Help - Ants all over sick bird!

[LynneP]

Is there any way that you can set up a cage which is lowered into a large tub with a couple of inches of water in it, possibly the cage up on cinder block? Even fire ants will not cross water.

Also, borax powder can be used as a perimeter around all ants except fire ants, but you must keep the birds away from the powder. Tiny circular metal traps containing borax can be bought at hardware stores too. Borateem in grocery stores contains borax, and again, birds must not come in contact.

 

[inksville]

The betadine bath seems to be working...

The water is a good idea, but complicated. I am going to clean out the laundry basket, and then circle it with Safer brand ant powder. It's boric acid. which I don't think is really safe for chickens, but I don't think she's up to messing with it...

 

[LynneP]

I agree. The water is complicated.

I had no idea ants were such a problem there!

You might appreciate this site

http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/IPM/Household/F1/homeantbait.htm

 

[inksville]

This house is just built on an ant colony. I have never gone through this before, but I have seen friends deal with it.

i just called my husband and told him we are getting an exterminator.

Right now i don't care if it goes against everything we believe in lol.

I think she is comfy now, but I think she might be in shock. I can't get every ant off of her, but it's nothing like it was.

i keep bathing her and blow drying her, but she keeps pooping, so I have to bathe her again.

How do you know when it is too much to be humane?

I have 4 kids, 3 of which are home and under 4. they have been running wild all morning while i deal with Starla, I just have to ignore the chicken for a while and deal with them.

Thanks for everyone's help.

This sucks.

 

[muell112]

Sounds like you're getting the ant situation under control. If she has diarrhea like that, you should probably get her some pedialyte/gatorade so she can stay hydrated/restore her electrolytes. I would think it would be ok to just give her a break after all that to just chill in a calm, dark room.

 

[inksville]

Thanks for the support. Either she is really tired or giving up, she won't open her eyes right now.I will get her some smartwater in a few.

Can the betadine hurt her? I didn't realize how strong it is.. I mean to choose between ants all over or betadine, i guess there was no choice. But next time i bathe her I think I will rinse her in plain warm water.


The main thing is that I am worried about is she is not really drinking her water. How is she going to get the antibiotics in her if she doesn't drink her water? How else can I give it to her?

 

[Judy]

You need to rinse her very thoroughly and get the betadine off her as it can be toxic (iodine toxicity.) If you bathe her again, use a mild soap like baby shampoo or liquid castile soap. Any soap should kill ants.

But if you don't get the maggots out of her wound, the ants will be the least of her problems. Hopefully the maggots were also attacked with the Betadine.

You can buy products in the horse section of a feed store for killing maggots in a wound, but you always need to pick out or boil out with peroxide as many as you can.

I don't see how the garage is going to help because she will still be exposed to flies, so more maggots.

 

[inksville]

Yes, I think that the maggots are still an issue. I thought they were all gone, but I still saw a few.

i think I am going to have my friends husband come over and put her down. i don't want to wait until tonite.

 

[carmel]

Hi- I learned a neat trick a few years ago for my counter tops. I had ants all over my counter. If you spray them with soap and water they die instantly- I usually use goo gone a citrus spray (probably not good for animals)- I don't know if this helps-I am a great believer in Pepperment soap by Dr. Bronners but I am new to chickens and I don't know if that would be irritating. Good luck!

 

[inksville]

Okay, I am so confused.

After looking half dead all day, she's eating with vim and vigor again, drinking her water, and from the shoulders up, she's looking pretty good. She's still in the laundry basket, wrapped up in a towel (ant free.Thanks for the help through that). It's hard to kill an animal that looks like it's trying to live.

I spied a maggot, so what i am wondering is how can i tell if she has maggots internally? I haven't seen any in her poop, so I was really pretty confident earlier that they weren't in her vent. But after 3 alternating baths in soap and betadine, after picking them off her pretty thoroughly last nite, to keep seeing them is pretty discouraging.

Her vent looks like hamburger (from the other chickens pecking, I guess), and her whole area is raw from the diarrhea. I haven't looked at it closely today, I have a hard time looking at it.

What do I do?