minature Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hello all, I have a very sick chicken, at the moment she has been indoors for a week now, i took her to the vets who checked her over but couldnt tell what was wrong, he gave her liquid paraffin and a calcium injection (just in case!) he also put her on antibiotics and gave her some panomec for lice. she seems to of given up,she has dreadful diarroah, she only drinks very little and some days not at all, and is not eating anything, then yesterday she started to do this funny jerking think with her neck. I have tried putting her out side with the other chickens and this seems to perk her up a tiny bit but she mostly just stands there. Also I dont want them to catch anything from her so this worries me slightly. We have had her about a year and she was ex battery and has a clipped beak (this has never effected her eating), she had a full moult and was looking beautiful. Can anybody help please, we have tried everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 It could be any number of things really. Did she pick up at all after the antibiotics? The first thing to do in the short term is to try and dry up the diarrhoea as if she is not drinking she will remain dehydrated. You can try using a probiotic such as Avipro or Protexin. Encourage her to eat by feeding warmed mash, porridge or weetabix. You could add a good tonic such a Lifeguard. Nutri drops always get good reviews on the forum. Once she is a little less squitty you need to worm her if she hasn't been wormed with Flubenvet within the last 3-4 months (it would be wise to do all of the flock at the same time). Also check her crop in case it is squishy or fluid filled which could indicate sour crop, and check her abdomen for hard or fluid filled swelling which could indicate a tumour or peritonitis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minature Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Thank you for the quick reply, She did not seem to pick up at all after the antibiotics, we have tried her with porrige (an all time favourite) also probiotic yoghurts, breckfast cereals etc all the things she normally gobbles up, but at times she has actually just s"Ooops, word censored!"ed them off the dish and turned her back on us. Her crop just feels empty, and I cant feel any swellings anywhere, I will try the tonics etc and see how I get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I would give her probiotic powders rather than the yoghurt. Getting food and fluid into her is a priority at the moment as she may be loosing more fluid than she is taking in. What is her worming status? Is she now free of lice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minature Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 I would give her probiotic powders rather than the yoghurt. Getting food and fluid into her is a priority at the moment as she may be loosing more fluid than she is taking in. What is her worming status? Is she now free of lice? she seems to be free of lice, she was due to be wormed in a couple of weeks but nothing is coming out in the poo, I cannot get her to drink or eat anything today, should I force feed her to get her started? I have never dealt with a sick chicken before so it is all a little new to me, I dont want to hurt her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 You wont necessarily see worms in the poo even if she has them. You do need to get her back to some sort of health before you worm her though. You can syringe feed her but you must be careful that she doesn't inhale any food or fluid. You can use fruit flavoured baby foods which pass through a syringe fairly easily and contain plenty of fluid or you can get can Oxbow Critical Care which is formula to sustain animals and can be made up into a fluid. If you can tempting with food is best as there is no inhalation risk involved. What about mealworm of some tinned tuna? Keep her warm and encourage her to eat or drink. Little and often. If she is not eating or drinking and is loosing fluid in diarrhoea you will be in trouble fairly quickly with her I trip to the vet is in order if you can't get something down her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minature Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Thank you for you help and support. I am honestly not sure how she has kept going for the past week, I can only think it is because she was quite a large chicken in the first place. I have got her to have a few sips of water but she point blank refused the scrambled egg. I will get her some baby food and try that. I am reluctant to take her back to the vet and he mentioned something last time about calling it a day!!! I will keep going and let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minature Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 I just wanted to let you know, that our lovely Shilly picked up a bit on Wednesday and was eating and walking around, but then yesterday took a turn for the worse and we lost her yesterday evening, We are very sad as she is our first chicken to go. Thank you so much for your advice it was a real help, Min Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Sorry to hear that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henslaved Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 sorry to hear about your chook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneyolktoanother Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 so sorry to hear about shilly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Sorry to hear it. At least Shilly had a very pleasant year of freedom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Sorry to hear you lost her too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedusA Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Sorry to hear that Shilly lost the battle. RIP little chook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Chuck Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 So sorry to hear about Shilly but glad she had all the care and freedom she could want. Thank you for sharing your story with us as I have learnt so much from it and will be wiser next time one of my chooks gets sick. My last two Omlet hens died in a similar way and I was very conscious of my inexperience. RIP Little Shilly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minature Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 thank you so much for your kind words, they actually brought a tear to my eye. I miss her dreadfully, especially when I am gardening as she was the one to come and "help" with the digging, and she was very chatty and friendly. I will always use this forum in future if I have any probs as the people on here really care about their chickens. Min xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathybc Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 sorry to hear about your loss x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
