[Faith72]

Hello all, here I am again on your lovely site to ask someone with pigeon medical experience a question to try and save the life of one of my birds!

Here's what happened - this morning when I checked on my pair of Parlor Tumblers I noticed the hen was just sitting in the sunning cage looking a little fluffed up and with wings and tail down. Upon closer inspection, I saw that this hen had what looked like egg liquids dripping from her rear end and I knew it was a broken egg. I don't know exactly how the egg broke, but I am guessing she got exited and did a tumble or two in their sunning cage or nesting 'house' (small loft) and whacked her underside in a sensitive spot. She laid an egg the night of May 3rd and was due to lay another one tonight.

After quickly searching the web for any information I could find on this life-threatening situation, I proceeded to give her a couple drops of olive oil down the throat, lubed her vent with the oil, and also gave her a birdie enema with lukewarm water to try and help ease the passing of the egg shell shards. She passed what looks like most if not all of the egg shell just ten minutes ago, but what worries me is what damage the shell did to her insides as I saw a very small amount of blood on the corners of the crushed egg shell which came out of her. I also read that if the egg yolk stays inside of her and gets on her organs, it can cause a severe bacterial infection.

I am currently unable to get to an avian vet for multiple reasons! I currently have no way of getting transportation to the vet among other things, and from what I read this little girl needs some type of medication or treatment now to help prevent internal infection. Here is a list of what I currently have in terms of meds and vitamins:

Medpet Trimethoprim/Sulfa

Medpet Medistatin

Metronidazole (250mg tablets for aquariums)

API Aquarium Pharmeceuticals Triple Sulfa Anti-Bacterial Fish Medication

API Aquarium Pharmeceuticals T.C. Tetracycline Anti-Bacterial Fish Medication

Terra Vet 10 (tetracycline hydrocloride soluble powder)

I have vitamins Winsmore, Red Cell and Foy's No Light Pills (Equivelant of Ideal Pills). Also have PB8 Acidophilus.

Would any of these help her to fight any infection and boost her system for a better chance of recovery? Although the egg shards are out, I know that is only half of the battle. Any suggestions? She is currently inside right next to me just sitting there with her wings still down a little and her lower back feathers still puffed up. Does not look like she is in much pain, but she looks a little drowsy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you for your time!

- Faith

 

[ETphonehome]

Take a look at this page to help her further, Baytril or any broad-spectrum antibiotic will be enough in this case. Post pictures and or videos of the hen if you can and stay tune.

Do not bother to take her to any vet they are ignorants about pigeon care among many other things.

http://www.roller-pigeon.com/Roller_Pigeon_Feature_Article.html

 

[Faith72]

Thank you for the very informative article! I believe most all of the egg has already passed out of her, but I am mainly concerned with internal injury and infection right now.

I don't have any Baytril right now and I am afraid it will be too late for her if I order it and wait a day or two for it to arrive in the mail. Many of the medications I have on hand are antibacterial medications, and I am wondering if someone might know which one would be the best to use right now and what the dosage should be. I want to get her medicated and/or dosed with vitamins and probiotics as quickly as possible to help her chances of getting through this.

Also, does anyone know of a good online place to purchase Baytril in a form which is easy to administer to pigeons? It sounds very useful and I need to add that to my medicine cabinet for times like this.

The hen is still just standing here looking drowsy, I will post a couple of pictures soon.

 

[ETphonehome]

In this case you can use Trimethoprim read this page

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=617&S=2

Bring her inside the house if she is outside give her supportive care, a quiet room or corner, keep her warm, and post further development.

 

[ETphonehome]

This page can help you with the dosage

Post if you need more help and or guidance.

http://www.homingpigeon.com/article/Dosage.html

Trimethoprim/sulfa

Dose : 30 mg per pigeon per day – 1500 mg per gallon (4 liters) for 7-14 days.

 

[ETphonehome]

Do not give her any vitamins during antibiotic some can reduce the effectiveness of the antibiotic and doing research to know wich will not take more time put her on anbibiotic now do not wait for tomorrow it can be too late.

Give her probiotica in the water or food if you have and nothing more let the antibiotic do the rest of the work.

Injuries tend to heal even if internal, you just have to assure she does not develop any infection.

keep an ey on her poops for possible blood on it.

 

[Faith72]

Thank you so much for these links and dosage amounts of Tri-Sulfa ETphonehome! It looks like a good choice of medication for now, so I will start her on that immediately and also some probiotics.

The package I have has amounts equaling 1 teaspoon of medication per one gallon of water for 5-7 days. For an individual dose (I would assume to give her an individual dose versus a water dose since she isn't eating or drinking much)... let's see, 1tsp is about 5 grams, right? So 1tsp in 50ml of wheat germ oil (or 1/4tsp in 12.5ml oil) mixed and stirred well should be alright for a base. Then for administering, one of the easiest ways is to probably administer 6 or 7 drops by mouth, or add the drops to a small piece of bread rolled into a ball and pop it in her mouth. Does this sound right for dosing amounts? If I figured correctly, that should come fairly close to 30mg if she is given 3-4 drops twice a day of the mix.

She has not pooped yet, but I will keep an eye on her and watch her condition. Thank you so much for your advice!

 

[Faith72]

Here are a couple pictures of my sweet little hen and also a picture of the remains of the egg from her (warning - the third picture is a bit gross for those who have weaker stomachs). Notice the little red dots of blood on some of the egg shell - that is what worried me.

She is inside just a few feet away from me right now sitting on an old pair of jeans and it is almost 80 degrees in here, so she should be okay. There is also a recovery cage set up for her in here when since I have to fly, train and care for my other birds soon. I will keep an eye on her though and come in to check on her periodically throughout the day - I hope she gets better and recovers soon without infection or internal damage.

 

[Faith72]

Also, the little bump right above her left eye is not infection, disease or anything like that - she had the little bump ever since I bought her and it is from an injury years ago or merely a cosmetic flaw. She is five years old and a total sweetheart

 

[Faith72]

She looked at me like she was hungry, so I placed some of the highest-quality pigeon grains I have in front of her and she began eating like normal! I hope she keeps her healthy appetite like this!

 

[ETphonehome]

She looks pretty and pretty OK, and it seems she expelled about 90+% of the eggs shell.

The dosage is OK the drops by mouth is the best and accurate option after that giving it in a piece of bread, just be sure its a very small piece to avoid she suffocate bread is very dry and sometimes difficult to pass.

For today and tomorrow would be helpful if you put some drops of oil in her food to help the digestion and the passage of the droppings. olive oil or alike would be fine.

 

[Faith72]

Great, I will continue medicating her and keep you updated on how she is doing. I will also add a little organic olive oil to her feed for lubrication.

Thank you so much! - Faith

 

[Charis]

Here's a link for baytril...
You can also give it as an individual treatment, which would always be preferred method of delivery. Each cc or ml contains 100mg and so using a 1 cc syringe it's easy to measure the correct amount, which is bases on the birds weight in grams and give it right down the throat.
Does your hen have access to calcium and vitamin d3?

http://www.allbirdproducts.com/newproductpages/baytril.html

 

[Charis]

Salmonella Tabs and Parastop will work too and are good medications to have on hand. They are both inexpensive by comparison.

http://www.globalpigeon.com/index.php?cPath=24_56

 

[Faith72]

Charis, thank you very much for the link to Baytril and the other two medications. I have heard from many people that Baytril is a good pigeon medication and used to treat a wide range of sickness and infection. I have never heard of the other two medications before... I thought that paratyphoid was untreatable and 99% of the time led to the fatality of the affected bird If the Norflaxin actually does what they say it does and treats paratyphoid, the Salmonella Tabs and Parastop would be extremely valuable to have on hand if paratyphoid ever showed up!

She has access to a type of mixed red grit containing small pieces of oyster shell for calcium, but I am not sure about D3... the feed she is being fed has a wide variety of grains and seeds in it (Seed Factory Pigeon Gold 16.5% protein) and I am currently mixing a little wheat germ oil (and a little olive oil) in her feed if that might give her any extra vitamins or nutrition. Does she specifically need Vitamin D3 - would it help her recover or heal? I have a few capsules of D3 for humans and can measure and administer a little bit of that in her water each day if that would help (without interfering with the Trimethoprim/Sulfa - I will need to look that up before hand).

Update on the hen: She is being kept inside in a safe, quiet place where I can keep an eye on her until she is completely better. She has been eating and drinking today - her appetite and thirst seems just a teensy bit decreased due to her condition, but she is definitely eating and drinking enough for a bird of her size. She has always been a picky eater and loves to pick out the safflower and millet in the feed, tossing the peas and corn out of her food dish and making a total mess Walking around a little, curious, and moderately active. I just hope everything is okay inside and something does not get worse or go wrong.

Thank you so much for all your help and suggestions, and have a great night everyone - Faith

 

[Faith72]

Recovering Well!

The Parlor Tumbler hen has been doing great and recovering well from what I have seen! Her food and water intake has been normalized, and she is fairly active and energetic. Poops are also normal and nothing looks out of the ordinary. I will continue administering the Tri-Sulfa for a couple more days and then continue the probiotics for a couple of days after that - looks like she will get through this without any problem and be back to her normal health in just a couple of days! I will keep her in a loft with other hen pigeons for over a month to give her and her mate rest from their nesting duties to give her more time to fully recover and hopefully repair any internal damage before more egg laying commences.

Thank you ETphonehome and Charis for your support on the matter and for the helpful links Have a wonderful day! - Faith

 

[ETphonehome]

Do not forget to give her and all pigeons always a good suplement containig calcium, vitamines, D, D3, A, E.

Most egg related problems in hens are due to defficiency of D3 and vitamine A helps sking regeneration and healing. vitamine E boost the inmune system

Look for a good all in one vitamine suplement and give them regularly in the water

B, B6, B12 etc, etc. a good pigeon mix is also essencial.

 

[Charis]

ET...I agree with you.