How can I find my old pictures?

[mullethunter]

I’ve been posting on my old ‘Should I bring her indoors’ thread about Bernadette.

 

She been on injected antibiotics (Baytril) for a week and in that time has gone from really green poo and not eating or drinking at all, to now drinking a tiny bit and eating mealworms, sunflower hearts and the odd thing like tomatoes when cajoled into doing so.

 

The thing is she’s been in this state since Sunday and has stopped improving. When we put her out with the others she trails around after them put isn’t really foraging or doing much and mostly is just sitting /perching somewhere. She’s really unenthusiastic in her eating in general and won’t really eat or drink unless seriously cajoled. Her poo is more normal than it was but still greenish.

 

I also think, and I’m finding it difficult to tell, that her upper neck looks a bit bigger than normal, particularly on one side, and at times it feels like there’s air in there under he skin - higher up towards her head than where her crop is.

 

Any ideas / experience / advice on what to do next and what I should do about the fact that after tomorrow the temperatures are going to struggle to be much above freezing would be much appreciated.

[Luvachicken]

If it was me, I would probably take her back to the vet, either to give her one last chance or sadly be PTS.

If she was given another chance I would keep her in a crate indoors for the next few days until it warms up and then gradually reintroduce her back to the others.

It's hard to make decisions and sometimes it's easier when a professional does it for you.

TOU xx

[mullethunter]

I’m definitely not ready to PTS yet. She’s just not that bad. As you can see from the photo below (if it works) she doesn’t look ill at all (yes that is the back of the sofa )

 

https://imgur.com/a/92fMF

[Luvachicken]

That's one lucky chook getting to sit on the back of the sofa

She certainly looks pretty perky.

Perhaps she just needs a little more time to recover from whatever she had.

I would still keep her in the warm for now though, maybe just popping her in some sunshine for a bit.

 

I think if they didn't poop so much I would love an 'indoor' chicken.

[mullethunter]

Well. On Wednesday morning she was standing rather than still sitting when we came down in the morning. Then we gave her some time outside in the afternoon when she actually did chickeny things and seemed pleased to be outside and she ate a lot more during the day than she had in the last few days. Positive moves so we decided on Thursday that as long as we could stop Margot bullying her we’d put her out all day in the run with the others. I have a Cube run connected to a WIR so I put a spare door panel across the join and put Margot in the Cube bit (she’s the only one laying) and put Bernadette with the Wyandottes in the WIR - that went well and she seemed ok. Then well, she came back indoors to sleep because I’m concerned about her getting cold as she’s lost so much weight, but out with the gang again today she seems pretty much totally back to normal! She’s digging, foraging, jostling for mealworms. I’m still afraid of a relapse but I can’t believe she seems to have got better!

 

Don’t know whether it was the antibiotics or just that the care we gave her allowed her body to sort out whatever it was, but I’m so pleased she seems better.

[Luvachicken]

Yay, I'm so pleased that she is doing well and is back with the others

I hope she stays toasty and warm with her friends.

 

Er ......., did you say you have one laying already

[mullethunter]

 

Yep - Margot my rat bag araucana bantam is up and running with her lovely little blue eggs

[mullethunter]

Oh Bernadette. Seems to have the same illness again. I noticed on Sat she was a bit quiet, and since then she’s gone downhill pretty quickly. Green poo, lethargic and not eating a lot again. I managed to get antibiotics this morning the same as last time (don’t even know how much that’s going to cost as it’s a bank holiday - dread to think) so hopefully I can get her better again. I know she looks fine in the photo but she isn’t.

 

[SeramaSilly]

Oh dear Jenny - I hope she will pick up again very soon.  Some birds seems to be a lot frailer than others - I had a barnebar once who I was forever bringing inside, building her up and then putting her outside again.  Sending positive vibes to you x

[mullethunter]

Thankyou x

[GrannyTrish]

Aww, poor chook.  I hope she recovers again.

Our guinea pigs always seemed to need the vet at bank holidays, too. Annoying but better than them suffering.

[SeramaSilly]

How is Bernadette today Jenny??

[mullethunter]

Thanks for asking. Pretty similar to how she was yesterday evening. Will eat when I cajole her into it but very unenthusiastically - at least she’s still drinking unaided though which is much better than last time. Still on the downward trend I think but not as bad as last time at the moment. Think I caught it earlier. It was on day 5 of antibiotics last time that she showed significant improvement.

Its definitely not sour or impacted crop but there’s a lot of gurgling when she drinks and this evening she looked like she was trying really hard to burp over and over again but couldn’t. Also her neck seems uncomfortable- she’s wanted to ruffle feathers under her wings but couldn’t get her head under there 

[The Dogmother]

Hmm, sounds like a digestive issue or obstruction to me, not easy to tell without seeing her - have you felt all down her neck and palpated her abdomen?

Did you mention that you'd had her on some NutriDrops? They'll perk up anything that isn't already 6 feet under, either that or use a strong dilution of Nettex's Vit Boost

[SeramaSilly]

Is she only eating soft food Jenny?  

[mullethunter]

Yes DM she’s having some nutri-drops to keep her going. Abdomen and crop have felt totally normal. This afternoon I think her crop may feel like it has more in than she’s eaten and drunk today but it may be just that she’s been eating while I’ve been out - I’ll have to wait until the morning now to see if there is a problem there. Her poo, although green, still has some substance to it so it’s not as if her digestive system has shut down altogether, just seems that for some reason something isn’t working as it should. Looking at her I’ve often though it looks like there’s a weird, crop sized lump above and to one side of her crop below her throat making her feathers stick out oddly, but when I feel for it I can’t feel anything at all. Then I thought there was a bone lump there that shouldn’t be but when I picked up one of the others I think they all have that (just as she’s a pekin hers looks closer to her head than her body).

Seramasilly the only food she shows any enthusiasm for is sunflower seeds, so no, not soft food only.

[scarlettohara]

Sounds like sour crop to me, have you tried to make her sick by just holding her gently upside down and messaging her crop? If she vomits up horrid smelling bile then it could be that.

[mullethunter]

I’m fairly certain it isn’t sour crop. As I said above her crop has felt perfectly normal until today, and when she had an illness which followed exactly the same pattern 6 weeks or so ago I took her to the vet who felt everywhere and smelt her breath and said she didn’t suspect sour crop. I won’t be totally certain until tomorrow morning though when I see if it’s emptied. I hope it’s not that a small I’m afraid to do the turning upside down thing in case I drown her (like I nearly did syringing water into her beak last time when she was so poorly she wouldn’t drink).

[Luvachicken]

I'm so sorry she is poorly again.

Let's hope she gets better this time too xx

[SeramaSilly]

Oh ok, I thought when you mentioned the trying to burp that it sounded like it could be canker.  I once had a hen that got that and she would 'gape'.  Is it possible for you to look in her mouth to see if she has any lesions in her throat?  They find it hard to eat if they have canker.

[mullethunter]

That hadn’t even occurred to me actually. I’ll have a look in the morning. Do you think that would have caused her to go downhill so quickly?

[SeramaSilly]

Yes, it could do - she would need Metronidazole from the vet if she has and they will give you something to treat the other girls too.  I'm only mentioning it because my poorly hen was seen a few times and the vet didn't really know what was wrong with her despite keeping chickens herself but then I saw another vet and he immediately looked down her throat and spotted it.  Just a thought.

[mullethunter]

Thankyou.

[mullethunter]

Well she helpfully did a weird gaping thing like she was trying to burp a few times on Thursday evening which let me see pretty far down her throat and I couldn’t see any sign of any canker. 

She’s better than she was now and has finished her antibiotics but she’s still not herself and still has this weird mid-shapen but on her breast / throat and although less so her poo is still quite green. I hesitate to call it a the throat thing a lump because when I go to feel it there’s nothing there. 

Here’s a couple of photo’s I took this afternoon- you can quite clearly see it protruding on her left (right as you look at the photo) and it’s not her crop because that’s lower down and on the other side and I definitely can feel that.

Any ideas?

 

[SeramaSilly]

Sorry, I don't have any idea but I wondered whether you have a vet teaching hospital near you with an exotic bird specialist.  Most vets don't really know a lot about birds but I've had good results when I've seen an avian specialist.  You make an appointment to be seen in the small animal practice and in my experience they don't charge as much as regular vets.