This morning when I went out to the girls Sparkle was stood under the bush. This is never a good sign. By the time I had done my morning chores Topaz had gone to stand next to her.
I soaked a bit of bread with her liquid baytril and offered it to her but she refused it. I put her in the cat box with one ramekin dish of water and one of mash, some sunflower seeds and some chopped grapes. Sparkle refused to eat anything.
There was nothing for it but to put her medicine directly in her beak. I held her while my husband administered it a drop at a time in the side of her beak waiting for her to swallow each drop before giving the next. We managed this without any being wasted.
I left her in the cat box because she has everything she needs and doesn’t have to compete with the other girls which she is unable to do at the moment. I can watch to see if she eats or drinks and I can see if she poops. She is comfortable in there and hasn’t complained.
Sparkle in the cat box
Sparkle settled in
I saw her drink from the water dish but was disappointed that she wouldn’t be tempted to eat anything. I know from past experience that if you can get them to eat and gain strength you may get them better (Amber and Emerald) but if you can’t get them to eat then it’s probably a losing battle (Treacle). The problem is you can’t force them to eat you can only keep trying to tempt them.
I am hoping that once the medicine kicks in she will get her appetite back and start to eat and gain strength. I am willing her to eat something. I am hoping that she may eat in the late afternoon like yesterday and then I can return her to the run.
Tomorrow we will put her medicine in her beak again in the morning. I then have to go out and do my deliveries but on my return at lunch time I will put her back in the cat box with food and water. I will repeat this until she starts to eat in the run.
At six o’clock Sparkle suddenly got her appetite back. She started eating the chopped grapes then moved on to the sunflower hearts. She suddenly started pecking at the slice of melon which I put it in with her at lunch time and she wouldn’t even look at, at that time.
Sparkle suddenly starts pecking at the melon
Look at her go!
Hurrah! Melon in Sparkle’s beak
This makes my heart sing
I can’t describe how this simple act made my heart soar. Sparkle then moved on to her mash and then my husband gave her a big worm and after a bit of a struggle she got it down. My heart felt fit to burst.
I then offered her some spinach leaves which she ate with gusto. Hurrah, I think we may be back on track. I decided it was time to return her to the flock and she joined them eagerly. She was moving around after having sat for a whole day. I think (hope) we have reached a turning point. After a day of worry I am feeling so happy at the moment. Lets hope tomorrow continues as well as this.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Oh thank goodness for that ! 🙂
Fingers and toes and the other girls beaks crossed that she has turned the corner . X
I am feeling so much happier this evening, Sparkle is now perched up on the bed time perches next to Topaz. Topaz actually looks glad to have her back. Sparkle’s crop looks full, I think most of that may be the one huge worm she had and she is preening so that is a really good sign.
Having read your recent posts in sequence, you must have been extremely concerned for Sparkle; I’m so pleased at the much more encouraging news at the end of today. They often show tremendous resilience and the capacity to bounce back. Let’s hope that Sparkle has turned the corner and, when the next, normal egg arrives, it’ll seem that she’s fully back on form.
It’s only been a couple of days but it went quickly from the soft shelled egg, which happens, sometimes, to suddenly realising this was something more serious. Then I went through this awful “please Sparkle eat something” up and down spiral until tonight when she started eating again and then utmost relief. I really hope this is the moment when we have turned the corner. Just when I thought things were going smoothly something else gets thrown into the works. It’s totally consumed me over the last few days and makes me realise that even though we have favourites, when a girl is down, suddenly they become the total focus and you become so much more attached when you think you may lose one of them. We had thought that Sparkle had less character than some of the girls but suddenly when faced with losing her we realised how much we cared for her and couldn’t bare to lose her now so soon after Amber. It has been a stressful few days but I feel more optimistic tonight. Please Sparkle, continue to recover, your flock needs you, (and we do too of course and in fact more so!).
Wow, what an amazing turn around. I wonder what made her feel so off. But I’m so glad she’s coming back around.
We are not out of the woods yet but I am remaining hopeful. Today she is very slow and has eaten very little but is drinking. I am going to put her back in the cat box at the same time as she started eating yesterday with a whole load of goodies and hope this will get her eating again. I just feel sure that she needs to eat more to keep improving. That said she has been moving around although rather slowly.