HELP! jay fledgling stung! Answer now!

[missychicky]

I found a jay fledgling lieing on it side shaking. After closer inspection I found a dead bee entangled in its feathers. Its having a hard time balancing and keeps its head 90 degrees from normal straight. His eyes are closed and he can turn his head straight with help and is still breathing but also shaking. PLEASE HELP! I dont want him to die!

 

[Slater1995]

Quote:
I have no Idea, but I did a search and this is what I found:

Bee-Stung Chicken Lips.

[One of my recent posts/experiences with backyard urban farming. When hobbies collide!]


No, not a new Angelina Jolie beauty product, but an experience I had yesterday with my flock of Bantams.


I'm a new backyard chicken-keeper, as well as a backyard beekeeper, so needless to say I have more than an average amount of bees in my yard. On the weekends I've started letting the chicks (2 months old or so) out in the backyard to free range while supervised.
Yesterday one of my chicks (pretty sure he's a rooster) was chasing a bee, and then started dashing around wildly clawing at his beak.
I was pretty sure he'd been stung, but didn't think anything of it.
He's a chicken right?


Wrong.
Couple of minutes later I looked over and he was slowly passing out on the lawn. I rushed over and noticed his eyes were closed and he wasn't doing well. Difficulty breathing, etc.
Sure enough there was a stinger stuck to the underside of his beak. I scraped it out and picked him up.
I waited a while in disbelief, wondering if I was going to lose a chicken to a bee! before deciding to try something crazy.
No no, I didn't try mouth-to-beak.
I will admit, I did try blowing in his nostrils. Sadly this had no effect other than inflating his cheeks to comic effect.


After recently seeing what a bee sting can do to a dog (same effect actually, with vomiting) and also having learned giving a dog Benadryl is OK (helps prevent allergic reactions, anaphylactic shock, etc.), my fiance' decided we should try this with the chick.
We took some Benadryl, crushed it up, added some water, pried open his beak, and spoon fed him a couple slurps of pink Benadryl paste.
Within seconds his eyes were open! About 10-15 minutes later he was looking better and was able to stand on his own 2 feet? Talons? Claws? Scratching implements? Something.

After 30 minutes or so he was back to walking around, albeit with not as much confidence and a little wary look in his eyes towards anything buzzing nearby.

 

[missychicky]

How much should I give this little guy? too much could be lethal.

 

[Slater1995]

Quote:
It doesn't say, Maybe try just a pinch and add more if necessary.

 

[Slater1995]

Quote:
It doesn't say, Maybe try just a pinch and add more if necessary.

Here is another paragraph I found.

Upon approaching the pen, I could see that some type of catastrophe had occurred. A couple of the chickens were dead, a couple more had their heads hanging down, and several others were still running around. Upon inspecting the chickens more closely, I noticed that the heads of those affected were covered with bee stings. There were also soft-shelled eggs which had been aborted lying on the ground. We caught the ones that had been severely attacked, but were still alive, and began removing the stings from their heads, one by one, with a forceps. I estimated 30 stings per head. We then gave the chickens an oral dose of Benadryl and placed them in cages. They survived and began laying eggs again within a week or two.

 

[missychicky]

ok i did what you said we'll wait and see...

UPDATE: s/he isn't shaking anymore but the head has become more droopy and less controlled. I fed him/her a few worms and they went down well but ocasoinally she/he will have a short spasm. She/he has fallem asleep on my lap,so cute, hope it turns out ok...

 

[Slater1995]

Quote:
Let me know how it turns out.