Help! My favorite hen Bo Peep is sick. She is just over 1 year old and has always been the energy of the flock. Today she is just laying there trying to sleep, her butt is all gunky, her poop is clear with some green and white, her comb and around her eyes is very pale, her tail is down and she seems very unusually disinterested in her food/water this morning. She seems to be up to have missed laying her egg yesterday and its too early in the day for her to have laid today. No noticeable weight loss and she is secluding herself from the others. I've had crop problems before so I massaged that but it seems fine. I am a very new chicken owner so I have no idea what to do! I try to keep their range and coop clean (and it is clean!), and they free range for at least a couple hours a day. I do not add anything to their water and I feed them regular lay mash and some scraps such as cucumbers, lettuce and spinach. How on earth do I figure out whats going on? Help!!
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.
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)
