Caramel has a bath

I went out at seven o’clock this morning and once again my heart missed a beat when I saw all the girls except Caramel. I found her in the shed looking around as if she was unsure how to get out. Instant relief!

I put her down by the food and water and was pleased to see her have a drink straight away. That’s a good sign. I poop picked the chicken shed then bought her indoors and gave her the antibiotic, pain killer and some sugar water. This is the last sugar water I will give her as I wanted to give her a bath and stick to plain water from then on so that she doesn’t get sticky feathers again. Her eye was open some of the time and I gave her the eye drops.

I put her in the cat box with the usual mix of food in her dish and was pleased to see that she started eating straight away this time.

Later in the morning when I felt she had eaten all that she was going to, I returned her to the run where she sat with Pebbles.

In the afternoon I bought her back in for a bath. I am aware that she must not get cold especially as the weather has changed from very hot to cool. I bathed her in warm water and then dried her as much as possible with the towel.

I give Caramel a bath

A little girl in a bath

I dry caramel in the towel

I sat on a chair with her on a towel on my lap and dried her as much as possible with a hair drier on a gentle setting.

She appeared not to mind her bath but didn’t seem to like the hair drier so I wrapped her in the towel on my lap and read a book while she dozed. Every now and then I moved her to a dry part of the towel and kept her wrapped up, on my lap, until she was completely dry. She dozed the whole time.

Once she was dry I gave her a little more of the painkiller and some plain water, this was at half past three in the afternoon. I then set her down on the towel with her dish of treats in front of her and was really pleased to see her have a good feed.

Caramel has a good feed

I put her back in the cat box as I wanted to keep her in until the end of the day so that she doesn’t get cold. I was pleased to see her eat again and drink some water.

looking better after her bath

Caramel has a drink with her eye open

I love this photo because she is having a drink of water, she has her eye open and she has just pooped. These are all good signs. I am feeling so much happier with today’s progress.

Next, my husband decided it was time to try to resolve the problem of the little girl’s bedtime perch. He removed the existing low perch and installed it in the corner where the little girls always sleep. He used a piece of wood to bring the perch out from the wall and put the perch on top of the wood.

A new perch for the little girls

Pebbles tries the new perch

The little girls on their new bedtime perch

I helped them along as it was their first night. I put the little girls in the little coop together the same as the night before and once all the other girls were settled I moved them to this position. I checked back ten minutes later to see if they were still on the perch and not only were they still there but Caramel had snuggled into Pebbles like she always does.

We will see if they go there tomorrow by themselves. As always it may take a little time but for now I happy with the way things are progressing. All in all it has been a good day.