Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:

Impressed that they sit on your lap in the car! Bessie was in a kind of crate thing in the back, all comfy cosy with food etc. But she was still very good. We had Rusty loose in the car once when we spotted her in the neighbour's garden on the way home - she stood on Mr Cheery's knee while I drove down our drive, flapping and balancing and squarking and definitely not sitting quietly! Wouldn't risk one of our pesky menaces in the car without being locked up 😂

We take ours out to the car wrapped lightly in a blanket sitting in a large basket with a carry handle. Like an old fashioned basket with an open top. Once we are in the car, I sit in the back and lift the hen out of the basket still wrapped in the blanket and sit her on my lap holding on to her gently throughout the journey.  The calmest one we took in that basket was one of our big white Aylesbury ducks, she stayed in the basket with me sitting next to her.  She had several trips to the vets and was good as gold on the journey each time  Once in the vets she was always centre of attention with all the children in the waiting room wanting to stroke her. 

Our vets have been very good with our girls over the years. None of the vets at the practice are specialists in poultry/birds but one of them has a lot of knowledge of birds especially hens as she keeps them at home herself.  We are fortunate that our vets are a 20 minute drive away.  Before we found these vets we took one of our ducks to another vet and basically he took one look at her and told us that we couldn't have a duck with one leg and for this advice we were charged £55 believe it or not.  Long story but we left very unhappy, to say the least.  The following day we took her to the vets we now use and she was given an anti-inflammatory injection to bring down the soreness and we took her home along with the same injection medication to give to her ourselves over the following 7 days.  We took her back the following week for a check up and thankfully they were very pleased with her progress and the inflammation had gone right down. 

I do hope Bessie improves Cheery, I know how worrying it is with them when they are poorly. Just remember that you are doing your best for her and all you possibly can.  Take care.

Edwink x

 

Pyxis

Gosh, did you have to learn how to do injections?

Pyxis

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CHEERY'S HEN DO CLUCKDOWN!:

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🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓...hen days to go ...and clucking!

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Cheery_Daff

Pyxis said:

Gosh, did you have to learn how to do injections?

Fortunately not!! It's a little syringe of liquid, so we're just putting it on a tiny bit of bread and making sure she eats it.

Ah, I do remember you talking about wrapping your hens in a blanket Edwink! We've been putting ours in a crate with some hay and a towel pegged over the top - for a 10 minute journey to the local vets that's been fine (it's also how we brought them all home from the rehoming place). Yesterday with it being a longer journey we used a bigger crate and Mr Cheery fashioned some metal loops to drape the towel over, which meant she could stand up properly, turn round, and we could also put in a small dish of food. 

Touch wood, she seems fine this morning - breathing still fine and pottering round with the others. Blood test results due Thursday I think so we'll know more then. 

We've been happy with our local vets so far - like yours edwink they're not experts, but they've been giving antibiotics and calcium injections or whatever. But this time, given that Bessie was still bright eyed and running around, we wanted a bit more than just 'there's definitely something going on but I don't know what and I can't do anything'. I'm not sure what we'll do in the future - probably try with the one that's about 40 mins away which seems more reasonable. And if we have to have any of them put to sleep we'll go to the local one of course. 

Pyxis

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

CHEERY'S HEN DO CLUCKDOWN!:

🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓
🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓......hen days to go ...and clucking!

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Pyxis

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

CHEERY'S HEN DO CLUCKDOWN!:

🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓
🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

🐓🐓🐓🐓.........hen days to go ...and clucking!

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Cheery_Daff

Eek, need to get a move on making our hen decision if that's the only time we've got left! 

More news about Bessie - the vet rang with blood test results yesterday. Nothing wrong with her liver or kidneys, red blood cell count fine. Calcium and protein blood levels a bit high, indicating she's still 'reproductively active', so it seems that the most likely explanation is some kind of egg-related infection. The vet originally said egg peritonitis, but then it seemed unlikely because the fluid they drained was so clear, but it seems we may have just caught it really early. She's sending us some antibiotic tablets to give her in the post, and we're going back once she's finished them. 

Bessie seems fine, thank goodness (although she, like the others, is complaining vociferously about today's wind and rain). So fingers crossed, this might not be all doom and gloom at all (although it certainly would be if she hadn't had that fluid drained off - feeling very pleased at the minute that we decided to, and were able to, take her to the second vet). 

Right, going to ring up about these other chickens before I put it off any longer!

Pyxis

Great news about Bessie! So pleased!

She lives to squark another day! 😁

Pyxis

I thought I'd done today's! The days are all blurring together! 😱

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CHEERY'S HEN DO CLUCKDOWN!:

🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓
🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

🐓🐓🐓............hen days to go ...and clucking!

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

edwink

Great news about Bessie, so glad she is getting better.  Let's hope the antibiotics also help her, bless her  😘

I've had a poorly hen here for 3 days but thankfully she appears so much better today.  We were nearly off to the vets with her until she picked up yesterday. Still don't really know what was wrong with her but she did have a bit of a squishy crop so got her to one side to eat something by herself quite a few times especially when the others went back to their coop at night.  I did massage her crop a few times and noticed that it wasn't very grainy in there so I kept her back from the others so she could eat some seeds and pellets on her own.  I'm guessing that she ate one too many leaves of something like lettuce, dandelion, greens, or even grass.  We are just keeping a close eye on her but tonight she is definitely much better and even has a bit of a spring in her step. 

Is it really only 15 days to go for the new hens?.  Wow, that time certainly went very quickly didn't it?.  If you do decide to get them Cheery, how many were you thinking of rehoming this time?. just interested.

Thanks for posting the hen countdown Pyxis 😊

Edwink x