AccidentalChickenLady
In the Brooder
- Sep 19, 2017
- 37
- 19
- 49
Apologies in advance for the long post, but my hope is to provide as much detail as possible, and get some suggestions for at-home remedies (or those that can be administered at home) to try and save my favorite bird!
My 1.5-year-old Barred Rock, Raven, has had some runnier-than-normal poops for a couple weeks now, but on Saturday (three days ago), I noticed that she was particularly lethargic. She was unable to jump up onto the patio with the other birds while they free-ranged in our backyard, and when she jumped down the steps back to the grass, she fell over, laid halfway on her side (both legs on one side of her body) and wouldn't get back up. When I picked her up, I noticed she was MUCH lighter than she should be, her head was droopy, and she kept closing her eyes.
We immediately brought her inside to the chicken hospital in our office (warm, dry, and free from the other three birds in my mixed flock). Raven is second from the bottom of the pecking order, but she's also my favorite, as she's the one remaining bird I raised by hand. (That's her on my head in my profile photo.) She is usually vocal, social, and friendly, and will come running to me and do tricks for dried mealworms. Here's her at her usual perky self:
I checked her for visible wounds, and could not find any. Her comb and wattles are shriveled and dry, with a few black marks on her comb that look like they could be from other birds pecking her. Her legs seem dry and somewhat scaly. Her wings are droopy, and she is wobbly when she's able to stand. Her vent is clean, and her poops are watery, greenish yellow or dark brown, runny and VERY smelly, with a sour, pungent scent. When we first put her in her own room, she gobbled up the mealworms and strawberry tops we offered and drank fresh water when I dipped her beak in it, but has barely eaten since. Her feathers are consistently fluffed, despite her body feeling appropriately warm to the touch. Here's what she looks like now:
Suspecting that she is dehydrated and given her low weight, we have been giving her chick boost water (we had the mix from when she was a baby) twice daily, about 12ml administered orally, slowly in 3ml syringes. She is accepting that, swallowing normally, and has NOT vomited. Last night she took a few more bites of mealworms and drank several large gulps of water of her own accord, standing up, lowering her head to drink from the bowl, and guzzling with her head up as she usually does when drinking water.
While handling her gently over the past couple days indoors, I have found on my skin some small (maybe 1-2mm long) brownish-red bugs. At first I thought they were silver, but last night and this morning I found two that appeared to be full of blood. I cannot find clusters of these on her body, but the fact that they appear on my hands after handling her leads me to believe they may be the culprit. They appear to have four or six legs, an oval shaped, scaled body, and a rounded triangular head. Here's what they look like.
Live bug, seemingly full of blood:
Close-up photo (sorry it's blurry):
Dead bug, with blood spot(?) that oozed out of its back end after being squished:
Dead bug with blood spot next to fine-point felt-tip pen for size reference:
No other birds (two EEs, roughly 2.5 years old, and a year-old BO) are exhibiting any symptoms. All four birds are mid-molt, so they have not laid eggs in about a month, since the sun started going down at 4:30pm local time here outside Denver, CO. It's been cold but dry here, and while their run is filled with sand (mucked out monthly-ish), the coop is filled with pine wood chips that I fully change out at least weekly, and scoop daily. They all free-feed MannaPro Egg Maker crumble, with occasional treats of dried meal worms, and leftover fruits and veggies.
I love this bird, but I can't afford to get her to a vet right now. I'm looking for suggestions to treat the apparent bug problem and help nurse Raven back to health. She is a fighter, and I'm surprised she has lasted this long, given how lethargic she seemed on Saturday. But she is responsive to me, and will periodically stand up (she's wobbly, but can stand), and has been drinking water when she has the energy.
Thank you for reading and for any advice you can offer.
My 1.5-year-old Barred Rock, Raven, has had some runnier-than-normal poops for a couple weeks now, but on Saturday (three days ago), I noticed that she was particularly lethargic. She was unable to jump up onto the patio with the other birds while they free-ranged in our backyard, and when she jumped down the steps back to the grass, she fell over, laid halfway on her side (both legs on one side of her body) and wouldn't get back up. When I picked her up, I noticed she was MUCH lighter than she should be, her head was droopy, and she kept closing her eyes.
We immediately brought her inside to the chicken hospital in our office (warm, dry, and free from the other three birds in my mixed flock). Raven is second from the bottom of the pecking order, but she's also my favorite, as she's the one remaining bird I raised by hand. (That's her on my head in my profile photo.) She is usually vocal, social, and friendly, and will come running to me and do tricks for dried mealworms. Here's her at her usual perky self:
I checked her for visible wounds, and could not find any. Her comb and wattles are shriveled and dry, with a few black marks on her comb that look like they could be from other birds pecking her. Her legs seem dry and somewhat scaly. Her wings are droopy, and she is wobbly when she's able to stand. Her vent is clean, and her poops are watery, greenish yellow or dark brown, runny and VERY smelly, with a sour, pungent scent. When we first put her in her own room, she gobbled up the mealworms and strawberry tops we offered and drank fresh water when I dipped her beak in it, but has barely eaten since. Her feathers are consistently fluffed, despite her body feeling appropriately warm to the touch. Here's what she looks like now:
Suspecting that she is dehydrated and given her low weight, we have been giving her chick boost water (we had the mix from when she was a baby) twice daily, about 12ml administered orally, slowly in 3ml syringes. She is accepting that, swallowing normally, and has NOT vomited. Last night she took a few more bites of mealworms and drank several large gulps of water of her own accord, standing up, lowering her head to drink from the bowl, and guzzling with her head up as she usually does when drinking water.
While handling her gently over the past couple days indoors, I have found on my skin some small (maybe 1-2mm long) brownish-red bugs. At first I thought they were silver, but last night and this morning I found two that appeared to be full of blood. I cannot find clusters of these on her body, but the fact that they appear on my hands after handling her leads me to believe they may be the culprit. They appear to have four or six legs, an oval shaped, scaled body, and a rounded triangular head. Here's what they look like.
Live bug, seemingly full of blood:
Close-up photo (sorry it's blurry):
Dead bug, with blood spot(?) that oozed out of its back end after being squished:
Dead bug with blood spot next to fine-point felt-tip pen for size reference:
No other birds (two EEs, roughly 2.5 years old, and a year-old BO) are exhibiting any symptoms. All four birds are mid-molt, so they have not laid eggs in about a month, since the sun started going down at 4:30pm local time here outside Denver, CO. It's been cold but dry here, and while their run is filled with sand (mucked out monthly-ish), the coop is filled with pine wood chips that I fully change out at least weekly, and scoop daily. They all free-feed MannaPro Egg Maker crumble, with occasional treats of dried meal worms, and leftover fruits and veggies.
I love this bird, but I can't afford to get her to a vet right now. I'm looking for suggestions to treat the apparent bug problem and help nurse Raven back to health. She is a fighter, and I'm surprised she has lasted this long, given how lethargic she seemed on Saturday. But she is responsive to me, and will periodically stand up (she's wobbly, but can stand), and has been drinking water when she has the energy.
Thank you for reading and for any advice you can offer.
