Hello Fellow Chicken Lovers!
I'm fairly new to chicken keeping...my awesome boyfriend got me three female cuckoo marans chicks for my birthday earlier this year and they are about 4 months old now. I am loving watching them grow and develop personalities...I can finally tell them all apart! After taking a poll at my workplace, I decided to name them after three of the Golden Girls: Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose.
Dorothy is my big girl...and the one who likes to be handled the least. Despite her size, she seems to be the more timid of the trio.
Rose is the sweet one...she's the first hen that allowed me to pick her up without fussing too much. Now I can pretty much hold her whenever (as long as she's not in the middle of a meal!) and she will sit and perch on my arm or shoulder while I make my regular inspection of their coop and run.
Blanche is the runt of the group and has always been smaller than her sisters, but she makes up for it with spunk!
Unfortunately, earlier this week, I noticed that Blanche was having trouble breathing: she was wheezing and breathing with her beak open, though otherwise she seemed completely fine. I made an appointment to take her to the local avian & exotic animal vet the next day, and by the time we made it to the vet's office, her wheezing had gotten worse. Again, though, there were no other signs that anything was wrong; no strange discharge, no puffiness in her face, no change in color of her tiny comb or waddle, and she didn't seem unusually skinny. When we arrived, the vet tech put her on oxygen right away and the vet checked her out while I discussed the symptoms with the tech.
Long story short, they started her on a nebulizer treatment with anti-fungal medication, along with an injected antibiotic and have kept her for three days. She is still eating well and in good spirits but she's not responding at all to any of the treatments and they've had to keep her on oxygen for the past 24-hours. The next step would be to do an endoscopy to see if there is a blockage of any kind in her trachea, but the vet isn't sure that is a good course of action because of her current condition.
Has anyone else had this happen to their bird(s)? I'm not sure what else to do at this point...if I bring her home, I'm afraid she will just slowly suffocate to death and I don't want her to suffer...is the only other alternative to have her put down? I really hope it's not...
Also, I've been keeping a very close eye on her sisters to see if they develop any symptoms but so far they seem completely normal...
I'm fairly new to chicken keeping...my awesome boyfriend got me three female cuckoo marans chicks for my birthday earlier this year and they are about 4 months old now. I am loving watching them grow and develop personalities...I can finally tell them all apart! After taking a poll at my workplace, I decided to name them after three of the Golden Girls: Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose.
Dorothy is my big girl...and the one who likes to be handled the least. Despite her size, she seems to be the more timid of the trio.
Rose is the sweet one...she's the first hen that allowed me to pick her up without fussing too much. Now I can pretty much hold her whenever (as long as she's not in the middle of a meal!) and she will sit and perch on my arm or shoulder while I make my regular inspection of their coop and run.
Blanche is the runt of the group and has always been smaller than her sisters, but she makes up for it with spunk!
Unfortunately, earlier this week, I noticed that Blanche was having trouble breathing: she was wheezing and breathing with her beak open, though otherwise she seemed completely fine. I made an appointment to take her to the local avian & exotic animal vet the next day, and by the time we made it to the vet's office, her wheezing had gotten worse. Again, though, there were no other signs that anything was wrong; no strange discharge, no puffiness in her face, no change in color of her tiny comb or waddle, and she didn't seem unusually skinny. When we arrived, the vet tech put her on oxygen right away and the vet checked her out while I discussed the symptoms with the tech.
Long story short, they started her on a nebulizer treatment with anti-fungal medication, along with an injected antibiotic and have kept her for three days. She is still eating well and in good spirits but she's not responding at all to any of the treatments and they've had to keep her on oxygen for the past 24-hours. The next step would be to do an endoscopy to see if there is a blockage of any kind in her trachea, but the vet isn't sure that is a good course of action because of her current condition.
Has anyone else had this happen to their bird(s)? I'm not sure what else to do at this point...if I bring her home, I'm afraid she will just slowly suffocate to death and I don't want her to suffer...is the only other alternative to have her put down? I really hope it's not...
Also, I've been keeping a very close eye on her sisters to see if they develop any symptoms but so far they seem completely normal...
from Ohio. So glad you joined. Good luck, I hope it works out OK. 
