Recent content by Tailwise

Hey guys, I left my house on Wednesday morning and came home Wednesday evening to a listless hen who wouldn’t eat anything. After vet examination on Thursday and a fecal float on Friday, the conclusion was: coccidiosis. It’s the first case of that I’ve ever had in my flock; previous hens have...

A cinderblock, some wood, and another cheat day and peace seems to be restored within the family. Hopefully to stay.

Honestly, just looking at those pictures is making it clear to me how much I got used to the luxury of my previous setup (large yard with plenty to do) and that I may have been overoptimistic in thinking they’d be fine in the newer, smaller space, especially with the way our lock-in bird flu...

The two ‚original’ chickens grew up with a lot of free ranging space, but I moved out two years ago (part of why I’ve been keeping my flock at ~3 instead of adding a fourth). The young one & the mature ones have been in the run with some daily hours of free-ranging time for the past two years...

Hey all, I’ve always had a very small flock in the backyard, about 3-4 chickens. When one of them died two years ago,I borrowed a rooster & let one of the remaining hens, a big, dominating, perma-broody silkie/wyandotte cross, hatch an egg. The resulting baby was a little feisty but integrated...

After some discussion with the vet, I've decided to opt for chemotherapy for Bintje. He did warn that it requires putting the bird under anaesthesia, which is always a risk, that chemo can also 'leak' off the bird to humans, and that there's no guarantee this will do anything. It causes...

The CT scan came back, and it's what I kind of expected, knowing what I know about white blood cell cancer in chickens by now: there are also masses near her kidneys, her ovaries, and in her spleen. As far as I can tell, that ends any hope on my part we might be able to keep her going for a...

It's been a whirlwind week. Bintje's case was accepted by the academic pet hospital at about 45 minutes' drive away from me. They confirmed she has a lymphoma, but the specialist does not think it's one of the viral forms of chicken leukemia. Today, she'll be getting a CT scan to determine...

(At this point, avian leukosis is the main theory, if I understood correctly, though my vet said nothing about the viral nature of that disease. No blood work has been done. She saw some tumor-like white blood cells in the biopsy, so there's definitely a lymphoma in her leg, but the cause is...

She really seemed to take a nosedive after that last vet visit. Getting slower, clumsier, not wanting to do anything. On Saturday I figured out her crop was very large (again) while all she was pooping was water and flecks of green. I decided to try massaging her crop that evening and the next...

She's my baby. I've had her for seven years and she's always been with me in that time, so... yeah. This sucks.

I don't think my experiences there will help you very much, as I'm in the Netherlands. But her initial checkup was around 175 euros (213 dollars) and follow-ups were around 67 euros (85 dollars), for whatever that's worth.

She was diagnosed with leukosis earlier this week. She doesn't have long.

The vet did not find any swelling or anything unusual around the time I posted this. A month later, however, there appears to be a large swelling on the chicken's leg right by the knee. Biopsy couldn't prove conclusively that it was cancer OR an infection, so she's on antibiotics for now. Pics...