Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[mooandmcgee]

Thanks @Teila that was a great read. Just spent the last hour getting up to date with the going ons of this thread. I will see how we go and let you know.

Hey @chook new going through the same thing for the first time as well. Keep me posted as to how it goes for you. I'm kicking her out now and watching to see what she does.

 

[Teila]

Cue music! Tis the season to be broody, tra la la la la la la la laaaaaaaaaa

 

[LuckysMum]

Fizzybelle I buy my hemp from a stockfeeds place and it comes in a vacuum sealed bag. Check out some prices the pet stores are expensive. I have put some misting sprays in the front of my coop and in the dog kennel. When it’s hot I put them on they love it. I also throw some frozen veges in the water.

Satay Very funny story about Thor.

We have bear that is about the same weight, all he wants to do it give big wet kisses. Though he has a ferocious bark, I’m not sure what he would do but he is extremely protective of the grandkids.
I don’t envy your heat Satay. I lived in Giru and Townsville along time ago I don’t think I could cope with the heat anymore. But Fancy’s Tassie is a bit cold though very lush. I think I’ll stay here.

Anniebee I think that big dogs are aware of how big they are. Bear is very gentle around our little kids and chickens. Yet he will rough house and nearly knock us big people over playing. Mum has 2 little dogs and they have snapped at the kids. I don’t trust them around the kids or chickens.

Teila I love the horse cartoon. The butterflies sound wonderful how amazing. I loved the photos. The Heron looks quite at home. Yes it is the season to be broody. Just when I think they are over it another starts or goes back to being broody

Fancy Your photos are great, it looks like heaven. I have a friend who lived in Tassie (Bernie) for a few years. Her house was built going up the side of a hill and it was over a hundred years old. Her pipes and any water outside would freeze during winter she used to fill the bath and buckets with water because it would take half a day for the pipes to thaw. Toooo cold for me.

sjturner I checked out our markets the other day and told them I was going to try and bring 40. But I think it will be a big job. I might just be the noisiest first. They are getting very noisy, at 5 this morning I went out and told them to go back to sleep its to early for the neighbours, they were quiet till I went back in. Haha
SilkieChickStar I love the photo or you jellybean. Gorgeous

 

[Anniebee]

Good morning folks

.... Once again I need your thoughts and advice please?

So, I searched back and remember when LuLu gave us a scare and we were not sure if she fell off the roost which caused symptoms of head back, pulled into her feathers, lack of balance, disorientation etc or whether the symptoms caused her to fall off the roost; that was 21 September. If you remember, she did it a couple of times that night and we ended up putting her in the nest box to sleep. She was perfectly normal the next morning.

That was when we started the Anitone and she has been fine up until last night.

I was watching them go to roost and LuLu was looking up at the roost, getting ready to jump, her head went way back, she toppled over and flapped her wings a bit. Then she came good, tried to jump and totally misjudged it. So I picked her up and popped her on the roost. We watched her for a while and she seemed OK. However, later when hubby checked her, she was back on the coop floor, disorientated. He popped her in the nest box to sleep and this morning she is perfectly normal again.

Having had an epileptic dog, this reminds me very much of epilepsy and while I could find lots of information on Google about chickens having seizures with not much definitive cause, no-one was actually calling it epilepsy. It is nearly 7 weeks since the last episode and she has been perfectly normal in between time. She is also the only one to have experienced this.

Has anyone else had experience with chickens and seizures? Do you think she could have epilepsy?

Teila .... Using two search engines, I came up with many links that show that chickens do indeed get epilepsy .but as you said - not much information as to why ... and one YouTube showing a chicken having ( what I would call ) a fairly mild seizure. I will only post that one if you want me to. Neurological uproars cause seizures - ranging from mild to severe - but having had a dog with epilepsy, you would be familiar with those ranges - as I am.

Not only am I epileptic myself ( under good control but not perfect - it never can be 100% ), but one of my dogs - Jake, a Shepherd x Kelpie ... was quite severe in his fits - and passed away at 4 years of age, from an unstoppable seizure ( status epilepticus ) when I was in hospital and he was being boarded. The news of his passing brought on a severe fit for me - in the hospital. ( good place to have a seizure ! ).

I have not gone so far as to research what can be done for them, medication wise but of course your Vet would know. Maybe something like 1/4 of a 1 mg Valium might be enough ... but whether that would have to be daily or not - - ??? . If Lulu begins to have more of these episodes, I would look to Vet advice about meds, and at what rate. Anitone might help to keep a chicken feeling good and on top of things, but will do little ( I would think ) to alleviate seizures, if that is what Lulu is prone to. Sounds rather like it to me.

Good luck with all that ....

Cheers -

 

[Fizzybelle]

Thanks LuckysMum. I'm definitely going to be getting a water mister, both plants and chickens will love it. I think I will too when I'm sitting out there with them. Got them some alfalfa today, nice and cool from being in the fridge.

My Mabel is becoming quite the fighter, first she was tussling with Beatrice (who won), now Esme. Esme also won, but got an injury to her comb which I had to treat. There's a lot of tension in the pecking order around here. Hen fights can be nasty

fortunately once over, they all carry on like nothing happened.

 

[Teila]

Thanks for that Anniebee!

Sorry to hear about your troubles with epilepsy also.

Yeah, I am not sure about medicating a chicken for epilepsy; hopefully it will not come to that.

The pretty much instant recovery is what is swaying me towards an epilepsy type of thing but I have not ruled out environmental issues as yet and as Fancy suggested, going to see if I can pinpoint any triggers.

Also, the stress of Crystal bullying her may have caused it or Crystal could be bullying LuLu because she has picked up that something is not right.

Charlie-Bear knew when she was going to have a seizure and would come looking for me. I knew by the look in her eye when she found me what was about to happen. She lived to be a pretty good age but I had to make the decision to let her go when the seizures became uncontrollable on medication and she started to remain blind for hours after them; very scary for her.

As I did with CB, I have started now to keep a record of LuLu’s seizures, possible triggers etc and hopefully we can manage it without too much stress on her part.

 

[Anniebee]

Teila .... a p.s. to my previous comments. ( have said before, that I should read ALL posts before responding to just one !!

)

I guess anything is possible when it comes to chicken epilepsy - but I doubt that food would be the source as yours have been eating the same food all the time. Perhaps though, the dried meal worms have something in them that ' triggers' an episode in just Lulu, although a neurological condition where the brain 'short circuits' electrically, and sends charges to other areas of the brain is the way it happens ...

Stress, excitement, flashing or bright lights, hormonal changes ( could be for hens ? ) ... changes in routines, specific times of day, and illness can be triggers. Keeping a diary of these episodes is a good idea. You have one small pattern already - evening / bed time for Lulu, or at least from what I can tell from your post. Although epilepsy can announce itself immediately prior to a fit( for a human ) ... and precautions taken, ( I fortunately so far, get a specific 'aura' before one ) ... they happen just about whenever - whether there's been a trigger or not. But triggers most often cause them.

I cannot recall now - ( some pages back ) if it was you who had one of the chickens trying to bully her way up the pecking order ? .... that would be stressful for a chicken. And if it was Lulu showing aggro, that aggression could have been a pre-cursor to the fit ( if it was a fit ). Without realising it, I become particularly snarky before a fit - and only realise after I have recovered, what the odd aggro reactions I was having during the day, meant after all. Epilepsy in all creatures ( human / animal / bird ) are pretty much the same, with the same manifestations. There is little or no difference.

( Have to be careful at weddings and funerals [ not joking ] ... and take medication beforehand. I am no longer on anti-eps, but maintain Valium for the rest of my days, as my main source of control of the brain freak-outs.

Again - good luck.

.........

(Edited ) .... so it was Crystal who was bullying .... and that certainly would be a trigger - stress. And you are right ... perhaps Crystal knows something ... nature can be cruel at times - and a weakness detected by another, can lead to nasties. Have seen that happen within a magpie family.

 

[Teila]

Thanks again Anniebee, I appreciate your support and thoughts.

Yep, I have not totally ruled out anything that I am feeding them on a regular basis but I am doubtful they would be a trigger. I will now, however, keep a record of the food before a seizure to see if there is a pattern. They normally have the same breakfast each morning. For example, Tuesday morning is scrambled egg. Saturday morning is hamburgers [not the whole hamburger but a small amount of mince and some lettuce and tomato, no bread] etc.

Other days are mixed up but basically the ingredients are the same and have been for years.

The only thing out of the ordinary recently was that handful of dried meal worms hubby threw out for them so yep, they are off the menu.

I need more information to go on but that is a viscous circle in that the only way I am going to get that is if she has another seizure

So far all I have is possibly dried meal worms and one was on a Tuesday evening and one on a Monday evening.

So yeah, to date the only thing concrete I have is evening.

LuLu was being bullied by Crystal, not LuLu doing the bullying but again, that could be a trigger for LuLu. Unfortunately I can not remember if anyone was bullying her back in September. I have checked the egg spreadsheet and I did not have any GodCilla’s or Blondzilla’s at that time

Anyways, thanks again .. all I can do now is hope she does not have another one but if she does, see if I can detect a pattern.

Oooh, I just remembered we heard fireworks on the Sunday night, probably not the cause because she did not fit until the following night, but definitely adding that to the list. Thank you for that, your mention of "Stress, excitement, flashing or bright lights" reminded me.

 

[Chook Newby]

Howdy mooandmcgee nice to see you again. If you skip back to Page #3147 and Post #31464 you will see that we have been chatting about just that subject. Hopefully there are some posts there that might help but if you have any other questions, ask away

Chook Newby any way you can block off the nest boxes at night? My nest boxes are just plastic containers over which I can put a deterrent … doesn’t stop Blondie from planking though

In the old coop, I fashioned a partition that blocked off the nest boxes.

She is such a cutie!!!!!!! What a lovely girl

Unfortunatly my girls dont lay their eggs in the nesting boxes they have picked a corner in the coop and I can not teach them any different Im afraid. I think they are just too big for the built in nesting boxes to be honest. But this morning I put an object in that corner to try and deter her. I will see how she has gone when I get home from work in 20 min LOL
I love your nesting boxes BTW! This is something I am going to consider making for my girls

 

[sjturner79]

Cue music!  Tis the season to be broody, tra la la la la la la la laaaaaaaaaa     

Yes it is. I have shadow and cuddles co-brooding a dozen eggs. Out at the farm diamonds and powderpuff are also brooding, I think they were a week apart.