Prognosis for this sick stray chicken?

[Banana01]

For the past three days I have been feeding and giving medicine to a stray chicken. Here she is yesterday after feeding her.

It takes a bit if effort for me to find her every day and I was wondering if she had a chance? She has some wet pox in a really bad place inside her head.

She has really improved rapidly over the past three days. I was wondering if her beak will ever return to normal so she can eat. I have to shove food down her throat to fill her crop every day.

 

[azygous]

As long as she's improving, she has a good chance. You should learn to tube feed. It's so much easier on both of you and safer than stuffing food down her throat. If you know anyone who uses oxygen at night, often you can get their discarded plastic tubing before they toss it out after they replace it periodically. That's what I use. All you need then is a syringe that will fit the tubing, and is also large enough to handle a wet gruel.

I make up a runny cereal with raw egg and liquid vitamins, and it's easy to suck up into a syringe and squeeze out into tubing insert into the esophagus and crop. About a seven inch tube is about the right length.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Maybe you can put her in a dog crate or similar while you are treating her so you don’t have to try to catch her every day? stressful for you and her I bet.
You can also get clear tubing at your local hardware store, sold by the foot. Just needs to be heated a little on the cut end to smooth it out. A lighter works.
Good of you to care for her.

 

[Banana01]

Thanks for the replies. Im not having trouble feeding her, she swallows fine. I built a tube feeder before but dont want to tube feed. I feed several sick chickens this way every day and have the technique well enough to not interfere with their breathing, and i wash it down with water, like feeding a baby. Tube feeding also doesnt let them learn to swallow and use their beak.

Yesterday she even ate mushy pellets all on her own using her beak when i held it in front. I only shove liver soaked in pellets to the back of her mouth and she swallows it, followed by flushing with water.

I will keep treating her every day. Today I went to look for her and she wasnt there. I will see how she looks and if she is eating. Both her eyes are working well, it is the growth in her face that is prevemting her from eating right now.

 

[Banana01]

Update on the hen. I found out where she lives, and spoke to the owner because I didnt see her yesterday at the usual spot. Unfortunately her owner noticed her illness, and tried to squeeze the fluid out of her eye thinking it would help. Now the eye is very injured and has set back the treatment, she is worse off now and the eye may be damaged.

But I explained to her I was feeding her and I will check back tomorrow to feed her and see if the eye improves. If the eye is lost, she will have to be culled.

 

[Banana01]

Today I looked for her and hoping to see improvement, i didnt see her. I spoke to the chickens owner and she had been culled. I regret not keeping her caged, my own problems at home prevented it.

Maybe you can put her in a dog crate or similar while you are treating her so you don’t have to try to catch her every day? stressful for you and her I bet.
You can also get clear tubing at your local hardware store, sold by the foot. Just needs to be heated a little on the cut end to smooth it out. A lighter works.
Good of you to care for her.

I did hold her in my holding box an entire day until the evening, and i did contemplate keeping her, but my home is already at full capacity for my own sick and needy birds, and other animals. For three days she had been meeting me every day, and i figured fate would have her return to me if it was to be. I didnt account for the owner destroying her eye trying to squeeze it while the infection was still flaring. It's an old lady, i dont blame her.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Today I looked for her and hoping to see improvement, i didnt see her. I spoke to the chickens owner and she had been culled. I regret not keeping her caged, my own problems at home prevented it.



I did hold her in my holding box an entire day until the evening, and i did contemplate keeping her, but my home is already at full capacity for my own sick and needy birds, and other animals. For three days she had been meeting me every day, and i figured fate would have her return to me if it was to be. I didnt account for the owner destroying her eye trying to squeeze it while the infection was still flaring. It's an old lady, i dont blame her.

You did the best you could for the chicken.