We have 4 chickens: 2 Americanas, 1 Buff Orpington, and an RI Red.
We got our chicken babies last June from the local feed store.
We named them after great personnages in opera: Norma, Tosca, Brunnhilde, Carmen.
As opera lovers know, all these characters end up dying at the end of the show....something we did not consider.
In September, the fox in the open space behind our house climbed a 6-ft fence and killed Tosca outright. The fox maimed Carmen and Brunnhilde: Norma (Americana) flew to safety.
We are not sentimental pet owners; HOWEVER, we took our wounded immediately to the vet teaching school at Colorado State University. The doctors plucked out feathers around the backs of Carmen and Brunnhilde and sewed them up ($200+). We then had to give them pain killer and antibiotics. We put them in a sling made from a suspended canvas grocery bag so that they could stand up on one leg and still be supported. (we will send pix of this if there is interest.)
Carmen, the RI Red, recovered magnificently, even tho the vet gave her less than a 50% chance. Brunnhilde, the Buff, also recovered, showing winning good cheer, and trying like the dickens to stand up and join the other chickens. However, B had a problem with her left leg, and after some time we took her back to the vet school for orthopedic surgery ($1300)...to correct the leg that the fox had chomped.
We got the bad news the day of the surgery: B had Myreks and needed to be put down.
Our chix had not been vaccinated--all had the disease, and the trauma of the fox bite must have sent B over the edge.
Meanwhile, we had bought 2 replacement chix from the same feed store: a Buff and an Americana. (We named them Thelma and Louise, even tho these characters also didn't make it past the end of the movie.) We bought Myrek's vaccine from a SE state store. Fortunately, for us, the Colorado vet school has a program to control Myrek's. A vet from the school came to our place and helped us vaccinate all 4 chix. It was traumatic for all of us, but today, they all seem fine....Myrek's in remission: hopefully the vaccine has fortified their immune systems.
A lot has happened since then. Now, all our chix are giving us tasty eggs. We keep a place in our back yard covered from the snow storms, so that they can go out there and play in the dust. They have learned to walk in ice and snow.
linmar
We got our chicken babies last June from the local feed store.
We named them after great personnages in opera: Norma, Tosca, Brunnhilde, Carmen.
As opera lovers know, all these characters end up dying at the end of the show....something we did not consider.
In September, the fox in the open space behind our house climbed a 6-ft fence and killed Tosca outright. The fox maimed Carmen and Brunnhilde: Norma (Americana) flew to safety.
We are not sentimental pet owners; HOWEVER, we took our wounded immediately to the vet teaching school at Colorado State University. The doctors plucked out feathers around the backs of Carmen and Brunnhilde and sewed them up ($200+). We then had to give them pain killer and antibiotics. We put them in a sling made from a suspended canvas grocery bag so that they could stand up on one leg and still be supported. (we will send pix of this if there is interest.)
Carmen, the RI Red, recovered magnificently, even tho the vet gave her less than a 50% chance. Brunnhilde, the Buff, also recovered, showing winning good cheer, and trying like the dickens to stand up and join the other chickens. However, B had a problem with her left leg, and after some time we took her back to the vet school for orthopedic surgery ($1300)...to correct the leg that the fox had chomped.
We got the bad news the day of the surgery: B had Myreks and needed to be put down.
Our chix had not been vaccinated--all had the disease, and the trauma of the fox bite must have sent B over the edge.
Meanwhile, we had bought 2 replacement chix from the same feed store: a Buff and an Americana. (We named them Thelma and Louise, even tho these characters also didn't make it past the end of the movie.) We bought Myrek's vaccine from a SE state store. Fortunately, for us, the Colorado vet school has a program to control Myrek's. A vet from the school came to our place and helped us vaccinate all 4 chix. It was traumatic for all of us, but today, they all seem fine....Myrek's in remission: hopefully the vaccine has fortified their immune systems.
A lot has happened since then. Now, all our chix are giving us tasty eggs. We keep a place in our back yard covered from the snow storms, so that they can go out there and play in the dust. They have learned to walk in ice and snow.
linmar
