- Aug 7, 2018
- 9
- 20
- 64
I adopted a bullied, blind, sick hen about six weeks ago. She is approx 2 years of age and a bantam Ancona.
When she came to me she weighed 850g and was very underweight. She was sick with coccidiosis and we didn’t think she would live. We fed her baby food and water by syringe and she had a 10 day course of antibiotics. She seemed to recover despite the vet saying she was a bit of a lost cause. Four days later the runny poop started again. We gave her another four days of antibiotics and she seemed to fully recover. She lost 50g during this period but she put this back on plus 9g.She has since lost 100g and her poop is small but solid.
She has constant access to food and water whether inside or out and she can find her bowls ok. She lives with three miniature ducks which we got to keep her company and they get on brilliantly and she feels very safe with them. However, the ducks have made friends with the chickens next door and she is very afraid of them so she basically stands around not doing much waiting for the ducks to come home when they go visiting.
I bring her in to eat so I can make sure she is having something but she is a very fussy eater. She won’t eat eggs, fish, cat food but she does like mealworms which I put in water for her. She eats pellets and mixed corn with Velese Chick and Quail feed as she only likes very small grains, she has chick grit too.
She spends a lot of time indoors with me as she hates the cold and wind and likes listening to the radio, she is quite spoilt really and I’m ever so fond of her.
I am very concerned about this continuing weight loss. She has been wormed just before I got her and I cannot see any parasites. Can coccidiosis permanently damage the gut irreparably? Am I being unkind to keep her alive like this? I can take her to a vet but they just said there’s not much you can do for sick chickens that I haven’t done already. Do I start feeding her by syringe again? Any advice gratefully received, thank you in advance.
When she came to me she weighed 850g and was very underweight. She was sick with coccidiosis and we didn’t think she would live. We fed her baby food and water by syringe and she had a 10 day course of antibiotics. She seemed to recover despite the vet saying she was a bit of a lost cause. Four days later the runny poop started again. We gave her another four days of antibiotics and she seemed to fully recover. She lost 50g during this period but she put this back on plus 9g.She has since lost 100g and her poop is small but solid.
She has constant access to food and water whether inside or out and she can find her bowls ok. She lives with three miniature ducks which we got to keep her company and they get on brilliantly and she feels very safe with them. However, the ducks have made friends with the chickens next door and she is very afraid of them so she basically stands around not doing much waiting for the ducks to come home when they go visiting.
I bring her in to eat so I can make sure she is having something but she is a very fussy eater. She won’t eat eggs, fish, cat food but she does like mealworms which I put in water for her. She eats pellets and mixed corn with Velese Chick and Quail feed as she only likes very small grains, she has chick grit too.
She spends a lot of time indoors with me as she hates the cold and wind and likes listening to the radio, she is quite spoilt really and I’m ever so fond of her.
I am very concerned about this continuing weight loss. She has been wormed just before I got her and I cannot see any parasites. Can coccidiosis permanently damage the gut irreparably? Am I being unkind to keep her alive like this? I can take her to a vet but they just said there’s not much you can do for sick chickens that I haven’t done already. Do I start feeding her by syringe again? Any advice gratefully received, thank you in advance.
