Nicky S
Songster
I have a 6 week old chick who had surgery today to caponize him. He was sedated with some pain relief. The surgery did not go at all well in the sense that the vet (my husband) could not find the testes (we are actually doubting that he is a cockerel despite DNA eggshell testing), and my chick ended up being on the table for almost an hour. I am now concerned that he may be in shock. He was panting on and off this morning, but hasn't been this afternoon every time I've checked. He seems a bit out of it still, but initially perked up when I brought his flock mates in to see him...he even ate a little scrambled egg, had a wander around but then he just stopped in his tracks and stayed still - a bit like when you've been sick and think you can get out of bed and do stuff and then suddenly realize you can't. He's now by himself with a heating plate as I felt like he needed peace and quiet. He's also been on my lap for a good while. The only way I can get him to drink is from drops on my finger (water with electrolytes)...and by my calculations I can give him around 20 drops at a time at most, which is on average 1ml of water. If I try too often he rejects them with a vigorous shake of the head. He weighs 616g...so if an adult weighs say 2500g and drinks around 500ml of water per day if it's proportional to body weight then he'd need 120 ml over 24 hours...or 100 drops an hour over 24 hours. So he's not getting nearly enough water as far as I can see. He's standing most of the time and falls in and out of sleep, and moves around very little, though he did do one nice leg stretch just now. Since I started worrying about shock I haven't hand fed him more food, though it's there if he wants it. In general he doesn't look too bad - his teeny wattles seem about the same color etc. but I know chickens can be very deceptive. Do you think we should give subcutaneous fluids? My husband brought some with him just in case. I'm worried with the blood loss and not drinking that he'll become dehydrated, but I also do not want to stress him out any more. I would take him to an avian specialist but the stress of taking him in also worries me, and my experience there had not been stellar so far either. Please no harsh comments - it's been an absolutely awful day, surgery was at 8.30 am, it's now almost 6pm and I all but passed out during the procedure, literally ended up face down on the floor. Just trying to do the best for my little one and get any advice I can get from experienced people.
. He was then off his food, so I decided to take him in anyway, and he’s now home with pain meds. They gave him some subcutaneous fluids and fed him via a tube, and he’s looking pretty good, though no way near normal. They were a bit concerned his crop wasn’t emptying properly but it isn’t sour. Hoping that he’ll turn another corner tomorrow 
