How to feed a sick chicken please help!

[Tracy the chick]

Please help, my 16 week old barnavelder is sat on my knee as we speak. She is not eating, her breast bone is protuding. She has a muck bum but not sure what the poo is like so should find out today. She is a fluffed up with her head down asleep. She normaly runs away when you try & catch her. I dont have any antibiotics only some metnoclopamide but not sure if i should use that.what should i feed her???? All my 25 chickens have been injected for mereks, they get treated 3 times a year with flubenvet and have all had coccid treatment too so im at a loss

 

[Tracy the chick]

Ok ive mashed an egg up, rice and a bit of chick feed, ive tried to put some in her mouth and syringed some vitamin down her throat. can i give her some metroclopamide? 450mg tablet that i could melt in water. also have paracetomol...

 

[artsyrobin]

first off, what does her crop feel like? i hesitate to syringe food in, it can be a bit risky, will she drink? make a broth of crumble and see if she will drink it- or you can put drops on her beak, she will drink it in that way-

 

[jjthink]

From your description she sounds very ill. If an avian vet is a possibility, hurry.

In order to best help you, folks here could use a lot more info. When did she stop eating, what is her normal diet, and any other bits of info that can help inform the situation. Once you have the info about condition of her poo, please post.

If no vet, you can try calling Peter Brown at First State Vet Supply http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/. For a very nominal fee you get a lot of great expertise from Peter. If he recommends certain meds and you purchase from First State, that consultation fee may be waived. The problem here of course is that your bird is very sick and there is precious little time to wait for something to arrive by mail. But maybe he will recommend something you can get locally.

So sorry she's ill and hope she will get better.

JJ

 

[Tracy the chick]

Thanks im going to contact peter.. Her crop is totally empty, She stopped eating couple days ago but she is drinking.. She normaly just eats growers pellets & the smaller chickens chick crumb.. Treat is a yorkshire pudding.. Im a yorkshire girl from UK.. She lives in a huge apple orchard so has access to lots of fruit and greens & oyster shell.. Im still waiting for some poop.. If i can get a photo on ill post it but not sure how or even if i can with been a new member.. ill go take a photo now... She has no other symptoms from what ive described...Just wants to be cuddled

Shes never eaten egg or rice so not sure how to make her eat...

 

[Tracy the chick]

sad update! I took her to the vets and they gave her an injection, she sadley died on the table in the vets

the vet dosnt know what was wrong with her, symptoms white runny poo which is dehidration, very lathargic and empty crop.. She has given me a 5 day course to trat all 20 chickens in case its a bacterial infection and hope not a virus.. They dont have worms or cocci which is good news as they all been treated for that.. Fingers crossed alk the rest are ok

thanks everyone its a godsend knowing you are all here xxxx

 

[ParadiseChickens]

I am so sorry. I know it is hard. I was going to say tho for future reference, I fed a little chick back in May that was sick and I had a little long handled baby spoon left over from my babies (now grown) that I used to feed her. I made a mush of her grower feed and would put a little on the end of the spoon and spoon it into the front of her beak using my fingers to open her beak. She smacked it and swallowed it a little like a human baby would. Sadly after about a week, I had hubby cull her as she was not getting any better.

 

[Mavrik]

Mealworms, high protein (about 54%) to gain some weight. It's hard for a chicken to pass up on bugs. While live would be the best, it's the most expensive. I get freezed dried and dampen them to make them soft. I sometimes crush them while dry then dampen so they flow thought the system easier.

 

[jjthink]

I'm so sorry, and sad, that she didn't make it

Thank you for trying to help her

JJ

 

[Tracy the chick]

Thank you guys

im going to give them meal worm tomorrow.. every chicken i own has had a shot of antibiotics and they also have to have a 5 day course in there water.. I know a lot of people wouldnt agree with giving them antibiotics when they showing no symptoms but after today i couldnt go through that again... The vet was lovley she let me hold her while she was dying so she could here my voice.. ive never cried so much in ages... The vet is coming again tomorrow to give them all another injection.. Im going to invest in a long handled plastic spoon and thanks for the advice.. apparantly the pheasants we have roming our farm carry a lot of deseases and pigeons..Thanks again guys.xxxx