- Jan 11, 2007
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well I came home about two or three hours ago and went to open the garden gate to the backyard and what did I see? my teensy banty silkie (most of my silkies are standards and this is the son of my banty roo bandit > he is TINY)
anyway... there he is lying totally prostate on the patio - eyes closed looking to me like he is DEAD.... I see blood around the head and gently stroke him and upon seeing a slight reaction knew he was still alive and that this was due to injury. (Most likely suspect my standard roo who has been a bit rough here lately with everyone) There is no longer active bleeding and so that is not an issue I have to deal with this time.
So many post with questions on how to handle such a situation like this I thought I would post what I did (this is relevant for any bird with head injuries... I mainly have done this more often with pigeons).
First thing is I scooped him very gently up (he had a reaction to this but his head/neck was really floppy and he could not control it at all and his eyelids remained more or less closed > this told me he was in a bad neurological state and needed electrolytes immediately)
It is important to remain calm and movely slowly and gently to ensure as little stress to the bird as possible (thankfully I regularly pick up my birds up in the evening and bring them inside and stroke them a bit on my lap > not only for the pure pleasure of it but in just such a situation the environment is somewhat familiar to them so they will not freak out at the sound of the radio or tv or smells inside the house)
I get the premeasured package of electrolytes (enough to put in max one liter of water) and make that up and also add a fizzy vit C tablet (is also good for stress > my electrolytes have no added vitamins so I add those myself) ... I make sure he gets a bit of the electrolyte water drizzling along the side of his beak and notice that he perks up as I do so (this takes place over a course of ten or fifteen minutes). I get the "sick box" (I always have a spare cardboard box around) and line it with newspaer and shavings (birdie laid on a towel in a corner while I am preparing the box) and make a little indentation in it pushing up the shavings in the corner to rest his head on so he is kind of propped up in that corner of the box.
As it is daytime I take him back outside (he will always be less stressed there than inside) and find him a safe corner on my patio (I block it with some wire fencing to keep away the other birds) and then get a larger piece of cardboard and tilt it over the setup so he feels nice and protected and is in shade (it is drizzling a bit of rain with periods of sun in between > it is in the seventies) The water is in a bowl within a neck stretch for him but not in the box (dont want him to drown if he goes downhill or has a seizure)
I go out after a half hour and again dip his beak in the waterer and see he is swallowing and am happy with his progress. I let him rest another half hour and then again pick him gently up and note that he is more aware of things (even get a wee squawk and he has his eyes now open) I have brought a combo tab of the vitE/selenium (p r i c k e d open) and after drizzling a bit of electrolyte water again to ensure he is swallowing on own etc. I gently pry his beak open and give him half the contents of the geltab of (vitE/selenium) ... I bring out some feed a half hour later and he is very interested and starts eating ... yeah!!!!!
He is now under my table right outside my living room window (backyard paved patio) in his little box nest settled in for the nite now.
anyway... there he is lying totally prostate on the patio - eyes closed looking to me like he is DEAD.... I see blood around the head and gently stroke him and upon seeing a slight reaction knew he was still alive and that this was due to injury. (Most likely suspect my standard roo who has been a bit rough here lately with everyone) There is no longer active bleeding and so that is not an issue I have to deal with this time.
So many post with questions on how to handle such a situation like this I thought I would post what I did (this is relevant for any bird with head injuries... I mainly have done this more often with pigeons).
First thing is I scooped him very gently up (he had a reaction to this but his head/neck was really floppy and he could not control it at all and his eyelids remained more or less closed > this told me he was in a bad neurological state and needed electrolytes immediately)
It is important to remain calm and movely slowly and gently to ensure as little stress to the bird as possible (thankfully I regularly pick up my birds up in the evening and bring them inside and stroke them a bit on my lap > not only for the pure pleasure of it but in just such a situation the environment is somewhat familiar to them so they will not freak out at the sound of the radio or tv or smells inside the house)
I get the premeasured package of electrolytes (enough to put in max one liter of water) and make that up and also add a fizzy vit C tablet (is also good for stress > my electrolytes have no added vitamins so I add those myself) ... I make sure he gets a bit of the electrolyte water drizzling along the side of his beak and notice that he perks up as I do so (this takes place over a course of ten or fifteen minutes). I get the "sick box" (I always have a spare cardboard box around) and line it with newspaer and shavings (birdie laid on a towel in a corner while I am preparing the box) and make a little indentation in it pushing up the shavings in the corner to rest his head on so he is kind of propped up in that corner of the box.
As it is daytime I take him back outside (he will always be less stressed there than inside) and find him a safe corner on my patio (I block it with some wire fencing to keep away the other birds) and then get a larger piece of cardboard and tilt it over the setup so he feels nice and protected and is in shade (it is drizzling a bit of rain with periods of sun in between > it is in the seventies) The water is in a bowl within a neck stretch for him but not in the box (dont want him to drown if he goes downhill or has a seizure)
I go out after a half hour and again dip his beak in the waterer and see he is swallowing and am happy with his progress. I let him rest another half hour and then again pick him gently up and note that he is more aware of things (even get a wee squawk and he has his eyes now open) I have brought a combo tab of the vitE/selenium (p r i c k e d open) and after drizzling a bit of electrolyte water again to ensure he is swallowing on own etc. I gently pry his beak open and give him half the contents of the geltab of (vitE/selenium) ... I bring out some feed a half hour later and he is very interested and starts eating ... yeah!!!!!
He is now under my table right outside my living room window (backyard paved patio) in his little box nest settled in for the nite now.
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