Good News! (At least, I think so). I think she drank water on her own today. I had to work and asked my daughter to take care of her today. Unfortunately, she forgot. This evening, when I checked on her, I noticed that the water in her bowl was half gone. There was no sign of it having spilled, it was still level. So, my conclusion is that she must have drank some of it. I hope, I hope.
Since I wasn't home, I couldn't observe her to see if this really happened.
Other than going into Eugene (the nearest big town to us, about 20 minutes away) for a few hours, I'll be home most of the day. I can't wait to see if she really does it on her own. I'm encouraged to think she did, because not only was the water in her bowl half gone, but when I dipped her beak in water tonight, she actually drank some. More than just a sip or two too. She's not doing the full-on tipping her head back yet, but she was clearly drinking some water.
Here eyes are really starting to look better. I'm not having to clean off as much gunk anymore. One eye is weeping pretty constantly, but it's clear and doesn't smell. It is bothering her though, she keeps trying to wipe her eye off by rubbing it on her back (shoulder area?). Her feathers are getting all icky there.
On that note, is there any way to give a chicken a bath? As hard as I've tried to keep her clean, she has dried food and crusted gunk in her feathers. She's also got some poo stuck to her back feathers (her vent's clear, I checked). I could cut that out, but was thinking a bath of some sort would really be beneficial to get her clean.
Here's a small victory...when I get set up to do her cleaning/feeding each time, I set out everything I'm going to use...food, q-tips, paper towels, warm water, etc. I take out a bunch of q-tips, so I'm not having to dig in the container, in case my hands get icky. Tonight, I only used about half of the q-tips that I usually use. A little thing, but still has meaning in that there's less to clean from her eyes and face.
Eugene has a
Petsmart, I think I'll stop there and get some of the probiotic gel you're talking about. It'd be easier than feeding her yogurt that she doesn't like.
Sorry, I'm kinda rambling, it's quite late and I'm tired. Thanks to all my (our) cheerleaders. It really is a wonderful thing.
Oh yeah, as for the weather today? Not only was it not dry, we had the worst thunder & lightning, hail and rain storm I have ever seen!!! Fortunately, it only lasted about half an hour, but I wouldn't have been surprised at all to hear it had rained a full inch in just 5 minutes! I talked to other long-timers around here and they all agreed...we've never seen it rain like that here. It was amazing to watch. Pretty cool. But definitely not the weather to let a sick chicken out in.
It's still supposed to be rainy tomorrow, but Saturday's supposed to be nice, I'll try and get her out then.
Okay, I'm done for real now. Talk to you all tomorrow.
