Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[kbh82310]

What kind of wet cat food do you guys use? I'd like to have a can on hand just in case

 

[NotableNancy]

She's doing okay. She didn't get near enough food yesterday, and she woke up this morning with zero energy. We gave her some nutri-drench about a tablespoon of watered down feed. That helped give her a little energy.

She has been keeping her head bent down, and if we try to straighten it at all she clucks like it's painful and then puts her head back down. We think whatever was stuck in her throat did quite a bit of damage to her throat, because she still has a lot of mucus build-up, and she can't bend her head to eat or drink on her own.

Other than that she seems okay. Better now that she has a bit of food in her system. Does anybody know how much food she should be eating in one day? I would hate to over feed her, or even under feed her.

Hopefully it's just sore and just needs to heal. I have no idea how much they need to eat but I wouldn't worry about overfeeding. I would think she would stop eating if she didn't need it. But again, I'm a newbie!!

I'm not sure how much food, but I know it will really help to give her water with electrolytes. I know that water and the extra vitamins will help chickens that are sick, just learned this the past few weeks with mine. I'm still giving mine electrolytes since we have had such bad rainy and then hot & humid weather.
I gave mine a little canned cat food as well to encourage them to eat. Does she eat on her own?

I was going to add the electrolytes to one of their waterers today because of the high heat. I'm sure it will help. I put a small fan in the coop last night because it was 90 degrees in there at 7:30! Izzy seems to take it the worst. She pants a lot. I'm adding ice and frozen ice bottles to their waterers a few times/day to keep it cold, they have lots of shade and I have an area of the sand in the run wet so it's a little cooler. I'm not sure I can do anything else.

I was wondering what kind of cat food too. I have read that people give it to them when they're sick or hurt; what is it about the cat food they like/need?

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I'm not sure how much food, but I know it will really help to give her water with electrolytes. I know that water and the extra vitamins will help chickens that are sick, just learned this the past few weeks with mine. I'm still giving mine electrolytes since we have had such bad rainy and then hot & humid weather.
I gave mine a little canned cat food as well to encourage them to eat. Does she eat on her own?

No, she doesn't eat anything on her own. She can't bend her head down to eat or drink right now. We don't have any electrolytes right now, but we have been giving her nutri-drench. Which is supposed to help give weak or sick chickens a boost.

Right now she is laying in a cage outside on a towel. She seems exhausted... poor girl. Sure wish I knew what she got stuck in her throat. I think it's out now, but it seems to really hurt her when she swallows food and water.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Well, I found out why Sunni can't eat or drink on her own. We looked down her throat with a flashlight and her throat is swelled almost all the way shut from the trauma of having something stuck in there. She can swallow water from a syringe no problem, but the wet food she can't. So all we can do is try and keep her hydrated until the swelling goes down enough that she can eat.

 

[NanaLynn]

I just bought a can of Friskies the mush or pate' kind. It is the protein in it that helps from what I understand. I think it was Turkey liver or something like that.

Hope Sunni gets better soon, she may just need some more time and fluids, like you said, until the swelling goes down. Keep her with her sisters as much as possible, mine got worse when I took them away from the flock.

 

[wondertwinpower]

Well, I found out why Sunni can't eat or drink on her own. We looked down her throat with a flashlight and her throat is swelled almost all the way shut from the trauma of having something stuck in there. She can swallow water from a syringe no problem, but the wet food she can't. So all we can do is try and keep her hydrated until the swelling goes down enough that she can eat.

OH NO Poor thing! Hoping she can hang in there until the swelling goes down. I wonder if there's any anti-inflamitory you could use?

 

[kbh82310]

Thanks Lynn. Good to know its just the protein cause I can just give them what I have for my cats instead of having to go get something else.


I hope sunni feels better, hopefully you can find out what got stuck so you know to avoid it

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I just bought a can of Friskies the mush or pate' kind. It is the protein in it that helps from what I understand. I think it was Turkey liver or something like that.

Hope Sunni gets better soon, she may just need some more time and fluids, like you said, until the swelling goes down. Keep her with her sisters as much as possible, mine got worse when I took them away from the flock.

That is what we've been doing. We had her in the coop with them, but Ellie one of the EE's wouldn't stop picking on her. So we put them all outside but put Sunni in a separate cage than them. So they can see each other but they can't touch her. We thought about bringing her in the house so she doesn't have to worry about the heat, but we have 3 naughty cats and a dog who don't do well with chickens. And like you suggested, we didn't want to keep her away from her sisters.

OH NO Poor thing! Hoping she can hang in there until the swelling goes down. I wonder if there's any anti-inflamitory you could use?

I'm not sure. I'll have to do some research on it.

 

[hopefulpeeps]

That is what we've been doing. We had her in the coop with them, but Ellie one of the EE's wouldn't stop picking on her. So we put them all outside but put Sunni in a separate cage than them. So they can see each other but they can't touch her. We thought about bringing her in the house so she doesn't have to worry about the heat, but we have 3 naughty cats and a dog who don't do well with chickens. And like you suggested, we didn't want to keep her away from her sisters.
I'm not sure. I'll have to do some research on it.

sounds like she needs a breathing treatment like they give to kids when they have the croup and everything is swollen in there. poor girl! i hope it goes down asap!!

 

[NanaLynn]

Get this, I now have a credit of $17+ on my Meyer's account since I added the 2 additional chicks! Awesome!

I love their customer service!