joan jett died this afternoon.

i have spent the day running around trying to figure out how to care for these little ones. both joan jett and camilla stopped eating, all four have bloody diarrhea. i have bought special baby bird formula to hand feed...special heat lamps suitable for small cages, i have set them up in the bathroom and spoken to many different vet clinics and one of the wildlife bird rescues....can i give them antibiotics...what kind...what dose would i give..how much formula do i feed and how often, will sulcrate help their GI bleeds and if so how much of that do i give????

some of the advice contradicted other advice..some of it was the same. bottom line for everything??? no one really treats baby chicks for serious illness/injury so no one really knows the answers to my questions...chickens are worthless and rarely recieve intensive medical care..either they die on their own or they are helped along to put them out of their misery.
don't get me wrong here..the clinics were great..they listened to me and looked stuff up as best they could.
but there is just not much available to look up about chickens, especially little baby chicks seriously ill from burns and smoke inhalation.

anyway...truly sadly, joan is dead...and camilla is not far behind, she has to be syringe fed. ginger and henny are better then the others and still eating on their own but henny is sounding congested tonight and both of them are still pooping straight blood.

when i picked up wilma from eastridge after her glucose curve tonight (her blood sugars are stable by the way!)...dave kindly figured out a dose of TMS for me and told me how to reconstitute which the emergency clinic suggested after calling a bird expert for me...and then he helped me figure out a plan of care.

this whole day was pretty much devoted to figuring things for these babes and then picking up the various things that they need.

and i have a massive headache.

renee helped me with the feeding and meds while she was here...tammy helped me this afternoon and laura came by this evening. feeding chickens is not like feeding other birds because their parents do not stick their beaks down the chicks throats to feed...baby chicks have to eat on their own and they certainly do not like me trying to invasively feed and medicate them!

not sure how i will manage the rest of the feedings til tomorrow cuz camilla needs to be fed every couple of hours..i guess i will have to figure out a way to hold her and pry open her beak and pop in the syringe with only two hands.

sigh...i am sure it can be done...somehow.

anyway..here is the best medical plan i can currently come up with if anyone ever finds themselves in the very same boat.
if they can eat on their own...chick starter and fresh water.
if they can't baby bird formula 2cc every 2 hours
0.2cc of baytril in strawberry juice once a day for infections seconday to smoke inhalation.
0.5cc of TMS suspended in apple juice for bowel infections secondary to extreme stress
a small 50 or 75 watt heat lamp suitable for a lizards cage
2 pairs of hands would be nice..one to hold and one to feed and medicate
and a whole freaking lot of good luck!

i hope this works.

other news....both tucker and hilda had their surgeries today. i have not spoken with the vet yet but i hear thru the clinic staff that all is well right now. tina-fey had her vet check and is cleared for me to book her surgery soon too. mandy's chest is finally clear so i can cut back on the lasix a bit which is better for her trashed kidneys and little prince has gained a few ounces..not a lot but it is better then nothing i guess.
and thank you anne for helping with the vet run so early this morning and tammy also for this afternoons and laura for your help this evening!
senior, sick and special needs animals are a ton of work!