This is my first post. Ever. On any website. So I'm a little shy about it but willing to give it a go. Because I've got an unknown about which I cannot find a satisfying answer.
It's about my barred rock pullet, Little Jane. She is just about a year. She has not yet laid an egg. About 3 months ago I noticed she was lethargic in movement, dozy, and not peckish. I wormed her and the flock (4 total) with Wazine, and dusted them for mites and lice (I saw the lice, eww, in spite of cleaning their coop and run every day--yes, this is my first time with chickens...).
No change in Little Jane, and she was eating even less. The other birds began picking on her. I tried bread, yogurt, hard boiled egg mashed, BOSS, but she wouldn't eat. The vet tested for coccidiosis. Inconclusive. She seemed a bit raspy, so he administered Baytril and, over the next two weeks, did two wormings. He also directed I tube feed her, which I did for about four weeks, but she still did not seem to want to eat. All during this time Little Jane was isolated in an extra-large dog crate in a heated shed. I sang to her, petted her, took her out for walks to see the other girls. Although she liked the green stuff I gave her, she seemed to eat so little carbs.
At about the sixth week Little Jane had very little meat on her. She was now eating, but scant little. Amazingly, her comb and wattles were full, red, and growing. But she was so tiny now that I couldn't put her out with the others. I called to vet again to see how I might put her down as it didn't seem right to keep her cooped up alone and she not putting on any weight. He wanted to try one more thing, so we took another fecal -- and found coccidiosis. So it was five days of the medication Coci (?) by mouth, tube feeding, and steroids to give her an appetite.
Short story long, three weeks have gone by since that last vet visit and Little Jane is beginning to eat again, with a purpose. I still tube feed her once a day. She consumes half a heel of bread everyday, likes her BOSS and white millet to some degree, and -- when I put her outside in a pen -- scratches and digs for bugs, plucks clover and grass, and even dust bathes.
BUT, she is still so skinny! And although very feisty, squawky, and curious, she cannot even flap up to my lap for a sit (probably no wonder, being inactive so long--).
Question is, when can I expect her to start plumping up? Her keel is so pronounced one could slice bread with it.
I know this probably sounds ridiculous to have spent all this time and energy (and, let's face it, money) on a chicken, but she is precious to me. Especially when, sitting on my lap preening herself, she stops to preen my hair bangs in-between oiling her own feathers.
Has anyone every had experience bringing chickens back from emaciated conditions? I would sure appreciate any information or advice.
It's about my barred rock pullet, Little Jane. She is just about a year. She has not yet laid an egg. About 3 months ago I noticed she was lethargic in movement, dozy, and not peckish. I wormed her and the flock (4 total) with Wazine, and dusted them for mites and lice (I saw the lice, eww, in spite of cleaning their coop and run every day--yes, this is my first time with chickens...).
No change in Little Jane, and she was eating even less. The other birds began picking on her. I tried bread, yogurt, hard boiled egg mashed, BOSS, but she wouldn't eat. The vet tested for coccidiosis. Inconclusive. She seemed a bit raspy, so he administered Baytril and, over the next two weeks, did two wormings. He also directed I tube feed her, which I did for about four weeks, but she still did not seem to want to eat. All during this time Little Jane was isolated in an extra-large dog crate in a heated shed. I sang to her, petted her, took her out for walks to see the other girls. Although she liked the green stuff I gave her, she seemed to eat so little carbs.
At about the sixth week Little Jane had very little meat on her. She was now eating, but scant little. Amazingly, her comb and wattles were full, red, and growing. But she was so tiny now that I couldn't put her out with the others. I called to vet again to see how I might put her down as it didn't seem right to keep her cooped up alone and she not putting on any weight. He wanted to try one more thing, so we took another fecal -- and found coccidiosis. So it was five days of the medication Coci (?) by mouth, tube feeding, and steroids to give her an appetite.
Short story long, three weeks have gone by since that last vet visit and Little Jane is beginning to eat again, with a purpose. I still tube feed her once a day. She consumes half a heel of bread everyday, likes her BOSS and white millet to some degree, and -- when I put her outside in a pen -- scratches and digs for bugs, plucks clover and grass, and even dust bathes.
BUT, she is still so skinny! And although very feisty, squawky, and curious, she cannot even flap up to my lap for a sit (probably no wonder, being inactive so long--).
Question is, when can I expect her to start plumping up? Her keel is so pronounced one could slice bread with it.
I know this probably sounds ridiculous to have spent all this time and energy (and, let's face it, money) on a chicken, but she is precious to me. Especially when, sitting on my lap preening herself, she stops to preen my hair bangs in-between oiling her own feathers.
Has anyone every had experience bringing chickens back from emaciated conditions? I would sure appreciate any information or advice.
