-very deep breath-
good thing i didn't ask the past week or so about my chickens. i got to see this morning how they were....
I guess last sunday one of my coops caught fire and burned down.
there were few survivors. Lionel and Pidgin. my favorites are alive... but i will get to them in a second.
Dad counted 9 dead. there was one that went and hid in the back of one nest box and i found it dead... the straw in the nest under it was scorched (and this was in my other coop that it went to)
There is one other survivor that i am going to have dad and john take care of tonight.... it can't walk. It walks on its 'hocks' i picked it up and that smell is burned in my nose... its feet are curled up and black. this was an EE but the legs are dead, bone, melted. so i set it near food and water for some peace.
Lionel has swollen feet and melted toe nails.... his spurs are black.... the few times he walks he picks his legs up sooo high. Him and Pidgin had feathered feet. I think it both saved them but made it worse. I don't know what to do for them. Pidgin has skin peeling off her feet. the skin on both is still... alive looking with some scales gone..... Pidgin seems to be doing 'best' It sounds like dad has been putting neosporin on them all week. Also they don't have tails..... their tails burned off..... all the feathers around their butt are burned off..... and the rest of the feathers are smoke and heat damaged.
This is beyond my understanding of what to do.
Lionel was standing on the snow... which i am sure hurt but keeps the swelling down....
I have placed Lionel and Pidgin in my little chicken tractor with water and scratch and clean straw. If there is medications i can get them today please let me know and i am also posting in the emergencys thread. I know that anything with 'cane' in it can kill them... and i am glad and lucky my dad only was putting neosporin on....
I also have a Cayuga Drake that i put in with them... the other ducks have picked on it bad. he has no feathers on his neck and after picking him up i realized they been keeping him from food and water. I need to find a new home for him, and probably for a few more drakes because i am sure they are figuring out who gets the 2 females...
Even though a week as about passed since they been burned it still looks iffy for Lionel. he is still in shock to me.
This has been a very, very bad winter for chickens.... and very depressing.
I am heart broken Lionel is my oldest chicken. he is just over 4 years old. pidgin is a year younger, but i know she is tough with how she broods alone.
