Another day of drama

This morning we were surprised that Sparkle was sitting in the nest box. After her soft shelled egg the day before it seemed unlikely that she would lay again so soon.

Once again when Toffee wanted to lay her egg she chose company rather than one of the two empty nest boxes. Toffee really does seem to like company when laying her eggs which is quite unusual.

Sparkle and Toffee in the left coop

Toffee soon laid her egg but Sparkle was still in the coop. I started to think something was wrong. I lifted Sparkle out of the coop and she was slow and a bit wobbly. I tried to tempt her to eat and dropped chopped grapes in front of her but she ignored them. This wasn’t a good sign.

I offered her scrambled egg, mash and sunflower seeds along with chopped grapes and all she managed was two little bits of grape and about two sunflower seeds. She did a very liquid watery poop and then went to the water.

Poor Sparkle by the water

She drank quite a bit and then returned to the nest box. By now I was worried. A little later I lifted her out again and tried to temp her with food but again she showed no interest. She did another watery poop and went back to drinking the water.

I was by now beginning to feel alarmed. I picked her up and inspected her. I could hear a slight bubbly sound from her beak. Her eyes were clear and no liquid from her beak but there was a faint rattle as she was breathing. I thought this may be a respiratory problem and decided that I would need a visit to the vet.

I googled respiratory problems and it mentioned that it could effect egg shell quality, lethargy and lack of appetite were also symptoms. I phoned the vet and managed to get an appointment an hour later. Luckily the chicken expert who I have seen before was available.

I put Sparkle in a cat box with pine shavings and threw in a hand full of sunflower seeds just in case she decided to eat. She was very well behaved in the cat box and just sat quietly.

When I took her out and handed her to the vet she pecked him which was a surprise as she has never pecked anyone before. He listened to her chest and said that it was all clear but he could hear the slight rasping from her throat. He said it was rather like us getting a cold or flue and  that it was in her throat but hadn’t reached her chest.

He gave me liquid baytril to give her for ten days. When I put her back in the cat box she pecked at the sunflower seeds and he said she seemed hungry.

Back home I measured out the baytril and put it on a piece of bread (I wouldn’t usually give bread but needs must). She slowly ate it and I then put in the cat box some chopped grapes, sunflower seeds, corn, mash and water. At times like this if I can get them to eat anything I don’t care what it is as long as they eat something. I needed to build her strength back up.

I left her in the cat box for about half an hour until she had eaten all the grape, sunflower seeds, corn and some of the mash plus water. I then returned her to the flock.

When I gave them a handful of sunflower seeds before bedtime she joined in even though she was a bit slower than usual. She was looking more her usual self and better than she had all day. I felt relieved and felt glad that I had acted quickly and made the right decision to take her to the vet. The cost was twenty eight pounds which I thought was quite reasonable.

Before bedtime she was perched up next to Topaz as usual. I will put her in the cat box each morning with some bread soaked with the baytril to make sure she gets her dose and then return her to the run.

I am hopeful that having caught it early she will be okay. Just when everything seems to be running smoothly there is always something else to throw a spanner in the works. I really hope she will be okay now.