Chicken Doctor 101 Q & A

Start with a warm wet compress and see if that helps. It should at least remove any external goop.
Suze

headed out to do that now, had to find an appropraite cloth... a clothe diaper LOL no goop anywhere, just swollen. hope it is injury rather than dis-ease...

I know the hot compress helps when my kitty has an absess... also epson salt. But dont know about epson on/near the eye.

what is the update on her? any better yet?

she did NOT like it. and at first it seemed to loosed it up, but DH didn't think we should be squeezing anything. so she is the same. he is gone to work today, so if i can find those squeeze instructions in here, i will try it. her whole entire sinus cavity on that side is filled and swollen...

maybe she got something in her sinus? and causinginfection?

I dont squeeze with the hot compress, just hold it there, if there is a wound or scab, the hot compress opens the wound back up and then infection will ooze out on its own... but if she has an infection inside her sinus, that would be complete different story.

lol....just had a vision of trying to squeeze kitty when he has an absess! THAT would not be a fun time.... and I would wind up scarred for life! lol!

TF I saw an antibiotic at my feed store that said it was safe for poultry. If there is an infection something like that might help get it under control.

MollyD

using the oxyterrmaycin. this AM i saw her eye was droipping so hopefully it is leaking out. so glad i didn't put my seabright pair in the cage under her LOL

Hope she mends for you tf

MollyD

Hi all,

I think Anya's beak is overgrown, not significantly, but I'm not sure if you think it should be clipped. If so, then I'm not sure how to go about it. She licks her beak a LOT and also tries wiping it a LOT. So I think it bothers her as well.

here's a pic trying to show the overhang. She can eat just fine, but do you think I should clip it?

"You're not going to show that to everyone are you? Here get my good side, too!"

i wouldnt but i dont know if u should or not

Thats a tough one, as far as I can tell its not that bad. I am of the same opinion as luckycharm. Wish I could say do or don't. If she were mine I wouldn't. Helpfull, Probabley not(Eeyore voice).

I 3rd that. Have only 'debeaked' a few ringneck pheasants myself. Felt bad and decided it was better for them to get through the cannibalism pecking in separate pens & let their beaks go 'natural'. I have never trimmed the beak on any of my chickens or other fowl. Never noticed a beak being a problem, so never thought of it.

Unless she can't eat or is using it as a weapon on the other hens, I personally would not trim it. Keep in mind, I am NO expert. Just from my experience over 8yrs. I too am still learning!

Cheryl ~ Pea

Hello lady if your still here i have to trim my chickens beaks occasinally because mine are off ground and i allso trim for the weapon thing spoke of earlier.
If a birds beak gets too long it's important to trim it as it can interfere with them eating in simple meaning they can't reach the food if the tip gets in the way.

Your chickens doesn't look over grown to me but if you want to trim it heres how>>>>>

I use the Toe nail clippers that look kinda like scissors i got them at walmart. Catch the bird and if it's a big bird you may need help. I turn my bantams over on thier backs and open thier mouths i hold it open and if you will look you will see it's like a finger nail. look at your nails and you see the pink nail bed and then the tip is white. A chickens beak is just like that and you trim the tip only to where it is the same length as the bottom one. You can if you prefer just hold the chicken still and use finger nail clippers and just snip off the end even with the bottom without opening her mouth.
Use caution when you clip don't cut to the pink part of a beak it will cause pain and bleeding. (think of cutting your nails to short "Ouch")

Debeaking is different than this>>> Debeaking is a precedure where they take a chick and rub it's beak across a hot iron surface and it burns the beak it cortorize's so no bleeding and it prevents picking.

Thanks guys and gals! I appreciate the info. I now know how to do it.

Its quite a bit longer and curved over the bottom beak compared to my other two, which is why I asked. But she seems to be getting on just fine and with your guys' assurance that it doesn't look 'overgrown', I'll leave it alone.

Thank you!

Crazy thought. You might put a brick in with her. Mine kinda peck and file themselves. Cleaning her beak a lot on one of those would smooth it in a heartbeat.

Good idea -- like a dog's nails file themselves if the dog runs around outside.

Perfect, because her food and water are already elevated on a cinder block. I'm hoping that once she's healthy and out with the other girls, she'll start to file it down as well.

Thanks!

LL her picture looks like that of a normal hen to me! I like the idea of the brick for her to use.

MollyD

Isn't she pretty?!? I think all the calm and shy and sweet was from not feeling well. Now taht she's been on antibiotics awhile, she's already starting to get a bit more feisty. HA! That's OK, anything not feisty wouldn't fit in our household.

Ok I have a couple birds with the sniffles, the right eye is having opening problems, can open but they prefer to keep it closed. What can I put in their water or feed to help with this. They are on ACV and garlic in their water.

Only thing other than those two that has been suggested to me is cayenne in the food. ACV in the water and garlic in the food should help, though!

I have a sick hen, it started out with a cold in her eye, now it has moved to both eyes. It is a white milky goo in her eyes. We are putting Terramycin in her eye and it does not seem to be working. We have put garlic and ACV and C pepper in her water. What can we do for her?

-Bump-

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along soon. You're using all the tricks I had up my sleeve. Take care and hope she gets better.

I did look at the site that Shelia posted but none of what she has is on there.

tia, i found ths
This comment comes from subscriber Michael Breder's personal experience with an eye infection in one of his flock - it may prove helpful to other chicken folk.

"One of my 4 hens was not being herself when I came home from work and I found her in one of the nest boxes with her eyes gunked up. I immediately got her a bed in the nearest dog kennel quarantined on my porch and started calling my chicken support group. I spoke with one of my vet friends after hearing from many others that I should just dig a hole or eat her. My vet buddy said I had to get her eyes cleaned out with a warm wash cloth and get some neosporin in her eyes. He said to save the 15 bucks for tetromyacin at the feed store....turns out neosporin turned out just as good. Next day her eyes looked much better and she was on her way to recovery. I kept her in the dog kennel until she got her bearings and her appetite back. She is now back with the flock and it's a month later with no further problems. What looked like a possible sick chicken turned out to just be an eye infection...she is the rowdier of the flock and I think she just ran into something and hurt her eye. Just thought I'd share the story about the neosporin and getting her eyes cleaned out."

ok I will try it, i think it is a cold, she was sneezing the other day.

thanks for all the reply's to this problem, this is Tamara's hen and she is clueless.

Mine had a sinus infection with those symptoms and I took her to the vet and he prescribed streptinomycin and she was right as rain in a few days.

Ok here is the deal, Tamara's bird that had the white milky stuff in her eyes, well it just started out as a cold then it progressed once she isolated the bird she just kept getting worse. She was putting that stuff in her eyes as I said earlier. Now my bird all I did with clean hand and a different finger each time I did this, all I did was dip my finger into clean fresh water and dropped it into the birds eye. She got all better.

Her bird is now blind and just lifeless, not eating not drinking. Tamara wanted me to ask what went wrong, should she have asked silkiechick to send her some antibiotics. She wanted me to ask Claire what antibiotic the vet gave her to give rosie when this happened to her.

Thanks all, I am really frustrated and tired.

Point Number One: Terramycin comes in different forms. If you want to put it in the eye, you must get the ophthalmic form of the medication. You should not put any old terramycin into their eyes. I am just making sure it was the right stuff, because it wasn't specified if it was the eye ointment.

Point Number Two: The vet gave me streptinomycin for my chicken. I don't know the dosage that he prescribed. I had to use it for 10 days and it was oral, not for her eyes. My chicken had her eyes gummed shut every morning. She also had some nasal discharge. The vet said it was a sinus infection. If the milky stuff is only in her eyes and she is not having other nasal symptoms, I don't think it's what my chicken had.

Point Number Three: If the bird is not eating or drinking, either force feed it and give it liquids in a syringe (obviously not with a needle attached) and try to give it some mashed up food in the syringe like cottage cheese or other soft stuff. Otherwise it is just going to starve to death and that is horrible.

Point Number Four: Maybe people won't like my attitude on this, but it's my opinion that if you can't afford to take your pets (chickens or otherwise) to the vet, then you shouldn't have that many pets. And if they are not pets and are just production animals, then they should probably be euthanized when problems like this arise, especially before it leads to suffering. I just don't like that kind of suffering in animals. That is why we took our goat to the vet for the leg paralysis, and why I took the chicken to the vet for the sinus infection. I realize that vet bills can be expensive, but that is when you have to consider your animal and determine if you can't afford the treatment (i.e. $5000 back surgery for a $50 dog) then clearly you know the answer to what you should do. Chickens are obviously not quite like dogs and may be more expendable, to some people, especially if they are a full size poultry operation, etc. But there is still a basic need to ensure the animals are well cared for, and not left to suffer.

It seems that the attempt to help this chicken is well meaning and that the heart is in the right place, but it's my opinion to either get it the proper care it needs (i.e. a vet), or put it out of its misery.

Sorry, I'll get off my soap box now.
Claire

Thank you Claire. My thoughts also.

Went to look for my glasses, cant find them, i think Tamara said that the stuff was eye cream. Thanks again

Oh good, I'm glad if it's the right stuff. But if it isn't working, then definitely vet care is needed. It could be an infection that is terramycin resistant, or it could be viral (in which case antibiotics won't work), etc.

It freaked me out when i seen her eyes today, they are totally white, I told Tamara that girl is blind.

Chickens have nictitating membranes. It may just mean her eyes are very inflamed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating_membrane

Wow Claire that was alot and i never exspected to hear things like that from you i tend to hold back on my opinion not wanting to offend.
I Think your points make alot of sense i for one agree with you......It is very important to weigh your decisions based on the condition of the bird and nothing else.
When i evaluate a birds sickness i am not involved in the process because i can not afford to let my heart cause an animal to needlessly suffer i do what my knowledge and instinct guides me to do.
I never try to be a hero those only exsist in cartoons and my birds depend on me to help when i can and know when it's time to let go.
I saw the response about her being blind and she may not eat or drink because to her it's dark and what do chickens do when it's dark.
I had a hen get attacked by a hawk she was perfectly okay but he stuck a talon threw her head and it blinded her.
She would not eat or drink anything i put in her mouth she spat out.
I tried and tried and nothing so i was so upset and then it dawned on me she was doing what nature told her to do it was dark and she was supposed to be still and quiet and wait on it to get light.
I waited 3 days and she never moved or ate and i wept as she sat so erect on her roost waiting for the light.
I did what i had to do and prayed that she finally made it to the light and could eat. {{{{crying}}}

Harmony that's a really good point - maybe she can't see light and just is waiting for daytime to eat again. I don't know how to fix that - from your experience, it seems like there might not be a fix. I don't know what to suggest. Sorry for what happened with your hen - that is just heartbreaking.

Thanks for saying you agree with me - I thought everybody would jump on my head and tell me to shut up about things and mind my own business! But I just really get upset by animals suffering and I will do my best to help for as long as I can but there comes a time - just like with my rabbit. It sounds like that hen really needs medical attention if she has stopped eating and drinking and that is when my alarm bells go off loud enough that I have to say what is on my mind. I knew with my goat there was only a 20% chance of her making it and that was one reason I was spending a lot of time with her - preparing myself for the ultimate decision. I am very glad I did not have to make it and that she is getting better, but I wasn't going to sit by and watch her decline and if she had stopped being able to eat or drink, that would have been the sign to take her back to the vet and do what needed to be done.

Don't worry, most of the time I keep my soap box in the closet. I didn't want to offend anybody but I had to speak my mind.
Claire

Claire as i stated she doesn't know she's blind only that it's dark and nature tells her she will eat when it's light.
I know in the 3 days my hen sat on her roost she had to be hungry but her instinct told her to wait.
I allways cry over that because all she wanted was for it too get light and i didn't know how to fix that:(

Claire, I totaly agree with you. I cannot stand to see an animal suffer. If the money isn't available to take the chicke to the vet, and is getting worse, than putting it down seems the most humane thing to do. That is only MHO.