Rooster booster - how to dose? Possible fowl pox

[FLChickens]

We are not that fortunate. As many times as I've dipped her beak, she won't do it on her own. I was terribly worried yesterday when I left early, hoping to be back, but ended up being gone longer than expected. It was well over 90F, and while I put a fan on her, I was afraid in the closed-up garage she was suffering. Especially as she apparently won't drink on her own, so I have to go out and dip her beak, and normally keep the garage doors open and can be sure she's safe.

Both eyes are free of sores now, and look clean and smooth. They are still closed though, and weeping tiny clear tears sometimes.

I hope she opens them soon.

The little BO in the coop that only had one eye affected is the same - better but eye still closed. She's smarter and quicker than any of the others though, so even with one eye she's the first one out, first one to snatch a treat, and knows how to run quietly and hide to eat it. She's doing great, thankfully.

Now, if the little BR would just improve enough to eat/drink.

 

[JudysMuscovy]

We are not that fortunate. As many times as I've dipped her beak, she won't do it on her own. I was terribly worried yesterday when I left early, hoping to be back, but ended up being gone longer than expected. It was well over 90F, and while I put a fan on her, I was afraid in the closed-up garage she was suffering. Especially as she apparently won't drink on her own, so I have to go out and dip her beak, and normally keep the garage doors open and can be sure she's safe.

Both eyes are free of sores now, and look clean and smooth. They are still closed though, and weeping tiny clear tears sometimes.

I hope she opens them soon.

The little BO in the coop that only had one eye affected is the same - better but eye still closed. She's smarter and quicker than any of the others though, so even with one eye she's the first one out, first one to snatch a treat, and knows how to run quietly and hide to eat it. She's doing great, thankfully.

Now, if the little BR would just improve enough to eat/drink.

I hope she starts eating soon. We have air conditioner in our garage my husband use to have his business on there so it's climate controlled.
Are you giving her the baby liquid vitamins? I think it really helped them get better.

 

[Eggcessive]

You might check out Casportpony's thread "Go team tube feeding" either by Googling or doing a search here on BYC. You can tube feed enough food and water 2 or 3 times a day with a crop tube or feeding tube. A spoonful of yogurt mixed into some egg and wet chicken feed is usually an attractive mix for getting chickens to eat. My chickens will always eat feed mixed with a lot of water. Thank you both for the updates, and I hope both of your chickens continue to improve, and are able to see and start eating and drinking well.

 

[FLChickens]

This is dragging on. I am STILL having to syringe feed her. I've held her in my lap for an hour or so at a time and dipped her beak in soft food, and she will swallow what gets in (generally), but she is not eating on her own.

She did start drinking on her own, at least when I stand her in front of the water fountain and dip her beak, she will dip down again and get 7,8 sips on her own. She misses sometimes and appears to search with her beak. Maybe she is blind.

One eye is still very swollen, and remains closed. The other opens, sometimes tears a little, sometimes she closes it.

She is very light. Not quite as happy as she was but still twitters sometimes. She sleeps a lot. I'm still feeding her mashed egg yolk with Greek yogurt added, and Rooster Booster added (tiny amount). The last batch I didn't add the sweetened condensed milk because she seems to lose more by dripping if it's too wet. Other than the swollen eye and a kind of not-quite-normal top to her beak, and a bare patch on her back (probably from keeping her head tucked in and sleeping so much) she looks pretty normal. She's steady on her feet but tends to walk in circles, always to the right (the eye that can maybe see).

I admit I'm getting tired. I'm recovering from cancer myself, and need more rest that I can get, feeding her both late and early. And I worry if she CAN recover. But there are sooooo tiny signs of improvement, spaced far out, so that I keep trying.

None of the others have needed such intense care. A little BO pullet in the run has one eye still closed. A little BR cockerel has a warty comb. We've had a few get listless for a day or two, then recover. A few have had little ashy spots on their face which didn't progress.

But this little girl has been blind and hand fed for weeks now.

Even if she improves and starts eating on her own, I think she's going to need a lot of building up before being out back in with the others. Our flock is new, all but three are just chicks of various ages up to about 4 months, but they've pretty well established a pecking order for now, and they would probably terrorize this poor little one.

 

[JudysMuscovy]

This is dragging on. I am STILL having to syringe feed her. I've held her in my lap for an hour or so at a time and dipped her beak in soft food, and she will swallow what gets in (generally), but she is not eating on her own.

She did start drinking on her own, at least when I stand her in front of the water fountain and dip her beak, she will dip down again and get 7,8 sips on her own. She misses sometimes and appears to search with her beak. Maybe she is blind.

One eye is still very swollen, and remains closed. The other opens, sometimes tears a little, sometimes she closes it.

She is very light. Not quite as happy as she was but still twitters sometimes. She sleeps a lot. I'm still feeding her mashed egg yolk with Greek yogurt added, and Rooster Booster added (tiny amount). The last batch I didn't add the sweetened condensed milk because she seems to lose more by dripping if it's too wet. Other than the swollen eye and a kind of not-quite-normal top to her beak, and a bare patch on her back (probably from keeping her head tucked in and sleeping so much) she looks pretty normal. She's steady on her feet but tends to walk in circles, always to the right (the eye that can maybe see).

I admit I'm getting tired. I'm recovering from cancer myself, and need more rest that I can get, feeding her both late and early. And I worry if she CAN recover. But there are sooooo tiny signs of improvement, spaced far out, so that I keep trying.

None of the others have needed such intense care. A little BO pullet in the run has one eye still closed. A little BR cockerel has a warty comb. We've had a few get listless for a day or two, then recover. A few have had little ashy spots on their face which didn't progress.

But this little girl has been blind and hand fed for weeks now.

Even if she improves and starts eating on her own, I think she's going to need a lot of building up before being out back in with the others. Our flock is new, all but three are just chicks of various ages up to about 4 months, but they've pretty well established a pecking order for now, and they would probably terrorize this poor little one.

I am so sorry to hear that she has not fully recovered. Poor little thing. Sounds like she probably is blind then if shes still struggling.

 

[FLChickens]

I'm honestly not sure I'm up to taking care of her for life if she's truly blind. I don't think she can go in with the others, and there's no good way that I can see to add onto the coop and give her a space of her own. It's situated into a corner of the yard with just space to walk around it. I'll give her a couple more weeks to see if she improves. I wonder if fowl pox can blind them? If she doesn't get better I'm not sure what to do. I need to go back to work, at least part time, and right now I'm too exhausted from caring for her, and she needs someone here to be sure she drinks and doesn't get overheated.

I've never given up on a sick animal as long as they weren't in pain but I've never had one that seems it might possibly need this level of care forever. But anyway ... I'll give her a little more time. Maybe the other eye will open and it will see. Or maybe she's still recovering in her eyes. Maybe there's a chance. Not ready to give up yet, but this is the first time I've ever had to start thinking this way.

Then again, before I was just on the farm full time. And they pretty much began to improve after a few days or didn't make it. I've never syringe-fed an animal for a month (or it's lifetime) before.

 

[JudysMuscovy]

I'm honestly not sure I'm up to taking care of her for life if she's truly blind. I don't think she can go in with the others, and there's no good way that I can see to add onto the coop and give her a space of her own. It's situated into a corner of the yard with just space to walk around it. I'll give her a couple more weeks to see if she improves. I wonder if fowl pox can blind them? If she doesn't get better I'm not sure what to do. I need to go back to work, at least part time, and right now I'm too exhausted from caring for her, and she needs someone here to be sure she drinks and doesn't get overheated.

I've never given up on a sick animal as long as they weren't in pain but I've never had one that seems it might possibly need this level of care forever. But anyway ... I'll give her a little more time. Maybe the other eye will open and it will see. Or maybe she's still recovering in her eyes. Maybe there's a chance. Not ready to give up yet, but this is the first time I've ever had to start thinking this way.

Then again, before I was just on the farm full time. And they pretty much began to improve after a few days or didn't make it. I've never syringe-fed an animal for a month (or it's lifetime) before.

It does get exhausting. I wish I lived closer and could help you out with her. I certainly would. I was not raised on a farm or even have the guts to put an animal down. I would be doing the same thing as you trying to save her. The three I took care of of my own are doing well, and I am glad I could help them. But sometimes I guess we have to realize we can only do so much. Prayers for you and your health as well as the health of your chicken. I hope it all works out and you see progress soon.

 

[FLChickens]

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

Well, this may be it. What really bothers me is that she appears to react to seeing me today, so maybe she's not blind. But she's making fewer happy noises and more complaint sounds. And in spite of me trying to keep her very clean, I just saw she has an abcess on one shoulder that is covered in pus. There are flies this time of year too, so it's very risky she could get maggots (if they haven't already gotten on her).

Poor thing. She's been through a lot, and she was very strong, fighting me today when I tried to get her to eat.

But I am going to have to have a close look at this. If it's a matter of suffering, I can't let her go that way.

Darn it.

 

[FLChickens]

Well, believe it or not, she's improving. Amazingly so.

I posted that at night, watched her a while the next day, and decided she was getting worse and possibly in pain. I was prepared to do it. Then I walked outside a few minutes later, and she was scratching and pecking the floor (hadn't done that in weeks). She seemed happy. Gave her a little reprieve. The next day, she went outside, pecked at bugs and food on the ground, had a good sun-bath, ran around following people. Today her crop was stuffed full on her own - she's finally eating on her own again, so I haven't syringe-fed her since earlier today. The abcess is much better, though still draining a bit. One eye still very swollen and shut. But she can see out of the other, she's eating and drinking on her own. She's got a lot of recovering to do before I'll put her in with the others, but I can't believe how much she has turned around in three days, given how slow her improvement has been over the past 4-5 weeks.

But I'm happy for her. After all that work, it seemed a shame to have to put her down.

She's also very tame. She hated so much being syringe-fed, but she quietly accepts being picked up and carried around, and when we set her on the floor to wait while getting something ready for her, she stands there happily and doesn't mind being picked back up. She may turn out to be far more pet than I intended any of them to be.

Her name is Miss Fanny.

 

[JudysMuscovy]

Oh my goodness! So happy to read this, I found that with the three I was doctoring, they are much more tolerable of me and follow me around.
Post a picture of her if you can I would love to see miss Fanny.
I am sure it makes your heart Happy to see her improving!