Minnesota!

[Minniechickmama]

Has anyone tube fed a chicken?

I have a little banty who has been ailing, and I am being advised to tube feed her. Normally I would cull but she is a special one.

Been nursing her for 2 weeks now in a kennel in the house, and she is emaciated, eats but not a lot. Also will only eat groats and an occasional piece of crumble or fresh clover. Rejects egg (mashed, scrambled,raw), yogurt, cheese, cracked corn, mash dry or mash wet, apple, raisins, cottage cheese, liver, canned catfood, dry cat food, grits cooked, grits raw....

If I take her out of the kennel and toss feed, the sound attracts her and she will eat, but picks out the groats. maybe a sunflower seed once in a while, but picks out the groats. I am not home during the day, and she doesn't rouse herself to eat much during the day on her own.

She can't get enough nutrition from the oat groats. Whatever underlying issues got her in this state (near starvation) may still be there - she has been wormed, treated for cocci, and given an antibiotic.

I'm looking for someone who would teach me to tube her - I've watched the videos but she is sooo tiny, and I don't have a second pair of helping hands either.

When I need to force something down a bird, like meds or dewormer or whatever, I use a 1ml syringe. It will take a bit of time, but you can get it right down in the crop. The syringe is small enough to use on bantams, so it isn't going to choke the poor thing. Also, I raise rabbits and have had some that refuse to eat for whatever affliction they have, and I was told to use canned pumpkin. It works! it has moisture to help with the fact they get dehydrated, and it is packed with vitamins. It is soft, so you can get it in a syringe too. I used it straight, then added yogurt to it. I would give that a try. It sounds like it couldn't hurt. And by getting the syringe down the throat and into the crop, you don't have to worry about it getting in the airway.
I am sorry you are having problems with your bird. It is never fun when they are the ones you care about most.

 

[lalaland]

I did last spring. My rooster Alexander got into a bad fight and ended up with horrible beak injuries. He refused to drink and he wouldn't touch any of his favorite foods. I tube fed him for 2 weeks while his injury healed.

I live to far away to show you. My best advice is to have confidence. If the tube starts sliding down the wrong tube, it won't kill her. She'll gag and you'll remove it that instance and try again. If you get it down the correct tube, you will feel it slide all the way to the crop. The more you do it, the easier it'll get.

When I need to force something down a bird, like meds or dewormer or whatever, I use a 1ml syringe. It will take a bit of time, but you can get it right down in the crop. The syringe is small enough to use on bantams, so it isn't going to choke the poor thing. Also, I raise rabbits and have had some that refuse to eat for whatever affliction they have, and I was told to use canned pumpkin. It works! it has moisture to help with the fact they get dehydrated, and it is packed with vitamins. It is soft, so you can get it in a syringe too. I used it straight, then added yogurt to it. I would give that a try. It sounds like it couldn't hurt. And by getting the syringe down the throat and into the crop, you don't have to worry about it getting in the airway.
I am sorry you are having problems with your bird. It is never fun when they are the ones you care about most.

thanks both of you. I do have a little ml syringe. and pumpkin - I feed canned pumpkin to a cat who has food issues, always hungry.

I will try the pumpkin and yogurt mix tonight.

I am so conflicted about whether to tube or not - with cochins rooster, it makes such sense, keep him going til the injury heals, but with this banty, keep her going til what? feels like whatever wrong isn't fixable.
thanks again.

 

[Minniechickmama]

thanks both of you. I do have a little ml syringe. and pumpkin - I feed canned pumpkin to a cat who has food issues, always hungry.

I will try the pumpkin and yogurt mix tonight.

I am so conflicted about whether to tube or not - with cochins rooster, it makes such sense, keep him going til the injury heals, but with this banty, keep her going til what? feels like whatever wrong isn't fixable.
thanks again.

Of course, it is your call on what is best for the bird. Sometimes we just have a hard time with what our head tells us and what our heart tells us. Good luck with whatever you do.

 

[lalaland]

Of course, it is your call on what is best for the bird. Sometimes we just have a hard time with what our head tells us and what our heart tells us. Good luck with whatever you do.

ah, that is exactly it! my head says to cull, my heart says no. Poor baby. She is a walking skeleton, and it is so up and down. getting better one day, relapsing the next.

 

[aussiegal318]

Hi everyone!
Fall is such busy time of year, and then we get snow. Eh gads! My trees haven't even dropped their leaves yet. It will be a mess in spring if I can't get them up before it snows again. I had to cull one girl, guilty of egg eating. Hoping no one else picked up that bad habit. It's hard to tell because egg count is down with molting & such. I brought my Lil' Red Hen up to the house (again), my roo has turned her into a naked chicken (again). I have tried a hen coat but he keeps getting it off. Last year he gouged her. I hope I'm not the only nut case keeping a chicken in my mud room. I see I'm not the only one from Nowthen. Good to finally catch up!

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I have a chicken with her 3 chicks in my garage. If that makes you feel any better.

 

[Chickenlady50]

I

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Oooh, if you are selling any calico cochins in the spring, I am interested! Love those

 

[Chickenlady50]

I am new to the board   Anyone else here form MN?

I raise Seramas and Call Ducks.

 

[Chickenlady50]

I'm from MN and have cochin bantams and laying hens to sell eggs

 

[Chickenlady50]

I want to get into showing my bantams