HELP!!!!!!!! I Think Barred Rock Roo Sick!!!!Plz any Advice!!!!!!!

[coltsrox]

newer update: and his color is back and he's eatinng as much as our hen! he is piggin out!!!woohoo!!!!

threehorses,jesterseye, and eggsforsale:

I CANNOT thank you enough for all your help! I believe my rooster is on the way to his own self! If there is anything i can do to show my appreciation let me know please! Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your time and advice!!!he crowed again this mornin!!!!

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Just keep working on him. Remember - as long as he's been sick, it'll take that long for him to truly recover at least. Take it slow and don't let him do too much.

 

[JestersEye]

That's great news about Massala! I am SO happy for you!!! And don't worry the least bit about "upstaging" my news about Pearl. This is your post, afterall... and I could sure use some good news to carry me through Pearl's treatments. Maybe these situations just call for extraordinary persistence. It sure sounds like Massala will be as good as new soon, just like Cobalt.

As threehorses has already said, I too would advise that you keep up with his care a bit longer just to help build up his lost strength, and just to watch to make sure he keeps eating and drinking enough.

On the subject of Pearl... She MAY be improving a tiny bit, but it's hard to tell. This morning, she wandered out of her cage on her own to explore around the house a bit. She found the container of rabbit food under the bench in the foyer and started pecking at it, so I gave her some to eat. I was really happy to see that she seemed interested for the first time in food! She picked out some seeds or whatever morsels seemed tastiest to her... shoveling with her beak to "choose" whatever she found worthy of eating. I let her do this as long as she would, and then felt her crop to see how full it was. It was still really small, so I finished filling her up with parrot paste, and also gave her a squirt of Nutri-drench.

I have discovered that she is definately drinking from her waterer, because I've been noticing the level going down. I'm glad for that, since I can be sure she is getting her antibiotics, as well. I think maybe I should've started her on the Duramycin-10 earlier, as I had with Cobalt; as that might be the cause of her slight improvement. Her breatbone is sticking WAY out, and she's still panting a lot. Her poo is still very watery, which I guess is normal for such a "soft" diet. I wish I knew WHAT made her so sick?!

 

[JestersEye]

Pearl has made some improvements, albeit slowly and gradually. I think the antibiotics are helping her get the upper hand finally. She's still weak, but alert... and she isn't panting anymore!

She does seem a bit tired, but it might be because I heard her moving around in her cage last night, and this morning I noticed that she had eaten some of the hard-boiled egg yolk I had left for her. She was also drinking from her waterer so much that I worried that she was overdoing the liquids (which explains her watery poo). Once I moved her waterer away, she finally started pecking at her crumbles. I still don't think she's really eating near enough on her own, but it's a start! Since the expense is a consideration for us right now, I cancelled the vet appointment I had made for her, waiting to see if she continues to improve with the current treatments. She isn't getting any worse at this point, so I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope for the best. For the time being, she will continue to live as a house bird 'til she gets stronger and gains some weight.

 

[coltsrox]

Jesterseye, how is your girl pearl doing?

Massala update: i am still force feeding him vitamins, giving him yogurt and yolk but his appetite is back, he is crowing.feister already, his color is back! and he has gained most of his weight back!!!!!!! i still feel his breast bone but he has gained lots back, and he carries himself like the proud rooster he is!

threehorses, eggsforsale, and jesterseye. Thank you so stinkin much! My dad marvels how good he is and how bad he was and calls me amazin but surely i could not have done it without yall!!!!
I owe my roosters health to yall and GoD, THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!
I love my little boy!!!!!

 

[JestersEye]

I am truly happy for you, ColtsRox... and of course, for Massala, too!

I just PM'd someone yesterday about how good Pearl is doing, except that she still seems as awfully thin as ever. She had finally stopped panting (mostly) and was just starting to peck at her some food on her own. She's been spending some time outside and even got up on the perch in her cage once. Just this morning, she wandered around the living room and foyer, as she likes to do, and everything seemed fine.

However...

I just got home from my son's football scrimage and found her lying on her side, in her cage in the foyer. At first, I thought she was dead, but when I picked her up, she craned her neck back in an extremely strange position. I know she is dying, and there's nothing I can do for her!

I wonder if she had a stroke or something... maybe a complication of her extremely weak and malnourished state. I cleaned her up and got her to hold her head in a more natural position, and gave her some water and Nutri-drench by eye dropper. Thankfully, she is still able to swallow it.

Her crop was empty, so I made some very soupy parrot formula and fed some to her until I could feel her crop fill up about half way. She can't seem to walk, and she's acting very lethargic and sleepy. I made a soft bed for her from a folded towel and she is resting on a couch cushion. I put her legs under her in a semi-normal position but she isn't holding herself up in a typical chicken pose. Her head is drooped all the way forward in front of her.

Once in a while, I see her flex her tail feathers or a wing, and a few times she picked her head up to look around, but it may just be spasms or reactions to discomfort or something. I feel sure we're losing her. I really thought she was getting better, but I know I failed her by not taking her to the vet when I had the chance. (I would take her now, but of course it has to be a Sunday!) It's just so expensive, and we really can't afford it.

I feel horrible!!! Our poor baby girl has put up such a fight, but it's just a matter of time now... It will be the first loss in our flock.

I'll let you know as things progress.

 

[threehorses]

Coltsrox: I'm so glad to hear about your boy - that's wonderful news. Keep up the good work.

JestersEye: I'm so very sorry to hear about Pearl.

I trust your instincts and am just terribly sorry things are progressing like this. But your Pearl has mercy in your hands and gentle kindness no matter what the day brings. Thank you for giving her that. PLease let us know how it goes.

 

[JestersEye]

Thank you, threehorses. I just can't believe I found her like this so suddenly!

I just bought her a pack of sunflower seeds from the snack stand at the football field and was looking forward to feeding them to her.

I wish I'd been here when she must've needed me...

She keeps flexing up for a few seconds, before relaxing and going all limp again. I keep thinking that must've been her final moment... but then she does it again a bit later. I went over to check her once, and to reposition her head, and she just watched me blinking and opening her beak somewhat. I'm trying to leave her be as much as possible, so she'll stop fighting and let go... She's quiet, at least, but her occasional movement look like so sad. I just hope she isn't in too much pain.

 

[JestersEye]

SHE'S FINALLY GONE...

She had a few spasms and stiffened all up with her beak wide open and her neck craned back. Then, I left the room for a minute to ask my son if he's allow his father and I to put her down (using carbon monoxide from the car exhaust). When he came back in the room with me, she was lying still on her side, with her face covered in wet parrot formula. I quickly moved her head out, but more keeps spilling out of her open beak. It appears that her crop is emptying itself of the last feeding we had given her. Her eyes are no longer fluttering open at my touch, and I can't find any signs of breathing.

I still can't believe how quickly everything turned around on us. I'm glad her ordeal is over, but we'll all miss her terribly! I'm glad she waited for us to be here with her before passing away. At least she wasn't all alone. I think she could tell how much we cared. I'm also very grateful that Cobalt was able to recover. He is such a handsome and sweet rooster!

Another problem is that we now have only ONE Blue Andalusian hen! I'm gonna try to make an incubator and hatch some more as soon as possible. I think I may need to order some eggs from someone, though. It would take too long to get enough eggs from our lone surviving hen, and besides it'd be good to add some new genes into the flock, anyway.

 

[threehorses]

Aww I'm so sorry that she did pass. I suspected, as did you, that she was going to having read what you saw. This is one of the hard parts of owning birds - they just sometimes don't make it. But again thank you for showing her mercy and trying to help her the best you can, your family, too.

/hugs