Even though I only have five chickens I am feeling overwhelmed! I recently went on vacation, and before I left one of my chickens became ill. She has a possible respritory infection, and I have kept her away from the others, changed her feed to some vitiman rich food, and am adding a powder antibiotic to her water. In this past week she has imporved a lot, although her breathing still seems a little weezy. I arrived home yesterday to another sick chicken, one who was possibly egg bound. It seems now her egg has passed in the form of yellow green goop. I washed her in some warm water and let her sit in it for awhile to make sure the egg didn't dry inside, as advised on this forum. Her breathing also seems weezy, so now I've put her in another cage in my basement close to the other sick chicken. They are now both eating the same feed, and drinking the antibiotic water. I have noticed one other chicken may seem to be weezing as well. They are polish crested hens, almost one year old. I also recently became aware I was feeding them too much scratch grain and they weren't eating enough of their layer feed. I have since corrected that, and added some oyster shell to their feed as well. What I am wondering now are several things! Am I failing as a good chicken owner!? I only ever wanted to respect their natural desires and instincts, and have delicious and healthy eggs. I am worried about the toll my mistakes are having on their health. I never wanted to use antibiotics and now I am wondering if I should just put the two sick girls back out with the others, and feed them all this vitiman rich food, and give them all the anitbiotic. I have no way to seperate more sick chickens, as I only have two cages, and serveral other pets inside the house. The girls seem despressed in the basement in cages, and it despresses me too. What should I do? Is it alright to put them back in their flock and give all the girls the antibiotic since they may all be getting sick? I know I wouldn't be able to eat their eggs for awhile, and that's okay. Is it harmful to give them antibiotics if some of them aren't sick? Will this hurt their natural ability to heal themselves in the future? Please help!
Distressed,
Kelley