Nominal
Chirping
- May 1, 2023
- 15
- 38
- 59
Yesterday morning I found our sweetest Brahma girl with her head sticking out of a closed A-frame door (part of our henhouse - Carolina Coop coming next month). It was about an inch wide gap. She was blue in the comb and wattles, not moving, eyes open, membrane closed. I was absolutely positive she was gone. I have no idea how long she'd been that way, no idea what'd happened. I didn't realize they had the strength to move that side of the door and it was secured. Picking her up she woke up, looking dazed as heck. Color came back immediately. She was panting. I had set her down to call her dad and get setup, but she tried walking and was stumbling and unable to keep full balance. We got her inside in our hospital crate, she calmed down pretty quickly, a little dazed but eating and drinking great.
Today she seemed much better overall, I don't think she's in shock so much. We tried taking her out to see how she's doing, and she is slow. Her neck looks swollen in the front, she's holding her head strangely (not full wry neck, just seems stiff like she's sustained a neck injury), and she's having kind of a hard time walking. It doesn't seem super bad. She can gain ground pretty quickly still but she stumbles a bit and kind of teeters forward and has trouble keeping balance. She tried to find places to hide rather than spend time with her flock.
Clearly not ready to go back out yet, we brought her back in, she panted for awhile again but then calmed down, ate a bunch of food. She's just kind of hanging out looking like she'd rather not be inside. We're giving her electrolytes, trying to keep her comfortable, giving her some aspirin hoping that getting the inflammation down helps.
Wondering if we should try to take her to the vet? With her coloring being so normal-red and her breathing being mostly normal I worry that bringing her to the vet would just stress her out more and set back any healing. (It's super hard to get him on the phone, waiting at present. Last time we never heard back, dislike this. Nice guy, think just forgetful.) Is there anything more we should be trying? Trying not to overwhelm her by throwing a million things at her. Not sure if we should be including vitamin E for something that looks more injury range? Literally only thing I care about are the girls being healthy and happy, budget isn't really a concern so much as best chances.
Today she seemed much better overall, I don't think she's in shock so much. We tried taking her out to see how she's doing, and she is slow. Her neck looks swollen in the front, she's holding her head strangely (not full wry neck, just seems stiff like she's sustained a neck injury), and she's having kind of a hard time walking. It doesn't seem super bad. She can gain ground pretty quickly still but she stumbles a bit and kind of teeters forward and has trouble keeping balance. She tried to find places to hide rather than spend time with her flock.
Clearly not ready to go back out yet, we brought her back in, she panted for awhile again but then calmed down, ate a bunch of food. She's just kind of hanging out looking like she'd rather not be inside. We're giving her electrolytes, trying to keep her comfortable, giving her some aspirin hoping that getting the inflammation down helps.
Wondering if we should try to take her to the vet? With her coloring being so normal-red and her breathing being mostly normal I worry that bringing her to the vet would just stress her out more and set back any healing. (It's super hard to get him on the phone, waiting at present. Last time we never heard back, dislike this. Nice guy, think just forgetful.) Is there anything more we should be trying? Trying not to overwhelm her by throwing a million things at her. Not sure if we should be including vitamin E for something that looks more injury range? Literally only thing I care about are the girls being healthy and happy, budget isn't really a concern so much as best chances.
