Hi everyone...I've spent the last two weeks scouring the forums and other sites trying everything under the sun to help Georgie get better, but she's not. She's a 6 year old black sexlink. I have four other girls (4 year old Americauna, 5 year old ISA and an 8 year old Rhode Island Red and they are all fine and normal). I noticed Georgie standing alone by herself one morning, then she spent the full day laying down which is unusual for her plucky, curious self. Because it was brutally cold here in Michigan, I brought her into the house for hospital care that evening. At the time I brought her in, none of the girls had been laying since December due to the winter lack of daylight hours up here in the north. Since she's been in, the others have started laying a little bit again.
At first, she wouldn't eat, didn't drink much. So I gave her an epsom salt soak (which she enjoyed, complete with hair dryer blow out) and noticed her crop was empty, her breast bone pshe had wet belly, was swollen and squishy in her abdomen. I extracted fluid (per video links I saw here) with an 18 gauge needle and 120ml syringe, and that seemed to resolve it, the fluid build up hasn't returned.
Concurrently she also had grainy, white, gritty, foul smelling discharge in her vent and some blood in her poops, so I wasn't sure if it was gleet or a broken egg, so I tube fed her Kaytee Exact formula mixed with ACV and plain kefir, plus 500 mg Calcium Citrate for a few days and that cleared up. The blood in her stool disappeared, she had normal poops. She perked up and drank and ate on her own for two days.
But then, she refused to eat again. So I went back to tube feeding her.
But then the tube feeding her seemed to make her throat sore or painful and she refused to eat or drink anything at all, her tail drooped, and she was declining. I decided to not tube feed her one morning after three days of this and by the afternoon, she suddenly started drinking her water and even ate full sized layer pellets that are always available to her. Yay! This happened for two days and but then, once again she stopped eating and barely drinking. She is interested and curious about treats I offer her but refuses everything and especially, will NOT drink. So, I had to start tube feeding her again, heavy on the pedialyte to get her rehydrated. She is not accepting water or liquid at all. She won't even let me put droplets on her beak. She shakes her head and refuses.
What's confounding me is that she's moved through different symptoms of different problems, and I've addressed them all, but now she's not showing ANY symptoms, but will NOT drink water/liquid on her own and barely eats. But she WANTS to eat. She looks hopefully at food, but turns everything away. That's been an entire saga in itself--her daily "will eat" treat for one day last only that day, but next day she'll not touch it. And believe me, I have cycled through EVERYTHING. Mealworms, applesauce, scrambled egg, baby food, yogurt, oatmeal, whole wheat spaghetti, fresh fruit and veggies, cooked veggies, and even the dough part of a donut (if she was willing to eat it, I gave it to her).
Because she shows interest in food, I can't give up on her and have been tube feeding her with Kaytee Exact Hand Feeding Formula, mixed with unflavored Pedialyte and Nutri-drench. She is alert (though she's skin and bone) and her tail is up, she still cleans her feathers, but does get a poopy butt which I have to clean with baths. Sometimes the poops are solid, sometimes they're diarrhea, and sometimes a little green which I think is bile on days when she won't eat anything on her own.
They were all wormed with their herbal pellet wormers a few weeks ago, and she does not show any signs of worms in her poops, but I am wondering if I should try giving her fenbendazole (Safeguard). I'm just reticent to give her random things while she's utter skin and bone. Because of her age and since we've had no new chickens in 4 years, I don't think coccidiosis is the problem, since there are no symptoms of that at all.
I'm out of ideas and I don't think it's a great quality of life for her being tube fed (which she and I both dread and hate...I use the smallest tube possible and make it as quick as possible, but let's face it...it's not pleasant), but as long as she's alert, shows interest in food (despite rejecting it) and can stand up (though I think she's weak because she won't eat and has no muscle left) and walk around the house, I don't want to quit on her. I do not have any veterinarians anywhere near where I live who will treat chickens.
Should I try Safeguard? Or would that be too much for her little body after all of this?
At first, she wouldn't eat, didn't drink much. So I gave her an epsom salt soak (which she enjoyed, complete with hair dryer blow out) and noticed her crop was empty, her breast bone pshe had wet belly, was swollen and squishy in her abdomen. I extracted fluid (per video links I saw here) with an 18 gauge needle and 120ml syringe, and that seemed to resolve it, the fluid build up hasn't returned.
Concurrently she also had grainy, white, gritty, foul smelling discharge in her vent and some blood in her poops, so I wasn't sure if it was gleet or a broken egg, so I tube fed her Kaytee Exact formula mixed with ACV and plain kefir, plus 500 mg Calcium Citrate for a few days and that cleared up. The blood in her stool disappeared, she had normal poops. She perked up and drank and ate on her own for two days.
But then, she refused to eat again. So I went back to tube feeding her.
But then the tube feeding her seemed to make her throat sore or painful and she refused to eat or drink anything at all, her tail drooped, and she was declining. I decided to not tube feed her one morning after three days of this and by the afternoon, she suddenly started drinking her water and even ate full sized layer pellets that are always available to her. Yay! This happened for two days and but then, once again she stopped eating and barely drinking. She is interested and curious about treats I offer her but refuses everything and especially, will NOT drink. So, I had to start tube feeding her again, heavy on the pedialyte to get her rehydrated. She is not accepting water or liquid at all. She won't even let me put droplets on her beak. She shakes her head and refuses.
What's confounding me is that she's moved through different symptoms of different problems, and I've addressed them all, but now she's not showing ANY symptoms, but will NOT drink water/liquid on her own and barely eats. But she WANTS to eat. She looks hopefully at food, but turns everything away. That's been an entire saga in itself--her daily "will eat" treat for one day last only that day, but next day she'll not touch it. And believe me, I have cycled through EVERYTHING. Mealworms, applesauce, scrambled egg, baby food, yogurt, oatmeal, whole wheat spaghetti, fresh fruit and veggies, cooked veggies, and even the dough part of a donut (if she was willing to eat it, I gave it to her).
Because she shows interest in food, I can't give up on her and have been tube feeding her with Kaytee Exact Hand Feeding Formula, mixed with unflavored Pedialyte and Nutri-drench. She is alert (though she's skin and bone) and her tail is up, she still cleans her feathers, but does get a poopy butt which I have to clean with baths. Sometimes the poops are solid, sometimes they're diarrhea, and sometimes a little green which I think is bile on days when she won't eat anything on her own.
They were all wormed with their herbal pellet wormers a few weeks ago, and she does not show any signs of worms in her poops, but I am wondering if I should try giving her fenbendazole (Safeguard). I'm just reticent to give her random things while she's utter skin and bone. Because of her age and since we've had no new chickens in 4 years, I don't think coccidiosis is the problem, since there are no symptoms of that at all.
I'm out of ideas and I don't think it's a great quality of life for her being tube fed (which she and I both dread and hate...I use the smallest tube possible and make it as quick as possible, but let's face it...it's not pleasant), but as long as she's alert, shows interest in food (despite rejecting it) and can stand up (though I think she's weak because she won't eat and has no muscle left) and walk around the house, I don't want to quit on her. I do not have any veterinarians anywhere near where I live who will treat chickens.
Should I try Safeguard? Or would that be too much for her little body after all of this?
