is sick- it is very easy for an airborne disease to spread to the other animals that are there.

If you want the best chance at avoiding purchasing chickens with diseases, I advise you to purchase from reputable breeders and hatcheries rather than "Jim Bob" off of Craigslist. Young chicks and hatching eggs are also less likely to have been exposed to disease than adult birds.

I think that you did up and above what you could have done for Tildy.