Good news and very bad news

I am sad to say that I have good news and some very bad news. I thought I was pretty clued up about chicken health but one of the observations from Terry from her former blog “Hencam” was that you need to really know your girls to know, very quickly, when there is a problem.

With Caramel, we had only just got her and didn’t know her. We noticed that she wobbled her head occasionally and that her head bobbed up and down when she dozed (we now know that was because she was having trouble breathing). When she had a swollen eye we thought perhaps she had taken a peck to it. I rang the breeder and she said that she had been fine with her and we thought as she had had her for a year maybe this was just how she was, apart from the swollen eye that is.

After losing Caramel I thought that I would never make that mistake again. I would know these were signs that there was something wrong. Pebbles had had hiccups, after feeding, from the moment we got her. I also thought this was odd but perhaps just something peculiar to her and something that she could live with okay. After losing Caramel I was paranoid every time Pebbles hiccuped. Was it hiccuping or sneezing, they sound similar.

As time went by I began to relax. The time that a respiratory disease is contagious is six to twelve days according to my research. I began to think we had had a lucky escape. It has been five weeks since we lost Caramel.

This afternoon I heard Pebbles sneeze. Not too alarming on it’s own but then I noticed that she was perched up and dozing and her head was bobbing gently up and down. Alarm bells started ringing. I poop picked the run and when under the ladder where she was dozing I could hear her breathing. She was wheezing as she was breathing. Now I was really alarmed.

I had kept the meds from Caramel in case any of the other girls went down with what she had and decided to take action straight away. I gave Pebbles a dose of the antibiotic, bayrtil.

I was worried about having to be out until late but the afternoon tea had been booked months ago and there was nothing we could do about that.

I worried all the way home about where the girls would be. We made it home by half past six but it was dark.

The good news is that Rusty and Freckles were on their perch. The bad news is that Pebbles was on top of one of the little coop nest boxes and I could hear her whistling as she was breathing.

Clever girls, I am so proud of them

Poorly Pebbles

I am really worried about Pebbles. I put some pine shavings in the cat box, put Pebbles in it and bought her indoors. I gave her another dose of baytril and also the pain killer that I had for Caramel and then gave her some water to her beak. I settled her in the bathroom in the cat box.

I am going to keep her in the bathroom for now. In the morning I will put in water and a selection of food stuff. I will call the vet on Monday when they open and ask their advice. They told me to call if any of the other girls developed symptoms.

I don’t want to risk putting her back in with the rest of the flock now that I know that it is a respiratory problem. I am really worried about Pebbles and about the rest of the flock. I hope that catching it straight away gives her a chance of getting better but I am concerned that this has happened five weeks later, when I thought all was safe.

It seems that every time we think things are going well there is something else to deal with. We will have to take it one day at a time but I am worried right now. I can only hope that acting quickly may give her the best possible chance of coming through this.

On a side note, in case it may help anyone else, our automatic door closer stopped working a few days ago. After nearly five years the batteries had run out, which is amazing. The problem is that as the batteries were so old they had leaked some acid. We cleaned it up and put in new batteries but it hasn’t worked since.

In hind sight we should have checked and replaced the batteries much sooner and it’s looking like we may have to buy a new one. This is a pain as they are expensive and it is another lesson learned. I thought I would mention it in case it could help someone else to be aware to check the batteries.

At least it has happened in winter when it is easy for me to go out at first light and open up. I will give a daily update on Pebbles and am keeping everything crossed.