Limp, barely responsive pullet.

[Demosthine]

Too funny..little did she know how addictive they are. If you take Sunshine, you gotta take her sisters too. Sunshine needs friends to keep her company.

Oh, don't let her hear you say that!!! She'll be telling me to get rid of the ice chest so we can fit the dog kennel in the truck! Yikes!

 

[Demosthine]

She's a little more spunky, but not eating or drinking by herself. We are hand feeding with an eye dropper and it seems to be working. I'm going to the feed store for a feed tube and syringe. We'll give her some benadril today, too, since we can't find anything she got in to. Maybe it was a scorpion.

She won't stand on her own yet, but she moves her legs more and is holding up her own head. Both are big improvements over yesterday.

 

[casportpony]

When I tube feed really sick ones, I find that giving them small amounts every hour or two is best. I have found that when they are really sick, they are more likely to vomit and aspirate if their crops have too much in them. I use pediatyle or lactated ringers solution, not water for the really sick ones.

This has some good info on emergancy care for birds:
http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/avhc/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=557934&sk=&date=&pageID=3

FWIW, I'm about to tube feed one of my RIR hens, she's not as sick as your hen (can stand and walk), so she'll probably get at least 60cc's of a 27% turkey starter. My 75 gram baby pigeons were both tube fed 20cc's each this morning, but they have crops like the double one in the picture below.



Just go slow, wait for the crop to clear, then give more. If she aspirates, she will probably die.

 

[casportpony]

Forgot to mention, the really sick ones get the Kaytee bird food.

 

[casportpony]

Before you give diphenhydramine (Benadryl), take a look at the info here:



Source: http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/cam/09_therapeutic_agents.pdf

 

[Demosthine]

Forgot to mention, the really sick ones get the Kaytee bird food.

I'll look in to the Kaytee bird food. I did some fermented starter pellets today and the water is laced with ACV and Pedialyte. We just bought the Benadryl, so she'll get that tonight. I tried reading that link and it is way beyond me medical wise, at least right now. Maybe if I start on Page 1? My wife is helping care for her, though. As much as she fought getting them, she's really stepped up to help out. She did the hand-drinking today...

 

[casportpony]

The Benadryl dose for birds is 2-4mg/kg, I think, so if you're set on giving it, be very careful! I wouldn't give it if she were mine. Have you checked her to see if maybe she's egg bound? There are so many reason she could be sick...

 

[Demosthine]

I'm not dead set on giving it, so we'll see how she's doing. The clerk at the feed store sold is Kaytee Exact Hand Feeding Formula. I hope that's what you meant. They had a big selection of "Kaytee Bird Food."

She also gave us a half package of GrowGel plus B to give her. I guess it's a bit better than Pediatlyte and she had the partial pack left from the 200 chicks they received yesterday.

Your chart hadn't shown up before my last post and it won't display onmy phone. I'll have to look at it on my laptop.

Thanks for the help and advise!

 

[Demosthine]

Oh, and she's only about 14 weeks old, so I wouldn't even suspect egg bound. I'll look up the symptoms when we get home. She's been on the ?Purina? Start and Grow, plus free-ranging. Is that common for a first egg?

 

[Poultry Couture]

Good luck to your hen!