April 10, 2012 Illnesses

I'm continuing with the update of 2011 for all my new readers.

After reducing the flock, things were going along really well. It seemed like the 5 personalities were developing and there was less tension since the other 7 were gone.

October 8 Gabby laid the first egg and the others followed suit about 10 days later.

Thanksgiving 2011 weekend we went to Bend, Oregon to my sister-in-laws house, and met up with Steve's parents and another brother. A neighbor was looking in on the chickens in exchange for the eggs.  When we returned on Sunday afternoon, I went down to see The Girls and Fearless was acting tipsy: she couldn't stand, scratch or walk very well. It was funny-sad and very scary to see her keep falling over. My heart was racing. What was wrong?


I grabbed some bedding and feed, picked her up and went to the house. Steve got out the large cat-carrier and I made a bed for her, wrapped her in a warm towel and tried to give her some water. Then I hit the chicken resource books and the internet to figure out what was wrong.  The books all say to isolate an ill bird....well, she couldn't walk so I couldn't leave her down in the pen anyway.

I started her on a molasses-cayenne-garlic flush thinking that it might have been something she ate. Cooing to her and keeping a close watch for signs of improvement practically hour by hour.

Here she is after several days in her hospital room: Steve was great when I ask for a hospital 'cage' and took a table he'd made, wrapped it with chicken wire [cat-proof] and we put it in the garage here at the house.

After about a week, she was standing and walking pretty good: the scratch-dance was hard but she kept trying. When she could stand and scratch, I thought she was ready to go back to the group. Well, those darned sisters FORGOT who she was! Blondie rapidly attacked, pecked her and wouldn't let go!!! Back to the hospital.  Steve suggested putting her in the pasture and keeping the others locked out. It worked great; they could visually see each other, pace back and forth watching each other, and at least the Four were getting used to her again.


As they seemed more used to her, I re-introduced Fearless to them using the stick method: anyone who tried to peck her got lightly tapped with the apricot branch stick. It worked great!

The first overnight attempt didn't go so well - she fell off the rail because she couldn't grasp it. Back to the house.  I could she was clearly distressed at not being able to stay with them, antsy and clucky. My mentor, Barb, suggested building a platform for her at the roost level. It seemed to help with her stability and she was able to start spending nights in the coop. I felt successful at doctoring the night I saw her grasping on the roost and sitting next to the others!!

From all my reading I suspect a mild case of some type of botulism: it could have come from some moldy hay that I put in the coop before we left over Thanksgiving, and she was just the unlucky one to eat something from the hay - a seed perhaps. [ I had no idea moldy hay wasn't good...]

But, still no conclusive evidence of Fearless's Mysterious Illness.

She remains healthy to this day and I love coo-cooing to her and picking her up and I can look at her expression and just know that she 'knows'.  Here we are in the playground together last last week.



It was not too long after Fearless came back into the flock that Blondie came down with her Illness.


...and, drat, what was I doing wrong to have sick chickens? I thought chickens were supposed to be easy to raise!




Stay "tuned" for the blog about Blondie's Mysterious Illness, coming next.