peck wounds on day old keet - PHOTOS

[leonphelps]

pour a little pedialyte down her beak. cant really hurt. it will hydrate and has some calories.

 

[critters]

I am far from an expert but try a scrambled egg, mix with crumbles and milk...(making it mushy,not soupy)....my newborns love this and just maybe your baby will try it
and eat a few bites....stick his beak in it to peak his interest... good luck!!

I gave this to my 26, 1 week old babies just yesterday and they ate like there was no tomorrow...they would
grab pieces of the egg out and run around playing keep away from the others.....I love my guineas..they are so cute and entertaining!

 

[TexGardenGirl]

Today's update.
The wound continues looking better. I think if it didn't I'd be about ready to give up hope. She still won't eat a thing on her own. But now that she's 4 days old I am taking semi-aggressive feeding measures. I'm syringing Pedialyte into her mouth (she will swallow whatever I can get into her tiny mouth). I tried critters scrambled egg mix, squash baby food, and finally peach baby food. She won't eat it voluntarily, but she did seem to swallow the peaches a little more eagerly once I spooned it into her mouth. I've given her 2 meals of that, and just now tried mixing some crumbles in - the consistency is a little harder to spoon in, but I want her to get some real nourishment. Each time I've given enough to almost fill her crop - just getting firm but not hard or bulging. Her crop empties by the next feeding so I guess the digestion is moving.

FYI, I found this website which has some good info on assisted feeding. It's more for pet birds (I think they're mostly giving formula to baby parrots etc.) but the techniques are the same and there's a little chicken/turkey info. http://www.avianweb.com/handfeedingmethods.html I'm sure many of you have been to avianweb, but this is the link to the handfeeding info - it leads to a few other links for tube feeding, etc, which fortunately I don't think I'll need this time.

 

[appychick]

Do you happen to have a small very young chick to put with keet for company just long enough to eat together? Or possibly house the keet close to another bird so that it can view another companion.....Maybe the keet is just lonesome.

 

[TexGardenGirl]

Quote:
It didn't occur to me to put someone in with her just for mealtime. That might have been a good idea if I'd done it a few days ago. I did have two other wounded babies in the same room in a box right next to her so she could hear them chirping (though not see them), and I had two little cat toys in with her from the start - she liked to sleep on top of the mouse!
Sadly, she passed away this morning. I was so hopeful yesterday evening, she took a lot of food (well, I poured it into her mouth with a spoon, but she swallowed easily) and she seemed stronger. Her last late night feeding was not quite as good, I was hoping to fill her crop for the night but she got too tired too quick so I let her go to sleep with a half full crop. She was still alive this morning, but looking quite weak, so I tried one more feeding but didn't get very far. She swallowed some but seemed like she didn't want to. We ran some errands and when we got back she was gone.

DH was wondering if maybe whenever she got her head damaged if maybe her esophagus got damaged too. (We're still not sure if she was actually pecked by Momma or if she got her head stuck in the cage wire - if it was the cage, maybe it pulled on her throat as well as the back of her neck) I guess we'll never know. He buried her in the woods this afternoon.
I'm very sad. I've lost adult birds and teenage birds, but she's my first baby loss, and after giving her so much intensive care the last few days it's really hard. But happily the other 2 wounded babies and all the others are doing fine. Momma's upset since we took her away, but I couldn't have her beating them up anymore...
Thanks again to everyone for all the advice and support. It makes me feel a little less alone in this.

 

[perchie.girl]

I am soo sorry....

 

[thechickeneer97]

proabably the best thing to do is sterilize the wound with peroxide nd cover it with neosporin

 

[PeepsCA]

Aww, so sorry for your loss, that's too bad

At least you know you tried your best to save her... and you will be ready if it ever happens again with another keet.

 

[OkChickenNerd]

I had followed this from the first post.... I am so sorry to hear about your loss... I also had my first loss this year a poor little seabright bantam that was one of my favorites... I think this ugly drought and heat just got to her... She was only four days old.... I was heart broke because she had been so spunky the night before.....

 

[lilchik]

I'm so sorry for your loss. You tried your best.