Freaking out, maggots in vent

[la399]

Thank you for the advice! We will administer it and give it a bit before trying to eat the eggs again.

 

[Folly's place]

Enrofloxacin is not a safe drug for humans, but the amount in each of her egg yolks will be very very small. It's one of the class of drugs not used in livestock because of issues with the development of drug resistant bacteria, and the very slight chance that a person extremely allergic to it might react to that tiny amount in the eggs.
Your vet gave you the right advice, and yet you need to decide if it's important to save her life.
These are not easy decisions! I used it to treat wounds on one of my roosters, who lived. He doesn't lay eggs, and won't leave the farm, or be eaten. That's my reasoning...
Mary

 

[la399]

Eating her eggs doesn’t matter as much to us as saving/healing her. I just don’t know how I can help differentiate her eggs from the other hens in the future

 

[la399]

Does anyone have advice on administering the oral meds with a syringe? She is not eating or drinking on her own so we’ve been giving her the supplement(?) they gave us but she flips her head around so much it’s hard to get it down

 

[Folly's place]

Hold her and then 'point and shoot'. Injectable Baytril is easier, at least for me. The other stuff, just do your best.
Mary

 

[Eggcessive]

I would hold her head in my elbow, and open the beak with the fingers on my same hand. Give it a drop at a time.

 

[la399]

Thank you. It worked out better this morning and we got all the meds down. She still will not eat or drink on her own but I guess we just have to wait on that? We soaked her in epsom salt and flushed the wound as well as applied the cream they gave us. Saw no more maggots and it is scabbed over. I guess is there anything we can do to get her to start eating on her own again?

 

[Eggcessive]

Recently when I had a hen who could not walk to food, I would feed her 3 times a day. A small cereal bowl worked well, held infront of her, and I used chicken feed with a lot of water to make a mush. I would use scramble eggs choopped up, canned pate cat food or tuna, and put a spoonful of plain yogurt or cottage cheese for variety. She didn’t drink a drop of water for 5 weeks, but she got enough in the food to stay alive until she was walking again. I even dropped water onto the eggs.

If that doesn’t work, and I would keep offering, you can get a feeding tube to crop feed her. You would need a large 35 ml syringe and a 15 inch length of aquarium air tubing ($3 for 3 ft at Walmart fish aisle.) Melt the end that goes into the beak to soften the sharp edges. There are proper feeding tubes and cath tipped syringes that will hold thicker food. For the first feeding I would use 15-30 ml water only, and electrolytes are good. Grind chicken feed and add a lot of water to feed or use KayTee baby bird feed from Walmart.

It might take 2 sets of hands at first, but it can be done by one person when you learn how. Slide the tube down the chickens right side of the back of the throat down into the crop. Here is a good video and a link with more info:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-pics-for-visuals-very-detailed-post.805615/

 

[moniquem]

The problem is she said these antibiotics can cause violent hallucinations in humans.

The amount passed through her eggs will be so small it most likely wouldn't matter. News flash! If you buy milk products and meat from the grocery store, they all have antibiotics in them, unless your buying strictly organic.

 

[micstrachan]

Does anyone have advice on administering the oral meds with a syringe? She is not eating or drinking on her own so we’ve been giving her the supplement(?) they gave us but she flips her head around so much it’s hard to get it down

Glad you figured this out. How is her weight and stress level? I recently had a sick hen who quit eating for awhile and was getting weaker. I syringe fed her meds the same way Eggcessive describe
Here are some more notes in case she continues to have loss of appetitite. I gave my hen some supplemental meals by syringe via the same syringe method. I would squeeze about half a mL at a time onto her tongue and she would swallow on her own. She really didn't like the feedings, BUT she would perk up almost immediately after (once she got nutrients in her). I used Kaytee Exact baby bird formula with just a tiny bit of coconut oil, honey, and nutridrench mixed in, and sometimes hemp protein. I dropped the nutridrench after a couple days; I just did it at the beginning for quick energy.
When I have had a hen with zero appetite, I have also offered favorite foods to stimulate it. I used to give live meal worms, but I can't seem to buy them locally anymore and would have to order them. This hen in particular is crazy for hulled sunflower seeds, so I always gave her a few as a reward after the feedings. Now she is my little buddy and follows me around. Another irresistible food for many chickens is egg. You can scramble it, hard boil then grate/chop it, or I often offer it raw. I guess is depends on how desperate you are to get her to eat. Just dampening her feed may do the trick, too. If you do offer her a treat, make sure she is away from the flock. Otherwise they might knock her over trying to get it for themselves. Please keep us posted.