BesideStillWaters
Crowing
My mom was watching my chickens free range while I was cleaning one of the cages, and Helga found a snake. My mom says it was about six inches or so long, and one of the chickens was running with it dangling out of her beak while all the other chickens were chasing her down trying to take it from her. (Didn't realize snakes were considered a delicacy... 
) We couldn't find the snake, so we assume she may have eaten it. 
I didn't notice anything wrong that evening - it was almost time for roosting and since no one seemed to have swelling at the time, I thought it was okay. But Helga looked like this the next day:
After getting some photos, she let out this big pile of poo:
She also laid an egg that day. (I put the egg in with the others, I guess it's okay to eat that egg? I didn't think much of it at the time. )
That night, it started draining, so I wasn't as concerned. I hoped it was the poison / infection draining out. I've had dogs get bitten and they recovered but it took a while for swelling to go down. (Later, our vet gave me cephalexin and told me to get some Benadryl and that worked wonders, but that was for a dog, not a chicken. I didn't give her anything because I didn't know if chickens could take the same thing and didn't want to hurt her.)
Then today, her waddle is changing colors and sizes (sorry Helga for the first image here, I know it makes you look pure evil, but this was the best shot):
She didn't eat much today. I'm hoping she drank some. Her spunk is mostly there but she is tired and doesn't feel like doing much. She picks up pieces of food slowly and then drops them like it's painful for her to eat right now. Is there anything I can do to help her or will she recover on her own? Also... if she ate the snake, will she be able to digest it?
) We couldn't find the snake, so we assume she may have eaten it. I didn't notice anything wrong that evening - it was almost time for roosting and since no one seemed to have swelling at the time, I thought it was okay. But Helga looked like this the next day:After getting some photos, she let out this big pile of poo:
She also laid an egg that day. (I put the egg in with the others, I guess it's okay to eat that egg? I didn't think much of it at the time.
)That night, it started draining, so I wasn't as concerned. I hoped it was the poison / infection draining out. I've had dogs get bitten and they recovered but it took a while for swelling to go down. (Later, our vet gave me cephalexin and told me to get some Benadryl and that worked wonders, but that was for a dog, not a chicken. I didn't give her anything because I didn't know if chickens could take the same thing and didn't want to hurt her.)
Then today, her waddle is changing colors and sizes (sorry Helga for the first image here, I know it makes you look pure evil, but this was the best shot):
She didn't eat much today. I'm hoping she drank some. Her spunk is mostly there but she is tired and doesn't feel like doing much. She picks up pieces of food slowly and then drops them like it's painful for her to eat right now. Is there anything I can do to help her or will she recover on her own? Also... if she ate the snake, will she be able to digest it?
