Please help Smudgie!!! Calling all experts!!!

[Cats Cradle]

I have a very sick bantam chick that is 7 weeks old.

"Her" name is Smudgie, and she is my daughters absolute favorite. On the very first day, when the box of identical looking chicks arrived she looked at this one and said, "That's my favorite!" I asked how she could tell her apart and she said, "See her eyeliner? It's a little smudged." Ever since then she's been called Smudgie. Even when she was still in the brooder she'd run right up to my daughter whenever she saw her! They have a very special bond.

Unfortunately, Smudgie is now very ill. Here's a history of her illness:

Saturday
We have a bunch of chicks 6-7 weeks old, sharing a tractor that is moved regularly, usually daily. When I fed them Saturday morning I noticed 3 hanging back and they looked hunched. I brought them inside to figure out what was going on and also looked over everyone else and found one other sightly hunched chick, so brought him in as well. They had some red in their stools so I assumed cocci and started them on Corid. I also treated the rest of the chicks in the tractor. All the chicks I brought in ate and drank well and had stuffed crops by evening. They seemed more active too.

More to follow... have to feed Smudgie now!

 

[Cats Cradle]

History, continued...

Sunday

Sunday morning 3 of the 4 chicks were clearly improving, but Smudgie, the 4th chick, was worse. She didn't want to eat or drink anything. I did all I could to tempt her with treats, but she just didn't feel good enough to eat. So I put little bits of moistened mash in her beak and could get her to swallow some, but it was very little. I also tried putting the tiniest drop of Poultry Nutri-Drench on her tongue. That may have helped a little as in the afternoon we did see her take a few sips of water on her own. As the evening wore on, it was clear she was going downhill fast despite my efforts. Every hour or so, incuding all through the night, I'd make sure I got at least a bit of moist mash and a drop or two of water in her. But she just kept getting weaker.

Monday

In the wee hours I researched and found a vet 2 hours away that would treat chickens. I called their office as soon as they opened and took her in immediately. The vet prescribed Albon and had me take her off the Corid. He also taught me how to tube feed her directly into her crop and told me to feed her hand feeding formula like they feed baby parrots. He gave her the first dose of Albon mixed into the food in her office. That afternoon we had some very scary poops with bright red blood. They were definitely the worst I'd seen. But towards evening the stools improved.

Tuesday

Smudge was perhaps a bit better in the morning, but in the afternoon we had the worst stool yet. Literally had one that looked like it was straight blood. Also, Smudgie seemed unconfortable. By evening the stools were somewhat better and she seemed more comfortable, but even with all the feedings I was doing she had still lost a couple of grams and was still getting weaker.

More coming...

 

[Cats Cradle]

History, continued...

Wednesday (Today)

This morning Smudgie seemed just a little more alert. However, her morning stools were almost nothing... a little mucus, which was new, and watery. Then, midday the blood came back! I looked though my notes and realized the bloody stools ALWAYS came 4-5 hours after her daily dose of Albon. (Meanwhile all of my chicks on Corid look like they were never ill.) I called the vets office to see if there was anything we could do or change. As with my previous questions, I didn't get to talk directly to the vet and the answer was less than helpful. I was told the Albon had nothing to do with the bloody stools and it wasn't going to matter what we did anyway. I really wished they would at least act like they cared!

So... I sat there about ready to cry. I tried to post all this earlier, but somehow managed to delete the whole thing when I went to post it.

By this point Smudgie was only staying awake a second or two at a time and her comb is totally white so she's both weak and anemic. I kept thinking what could I give her for some energy? I thought of the Nutri-Drench, but felt the vitamins in it would unbalance the formula she's getting. For an anemic person, you give iron, but how to safely dose a chicken this small? Somehow, my fuzzy brain (remember I've been feeding a chick around the clock for several days now) thought of molasses. A little quick energy and a source of iron. So I tried adding the tiniest drop to her feedings. What did I have to loose?

She had her first feeding with molasses about 5 1/2 hours ago now. She does seem to be improving, but she's still a very sick and weak chick.

Current Status
Smudgie is very weak. She doesn't stand, but can kinda waddle to where she wants to go. Sleeps most of the time, but will look at us alertly when we first pick her up for a brief time, but longer than earlier. Stools are actually the best they've been. They never got entirely bright red like yesterday, and now we're getting pretty decent looking stools.

 

[Cats Cradle]

OK... so if any experts have been following along so far, here are my questions:

What would you do or try next?

Would you give the Albon tomorrow? Switch back to Corid?

Is there any reason to not use the molasses?

Please feel free to ask about anything I may have left out! I tried to cover it all, but like I said my brain is pretty fuzzy at this point!

I know its a real long shot to try to save this chick. But for my daughter's sake I have to try!

 

[leadwolf1]

Molasses is a laxative for chickens. It is used for a drench to clean out unwanted materials from their systems such as moldy feed and things like that. I wouldn't continue to give her that. If it is Coccidia, they thrive on vitamin B so, vitmain complexes would probably not be something that you would want to give. I would give an electrolyte/probiotic solution. Some yogurt would do in a pinch. I think the problem may have begun when Smudgie wouldn't drink the Corid solution. In those cases, it is best to dose the sickest chicks with an eyedropper. The dosage would be the same as the chick would drink by itself in one sitting. This needs to be done every 3 - 4 hours.

I don't know much about Albon. If the chick is getting better, I would proceed with it. Finish what the vet prescribed. If Smudgie isn't better at that point, I would do a round of Corid. At some point, she is going to need probiotics to rebuild her healthy bacteria.

Can you get her to eat some smashed up chicken liver? If she is anemic, this would help with the iron deficiency. I'm trying to remember everything that I just read and address the main points. If I left something out, please feel free to ask your questions again.

 

[leadwolf1]

If you would like, PM Dawg53. He is very knowledgeable and may be able to steer you in the right direction.

Good luck with Smudgie....I have gone to extreme lengths to save those my kids love, also

 

[theoldchick]

Poor Smudgie. What are you tube feeding her?

Continue the Albon because stopping too soon will allow the coccidia organisms to really multiply.
In extreme cases like yours I'd put the chick in an oxygen tank to help her. Unfortunately, you don't have one and your vet or staff apparently thinks 'it's only a chicken'.

Keep the chick warm. Don't handle her unless absolutely necessary. The coccidia organism is causing the abnormal stools. However, giardia will cause mucous in the stools. Giardia is a common secondary invader of coccidia. Knowledgeable vets know this and add another medication. Call the vet and see if they want to do another fecal (test the poop) for other parasites. Now that her immune system is in the pits, something else may have walked in the back door.

Although you still may lose Smudgie, you really have gone above and beyond most chicken owners. Good for you! You honestly have done an excellent job of nursing her.

 

[cafarmgirl]

If you are getting decent looking stools today then you just might pull her through this! I'm sure she will be weak and very tired for a while, coccidiosis is so very hard on them. I would definitely finish up the Albon and then do probiotic's as previously mentioned. Good for you for catching this and treating all your chicks quickly, you may have saved the whole bunch and maybe even this little one too. Good luck, hope she makes it.

 

[Cats Cradle]

Molasses is a laxative for chickens. It is used for a drench to clean out unwanted materials from their systems such as moldy feed and things like that. I wouldn't continue to give her that.

Interesting and good to know!

When I first started giving the molasses she seemed to both get more energy and her stools firmed up to the best I've seen since she's been ill and they had been watery tinged with blood when I started. This literally took place over just a few hours. I was mixing the tiniest drop possible of molasses into the "hand feeding formula" which contains dried probiotics. In fact, the directions say to add warm water, let rest for a minute, and then stir to activate enzymes. It says it will be creamier then. Once I added the molasses, it got creamier a lot quicker and so I thought perhaps the probiotics were benefitting from the sugar in the molasses. So my hypothesis was that the greater numbers of probiotics had helped her stool.

BUT... now her stools have started to soften again just slightly. So now I have another theory. Perhaps she was a tad blocked up and there was some firm stool not moving along like it should. Maybe the molasses helped with that but now it's done its job.

I will stop the molasses and watch her closely for changes.

Here are photos for reference... you can see it was an extreme change! WARNING... Gross poop pictures!!!

The first photo was from a "stool" (if you can even call it that) around noon today.


This next one was at 3:20.


You don't want to know how many paper towels we've gone thru, but at least she's not reinfecting anything back in and I know exactly what comes out and when!

 

[theoldchick]

Instead of molasses feed her a product called Nutracal. This paste is easily mixed in your feeding formula and will give her extra calories and vitamins.