Any ideas, cos i'm stumped!

[sheena]

Tiny is one of the new ex batts I got less than a week ago.
She had shown promising signs of rehabilitation into a normal chook until 2 days ago.

She had started to hunch up, but was keeping away from the bullying bunch (my normal chooks). She was fine when she was seperated from them and placed with the rest of the newbies.

Yesterday she was shying away from them too, but I did notice that her vent had taken a bit of a battering, and had been bleeding. The bleeding has now stopped, but she didn't attempt to eat yesterday but had taken a small drink.
I took her away from all of them last night and hoped she would pull through the night - which she did.ringing

Whilst syringing her a mild dose of Andrew's (1/5 of a teaspoon to 300ml of water) my hubby noticed teeny tiny white mite looking things, I had to strain to notice them.

So have just given her another bath, but she is very weak and wobbly and I don't hold out much hope for her to be honest, but I am trying my best.

Poop wise, yesterday she was pooing white fluid - well it was dripping from her vent, but today it looked like she was constipated. There has been no eggs, so I don't know if this might be the cause - but her vent looks much smaller than my normal girls, possibly even half the size.

At the mo she is wrapped in a towel on my lap as I type this, I am about to blow dry her.

I'm getting tired of my girl's dying on me and am thinking "why do I bother", it's heart breaking.

[Nicos]

Oh sheena- I'm sorry you are feeling like that.
I must say that I can understand why you do- but you are doing an absolutely fantastic thing by rescuing those ex-bats. Without you , they'd be in a tin of cat food by now.

I've never rescued any chooks, but I understand that they are physically exhausted and in poor condition.
Some clearly will have been pushed to their limits.
Keep up the fantastic work you are doing....you clearly are a very caring person- and they need peeps like you xx

Good look with her xx

[its hilly]

Oh dear Sheena, doesn't sound good.
If shes still going why dont you try Brambles gloop (on the health thread sticky)
Other than that, I hope someone with more experience can help.
And as for 'why do I bother' it's because the little beggers get under your skin before you know it.

[Glutton4...]

Oh poor you,and her! I hope she pulls through, and with all your care and attention it won't be for lack of trying. Most of mine are Batties - rescuing them gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside, that my family just can't understand. They think I'm potty taking on 'half-dead' Chooks, but the sight of them running around the field now is just lovely.

Fingers crossed for you both!

[sheena]

Well she's still wish us after her ordeal with the dryer, didn't move an inch and had to be physically pick and turned round to do each side.

I've just dowsed her in Eradicate and rubbed that in, not that it needed much, she don't have many feathers from her wings backwards. I've also frontlined her aswell. The gloop you mentioned will probably be a good idea, if she can hold out til I get all the stuff needed.

Her crop is about golfball sized but very spongey, not sure if that means it's empty or full of fluid but there is definately no sense of food in there. Her underbelly tho looks quite large, I did massage her underbelly whilst bathing her which she kind of gave a little moan but didn't attempt to move away. I didn't know how to check for any signs of blockage, so I didn't prod her too hard through fear of hurting her.

She still not taking water herself, but i don't want to overfill her. How much is too much?
She's taken about 15-20ml including spillages.

Having read Brambles health sticky, it says 30 mins in between feeds, does this include water?

[its hilly]

Sheena the big underbelly could be egg bound, think its warm baths and keep warm for that
Dont know about the crop..help someone..all I can think of is live yogurt for yeast infection (which would put her off eating and drinking)
Sounds as if some antibiotics wouldn't go astray though.

[RichmondHens]

I don't "do" ex-batts, but it sounds like she has ascites (fluid build up in the abdomen). It's something that ex-batts get quite a lot, apparently. Suechooks (on here) can tell you more as I'm pretty sure she has dealt with this problem before, but I'm afraid it doesn't look good. I would get a vet to diagnose her for certain, but please don't let her suffer.

[sheena]

I just finished having a feel of the underbellies of the other girl's and one of the other's had what feels like an egg there, and most of the others didn't.

I've also felt their breast bone's aswell to check for being under weight and the new one's are more pronounced than the older one's, whilst of the newies also has a tiny crop (as if empty).

So, I'm still none the wiser although I doubt that Tiny has an egg in there.

Anyway, since my last post I went and trawled Pets@Home for the required bits for the gloop and picked up some Verm-X whilst I was there.
Couldn't get the Critical Care Formula, so have used everything else as described and force fed Tiny with that. She has taken a couple of steps but that is it.

I'm about to give her the next syringe, and hope that she picks up soon.

I did try her with yoghurt earlier today but she wouldn't touch it, the others went mental for it and broke down the barrier seperating newies from old. At least they seem to getting on now.

Fingers crossed that Tiny makes it and can get back in before they decide to outcast her completely.

[sheena]

Ok, never seen a chicken throw up before... but just did!

She's bringing up fluid and quite a bit of it too, it ran down my leg. Including some of the 10ml I just gave her of the gloop. She's still gagging now, would it not be best to just end her suffering now?

She's not even pooped since her bath, and i'm still concerned about these lice.
The are still running around on her, even after the powder and frontline.

She's also not that warm either, I thought having her on my lap would help keep her warm rather than a box.

And she's still spewing

[Nicos]

Oh dear- doesn't sound at all good does it?

You'll know when to stop sheena- until then, fingers crossed xx

[sheena]

I'm afraid it's too late Nicos, she's given up herself.

I had hope she would make it through today, but sadly she lost the long battle.
At least her small amount of time with me was a happy time full of cuddles. Even my hubby is upset as I am, unusual for him. Maybe he's warming to them as much as I have.

That's it now, tomorrow I am going out there and bathing every single one of the girls. They gonna get 10 star treatment instead of the usual 5 star.

RIP Tiny

[Nicos]

Big hugs to you both.
Well done for putting in such a huge effort.
Poor little thing. xx

[Suechooks]

Really sorry Sheena about Tiny. I've had a lot of girls ascites as RH said and it always ends that way sadly. It is one of the things that happen with ex-batts and you have to remember the sh**ty life they had before you rescued them.
Tiny at least knew comfort and warmth before she died. I lost a few from my first batch very early on as you have but I decided to carry on having them as you will ALWAYS make a difference to their lives however short their time with you is. Please don't give up having them. I think whatever other chooks I have I'll always have room for some ex-batts.
Big {{{{{{hugs}}}}}} to you and your OH.
RIP Tiny

[its hilly]

Such a shame Sheena. {Big hug}
But you do your best and that's all you can do. Think how much difference you've made to the lives of those who do make it through this rough week or two. That's what makes it all worthwhile.

[HayleyB]

You did your best and at least she died loved - big hugs Sheena {{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}