Injured Chicken, not walking! UPDATE: Standing better, but now fever?

[luvs2ride1979]

My girls got attacked by dogs last week. See the thread for background: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=614328

So, the surviving injured chicken is not doing well. She can't really walk. She can stand and will stagger a step or two, then falls over. Her feet will grip my fingers when I put them under her feet, but her legs just aren't working well. She has 3 puncture wounds on her back, nowhere near her spine, small tooth sized, no tears or gashes. They look like they're healing up well. The top of her tail was severed, just the tendon and muscle, no bone was showing, so it's just drooping behind her. She's pooping okay, though she's all dirty underneath because she can't get up. All of the feathers under her belly have fallen out. She will eat when I hand feed her, but only a mash I made up of corn meal, cream of wheat, sugar, and nutri-drench. She won't eat any chicken feed or grains, even if I make a mash with chick starter. And she won't eat on her own, only when I hold it in front of her and tap on the bowel like I'm pecking with my spoon. I can't tell if she's drinking or not. She will drink a little out of a spoon if I hold it up to her mouth, but not out of a dropper or a bowel on the ground (while I'm watching anyway). Today, her cooing sounded labored, like she might have mucus in her lungs. I mixed some duramycin in her food, since I don't know if she's drinking or not.

She's bright eyed and looks around and coos at people whenever anyone is close. I have her in the garage in a quiet area with shavings and a mat under her.

Any ideas? Anything else I should be giving her? I can take pictures of her wounds if that will help. I plan on bathing her tonight.

 

[luvs2ride1979]

I went ahead and gave her 1/3rd CC of LA-200 antibiotic orally today. I'm going to make up the Ricket's diet for her and see if that helps.

None of my other birds are sick that I can tell. Everyone is eating and drinking fine, behavior is normal. This girl wasn't sick before this. She doesn't appear to have lost any weight. She's a Welsummer that is about 5 months old, not laying yet. I'm hoping her leg issues are injury related, but her congested sounding breathing today is troubling me. She didn't sound this way yesterday.

 

[margaretr23]

Hello -- I searched for anything on chickens "not walking" and found your post and joined the forum.

I have a chicken that was attacked by a hawk over 3 weeks ago. She still cannot walk. Just a few days ago I thought she was turning around and she was starting to stand (although she was leaning on the box to steady herself). But now she seems worse. She falls over in the box and cannot right herself.

I'm curious about the rickets diet, although to be honest, I think it's about time to give up. It's going on 4 weeks and she is now losing all her feathers for some reason. And I'm losing patience with having to hand feed her.

Thanks

Margaret

 

[luvs2ride1979]

The Ricket's diet is just a "sick bird" diet with lots of protein and vitamins.

Here's the Ricket's diet:

This amount feeds one bird. Each serving consists of:

½ to 1 x cooked egg yolk… crumbled into mixture
1 small drizzle of honey
2 tablespoons natural yoghurt - no sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons rolled oats
1 teaspoon of beef cat food…… Not dog food
½ teaspoon cod liver oil
2 tablespoons of grated apple
A small pinch of vitamin powder

Mix to make a crumble mixture, roll into pellets and force feed if necessary, the bird may be too weak to eat or have lost the desire to eat.

This mix will last 12 hours in the fridge.

I'm going to puree the apple and use corn meal instead of oats. My chickens really love corn, and they don't get it often, so it's a real treat. I feed a powdered vitamin supplement to my horses, so I'm going to use that. I have read that any vitamin powder will do; pet stores have avian supplements, or you can grind up a human multivitamin.​

 

[luvs2ride1979]

Well, she's doing better last night. She won't eat the special food, but I could only find orange flavored cod liver oil, so I'm gong to make more today with fish oil pills I have for myself. It appeared she ate some of the mash on her own yesterday and I was able to get her to drink using a syringe without the needle. I made up sugar water and added some nutri-drench. She was standing better and walked a little more.

That said, her breathing sounds worse and she's coughing/sneezing some. The skin around her head also feels hot. Could she be feverish? Can you give a bird tylenol for a fever? Today will be the 3rd day on the oral Tylan-200. 1/3rd a cc. Should I be giving her anything else?

Some help here would be nice. I feel like I'm talking to myself...

 

[Bigcreekpeafowl]

I know baytril is not easy to get these days without a vet but that is what I would give her.
The injectable is best in most cases.
She sounds like she may have infection and also pneumonia or upper respiratory infection can set in after a injury such as that. Baytril would be excellent for all those issues.

I sure hope she pulls through.

 

[luvs2ride1979]

Thanks BigCreek. If she doesn't improve on the LA-200, I'll call my horse vet and see if he can get that for me.

Tonight she's doing much better. She drank water and ate the dry chicken mix on her own. I bathed her and really scrubbed her wounds. Two of the puncture wounds have totally filled in and the last is very shallow. Her tail is looking better too. Her underside is still red from sitting in her own poop so much, but her feathers quit falling out and a few look like they're coming back in. She doesn't feel as hot today too. She still sounds congested, but she's coughing less.

Yeah!

 

[stcroixusvi]

i can't offer any advice, just some support. I am amazed at a chicken's ability to heal. Please keep up posted.

 

[luvs2ride1979]

Thanks StCroix.

She did great with her bath last night! She just stood quietly in the sink fully of soapy water and tolerated the scrubbing well. She's up and pecking around this morning.

 

[THELMA]

oh thats good news it sounds to me like she proably had a infection from the bites and with you giving the Tylan ab it has started to clear it up. Hope she makes a fully recovery as it sounds like she has had a difficult time.