Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

orangecrush said:

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! We are hoping to get some allotment work done, and I need to pollinate my apricot tree which is blossoming already, but no pollinators to be seen so I will be out there with a step stool and a paintbrush! 

We are outside this weekend too and the weather here looks pretty good here. We are going to attempt, (notice I say attempt) 🤣🤣 to move a lot of fruit bushes like red and black currents and raspberries.  We are cleaning the girls coop and Hoppy's run out first thing tomorrow which shouldn't take too long as we completely replaced everything on the ground in there last week. Then we plan to dismantle our old dilapidated fruit cage before moving all the fruit plants. 

At least the weather has warmed up a bit now and it is staying lighter longer so gives gardeners more time to get things done. 

I know you have a lot on Cheery so I do hope you manage to find time to be outdoors this weekend.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Morning all, 

Looks like we've got another trip to the vet this afternoon 😕 Chippy this time! One of the newer hens.  Been under the weather all weekend, and now she's just standing there, eyes shut, comb all shriveled which is never a good sign 😕

I've brought her into the house away from the others (it's lovely to have a chicken in the house again, even if it is for all the wrong reasons). She's eaten a few treats but is still just standing there. Managed to get a vets appointment at 3pm. Wish we had a closer chicken vet!!

orangecrush

Oh Cheery I'm sorry!  She doesn't sound happy, poor wee thing.  Hope the vet is helpful.  Fingers crossed for her. 

edwink

Aww, poor Chippy, bless her.  How did the vets visit go this afternoon Cheery?.  Is she ok?.

Thinking of you.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Looks like egg peritonitis 🙄 They drained a load of nasty looking yellow fluid out of her abdomen (for some reason they always bring it out to show us - I'm starting to be quite an expert!) She's got antibiotics and anti inflammatories,  and they've also given her an implant. 

I was hoping by getting young chickens this time we'd avoid some of the issues we've been having with ex batts, but apparently not 😕 Bless her. They said if she's had a bout of this, this early in her life, it's likely she'd get more, and each time less likely she'd survive. So we've gone with the implant again, which stops all egg production, meaning we now have three chickens with implants (plus Beaky, who just never lays any more cos she's old). Blithering freeloaders!

Cheery_Daff

Poor thing though, she was not as sanguine as Bessie about her trip to the vets. Bessie was quite relaxed the other day, and didn't even flinch apparently when the vet injected her. Chippy isn't used to being picked up, and has always been quite flighty. She let me catch her this morning as she was clearly feeling very rough, but apparently objected to the vet, and kicked all his equipment off the table 🙄

Poor lass really did look quite rough when we got home. We've put her in with the others overnight - it's not cold out there and we figured familiar surroundings and other chickens would be better than a bewildering night alone in our house after the day she's had. I'll get up early and bring her back inside though. 

Fingers crossed.

edwink

Aww, bless her Cheery fingers crossed she will be ok. OMG, as you say that is 3 of your hens with implants now. You definitely have been so unlucky with some of your hens health that's for sure. Good idea to bring her back indoors in the morning because she will still be feeling somewhat rough and with hen lockdown at the moment she may be bothered by the others. Do keep us updated when you get a minute. 

Like you Cheery I can't wait for hen lockdown to end.  Not long now eh?. Take care

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Sad news folks - Chippy didn't make it 😢😢😢 She looked rough this morning, but did have a couple of grapes, and we managed to give her her medicine again, so we were hopeful it would kick in and at least make her feel better enough to eat.

But no. She was cosy in a little hay nest by the radiator, with Mr Cheery in the same room talking to her and checking on her, but finally she just stopped breathing, and I came out of a meeting to find him just cradling her 😢😢

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:

Sad news folks - Chippy didn't make it 😢😢😢 She looked rough this morning, but did have a couple of grapes, and we managed to give her her medicine again, so we were hopeful it would kick in and at least make her feel better enough to eat.

But no. She was cosy in a little hay nest by the radiator, with Mr Cheery in the same room talking to her and checking on her, but finally she just stopped breathing, and I came out of a meeting to find him just cradling her 😢😢

Aww, Mr & Mrs Cheery, how sad 😥😥😥  Always remember though that you did all you could for her and at the end, she was so cosy by the radiator in her bed of hay, bless her. You could not have done any more for her.

Thinking of you both.

love Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Still rather sad here, but being occupied by trying to get Bessie to take her medicine...  

I've yet to find a good way. Poor old Chippy was so ill, we could just squirt a little at a time at the front of her beak and she'd swallow it, but Bessie objects violently to that and just shakes her head, sending the medicine flying everywhere. There's a technique of squirting it right down their throats, but you have to be careful to miss their windpipe, and I'm not brave enough. So we're left with squirting it onto favourite foods, and trying to get her to eat those... but she gets suspicious when you try to feed ONLY her something (understandably!) I tried separating her in the run, but she just stood and shouted through the gate at the others, and the others stood and shouted at her, and the treats went ignored. 

Now we've brought her into the living room, with assorted medicine-laden treats scattered round the floor (bits of bread, cheese, grapes etc) - she is walking round shouting, clearly a little bewildered, and ignoring the treats. 

Any advice?! We got the vet to do it yesterday since we were there anyway, but can't exactly do that every day!! We've got liquid rather than tablets (that was even worse). Any advice appreciated!