URGENT! I'm scared she won't make it! Hen with blood in feces, labored breathing drooping feathers a

[Scarletpyxi]

This hen is extremely close to my family so any suggestions are extremely appreciated. I just want to cry at this point because I don't know what else to do. She had an eye injury a few days ago and we put her inside in the large brooder type box and treated with optical vetericin she was acting broody at the time and had stopped laying, a few days later eye was all better so we returned her to her normal free ranging when we saw bloody stool (this was yesterday.) Today I saw the head shaking and labored breathing which is getting worse. The blood in the feces is less prevalent but the droppings are small and not very firm. I gave plain organic yogurt in last two days of feed when she was still eating normally and gave ACV in the water, also tried a bit of organic garlic today and DE in the feed although she seems to not want to eat at this hour. She also now displays drooping wings. She is the sweetest chicken ever and I am really worried, I ordered Corrid today to be overnighted, so I will have it hopefully in a few hours. Please if anyone has any advice at all I would be deeply grateful. She is almost a year old and the only other birds we have are around 5-6 week old chicks who were just recently introduced outside although they stay inside still the majority of the time, and two ducks who she has been living with full time. She had been eating more earthworms lately and she also got into some aged goat manure that came from another farm that was being put in the garden, but we once had a chicken that she was exposed to that had come from that farm.

 

[chickenKatie17]

Just try to make her as comfortable as you can. I know it's hard when a good chicken gets sick, but if you have done all you can medically, then all that's left is to give her a warm, dry, isolated spot and hope for the best

 

[dmack]

Agreed. You are doing everything right. Just separate her and keep her comfortable and hole for the best. Hope she makes it but with the blood and drooping wings it's dosent sound to good.

 

[EggDropSoup]

I'm only just now going through my first major chicken disaster, but there's something that's definitely true not only for chickens but for any animal--sometimes, supportive care is the best you can offer so that the animal can fight off whatever it is on her own. The problem is that animals get dehydrated REALLY easily, and that's where things start to go downhill. Since she has bloody/loose droppings and isn't eating/drinking on her own, I'd recommend to you what I recommended to someone else earlier tonight--talk to your nearest vet about getting a bag of Lactated Ringer's solution (it's basically what you'd get if you needed an IV at the hospital) and a chicken-appropriate syringe/needle. I'm pretty certain that injected fluids are very much a large reason as to why my dog-mauled hen is still alive and, I hope, recovering. I gave my hen 30 ccs of fluids over the course of the day of the attack. Now, she is eating and drinking so she doesn't need the fluids. Your hen sounds like she could benefit. The vet can show you how to draw the fluids from the bag. The best place to administer them is under the wing. Pull the wing out away from the body and you'll see a little "tent" of skin on the underside of the wing where it connects to the chicken. The fluids can go into this "tent." Push the needle in just until the tip disappears. Pull it back out slightly to make sure there's no blood (if there's blood, then you've hit a vein and you need to find a new spot--this is VERY rare, but could happen). Once you know you're clear, push it back in and slowly depress the plunger on the syringe until it is empty. Do it again on the other side, under the other wing. I gave my chicken 9 ccs of fluids every two hours until she'd reached around 30 ccs. By that point, she had perked up considerably, and by the next morning, she was eating/drinking on her own. Your chicken will be a different case, obviously, but in situations like this, supportive care--especially hydration--is essential. Good luck!

 

[Scarletpyxi]

Thank you everyone for your advice and kind reassurance, it really helped me calm down quite a bit as the gaping and wing drooping was pretty bad last night. She seems to be doing better today though, is eating and drinking on her own and there is far less blood visible in the feces (although it is still quite watery) and she appears to have stopped having breathing difficulty, thank goodness!. We FINALLY got the Corrid 9.6 here about a half hour ago and she started drinking her medicated water and ate some more feed. Do you think I should treat the chicks and my ducks also (no one is showing any symptoms) and if so would the dosage still be a teaspoon per half gallon water? I am going to clean the housing and bedding with white vinegar and DE and lime (I will also apply the DE and lime to the run and most used free range areas) and fumigate with cayenne and possibly juniper in the coop over the next two days. Is there anything else I can/should do, or anything else I should watch for? I'm very new to keeping chickens so I'm just at the point where I am trying to make sure I am doing everything possible.I have plain pedialyte on hand if dehydration occurs and the DE, ACV, garlic and yogurt for when she completes the meds to help her recover better, as well as sea salt, baking soda, honey and molasses if she doesn't take to the pedialyte.

 

[Scarletpyxi]

Now her crop feels sour, should I expel the fluid now that she has been getting Corid treatment or will that remove the liquid treatment from her system?

 

[casportpony]

This is a copy and paste from another post of mine:

If you can't take her to a vet, you should read this:​

When mine get sick, this is what I do if the bird is stable and not likely to die being handled:

• Remove all clumps of mud, poop, etc.
• *Thorough* physical exam which includes inserting a gloved, lubed finger into the cloaca to check for an egg, check for cuts, bruising lumps, smells, maggots, etc.
• Dust for mites/lice with poultry dust even if I cannot see any. DE does not work.
• Weigh on digital kitchen scale (see avatar), record weight and weigh daily. any weight loss is bad.
• Place bird in a warm, quiet place on towel with food and water that it can't drown in.
• De-worm with Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste (fenbendazole 10%) 50mg/kg by mouth and repeat in 10 days. Warning - Safeguard/Panacur should not be used during a molt.
• Once warm, if not drinking and crop is empty, hydrate with warmed Pedialyte or lactated ringers with a feeding tube - 30ml/kg every 6-8 hours.
• If not eating after 24 hours and crop is empty, tube feed baby bird food mixed with Pedialyte
• Inspect poop.
• If I suspect a stuck egg, treat for egg binding.
• If I suspect a bacterial infection, treat with antibiotics.
• If I suspect a fungal infection, treat with Nystatin.
• If I suspect coccidiosis, treat with Corid (amprolium).
• If I suspect canker or histomoniaisis (blackhead), treat with Metronidazole.

From: http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/cam/07_emergency_and_critical_care.pdf
Supportive Care
SICK-BIRD ENCLOSURES
Sick birds are often hypothermic and should be placed
in heated (brooder-type) enclosures


b (Fig 7.7) in a quiet
environment (see Chapter 1, Clinical Practice). A temperature
of 85° F (29° C) with 70% humidity is desirable
for most sick birds. If brooders are not equipped with a
humidity source, placing a small dish of water in the
enclosure will often supply adequate humidity. A moist
towel that is heated and placed on the bottom of a cage
or incubator rapidly humidifies the environment, as indicated​

by the fogging of the acrylic cage front.

FLUID THERAPY
Oral Administration
Oral administration is the ideal method of giving fluids.
This method is more commonly used in mildly dehydrated
birds or in conjunction with subcutaneous (SC)
or intravenous (IV) therapy. Oral rehydration (30 ml/kg
PO q 6-8 h) also may be used in larger birds (eg, waterfowl)
that are difficult to restrain for parenteral fluid​

therapy.

ORAL NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
Below are listed some of the oral nutritional supplements
that can be gavage-fed to debilitated birds. Various
hand-feeding formulas are on the market and, as a
whole, are far superior to the homemade formulas used
decades ago that contained monkey biscuits, peanut butter
and ground seeds. Commercially available hand-feeding
formulas for baby birds are often utilized in the treatment
of sick and debilitated adult birds. The quantity
that can be fed at one time to a sick bird is greatly
reduced from that of baby birds. On the average, a baby
parrot can accommodate 10% of its body weight per
feeding due to the elasticity of the crop and its rapid
emptying. Adult birds have a greatly decreased crop
capacity, averaging 3% of their body weight. Additionally,
sick birds are less tolerant of food in the crop and care
must be taken to avoid regurgitation and/or aspiration.
A sick or debilitated bird should always have its
hydration corrected prior to attempting to initiate​

oral gavage-feeding.






Here is a list that I'm working on. Let me know what else I should have!

Medications - With the exception of Clavamox, all can be purchased without a prescription for tropical fish or pigeons. If you need help finding any of them, let me know.​

• Metronidazole 250mg, 100mg and 50mg/ml liquid (banned for use in food animals)
• Nystatin (antifungal)
• Amoxicillin 250mg
• Cephalexin 250mg
• Tylan (tylosin)
• Clavamox 250 mg
• Baytril 10% (banned for use in food animals)
• Corid (amprolium - coccistat)
• Sulmet
• Terramycin Antibiotic Ophthalmic Ointment
• Neosporin
• Safeguard wormer (fenbendazole 10%)
• Praziquantel
• Calcium
• Vitamin D

Supplies​

• Pedialyte for tubing
• Catheter for tube feeding
• Baby bird food for tubing
• Catheter tip syringe for tube feeding
• Lactated ringers for tubing or SC fluids
• Heat lamps
• Heating Pad
• Boxes and crates
• Poultry dust
• Digital kitchen scale
• Gram scale
• Needles and syringes of many sizes
• Mineral Oil
• Petroleum Jelly
• Vet Wrap
• Gauze Roll
• Gauze Pads
• Telfa Pads
• Raw, Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
• Isopropyl alcohol
• Latex Gloves
• Betadine
• Epsom Salts

Books

• Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook
• AAAP Avian Disease Manual
• Diseases of Poultry
• Clinical Avian Medicine
• Penn State Poultry Health Handbook

Online poultry books:

[URL]http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/cam.html[/URL]
Download the entire book (two volumes): Clinical Avian Medicine
(Large file - please allow several moments to download)

Another two book set:
[URL]http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/chapters.html[/URL]

Penn State Poultry Health Handbook
[URL]http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/agrs52.pdf[/URL]