Oh!!! Help!!! Hen is really not look good at all!!!!!!!!!!

[Sarevan]

I'm sorry that you lost her, just like us they react differently to being I'll. Some are able to fight it off quickly others need intervention and help to get better even then it can be a fast decline.

To prepare for a next time I would get together a feeding kit, aquarium tubing or a lamb feeding kit from the feed store, the tubing comes in different gauges, I use a 14g it was all they had. It does however work fine. Get Kaytee bird food it is a powder like human baby formula you just mix with water. Pet stores will have it in the bird section. Plain tums for the calcium if egg bound.

Corid is for cocci, and is mixed in the water with no other additives change the water daily. Will be available at feed store. For sour crop you can use the same things for womens yeast infections, I put it in the tube feeding mixed with yogurt and put it into the crop. That way it gets to where it is needed and no waste. I have gotten I can tube feed by myself with out extra hands. Pin bird to my left side left hand opens mouth, right hand works tube down throat go to the side of mouth and throat and it will not interfer with breathing. Once tube is inserted far enough into crop, you can feel the tube externally to tell if you have gone far enough. I hold the tube and head in left hand holding it in place then depress plunger slowly so that none works back up throat to be aspirated. I massage the crop so contents is mixed after awhile and seems it has gone down I add just plain water.

This works for me, my new Roo seems to go piggy and fill crop up so by morning it hasn't gone down. I think his crop is slow emptying. Sometimes just massage and water will help get it moving. I don't use oils as read too much of it turning into impacted crop.

Again sorry for you loss, everyone on here is a wealth of information and willing to help. I am so grateful, and surprised I am learning so much.

 

[ten chicks]

My condolences,very heartbreaking when one of our pets die. Her symptoms did suggest a crop issue,possibly sour crop.

For future reference if any bird is not eating/drinking,tube feeding is really the first thing to do. This is where chickens fragility shows up b/c they cannot go without food/water,they become dehydrated very fast and without food their body starts to shut down. Birds require a constant supply of food to sustain this high metabolism(high metabolic rate and high body temp)without food/water they rapidly decline,often 2 days is enough to push them past the point of no return. With this high metabolic rate they are also susceptible to hypothermia(great demands are placed on their body to maintain a constant body temp)if no food is available,this is why additional heat is required.

This is one reason why birds go into a type of suspended animation at night when sleeping,it is a form of nocturnal hypothermia that they go into,to conserve energy when food supply is reduced. While this is normal,once awake they eat,but if no food is available they stay in this state and rapidly decline,this is were tube feeding comes in as it will snap them out of this state and then we can start treating illness/injury that placed them there in the first place.

 

[tankgirl88]

Thank you both for you suggestion. I think it's a great idea to have a med kit on hand for the ladies. I will try to make a list of things to go in it from the info you have given me and go out to the farm store later to get supplies. I really appreciate all the support. This place it so great. I would be lost without it!