Coffee's ready...

[oesdog]

Well it looks like this isn;t done yet.
I have another sick hen as - Bertha went down last night. I do know I have heard labered breathing from Agnes and Betty in the last while too. Those seem to be holding their own but the older hens with little fat have gone down first and dear old Bertha has had a really bad leg for a longtime which means the winter cold causes her a deal of pain in that. I don;t think she will fare well with this. Gerty has been at her side for the last few days and it is like she knows her sister is not well. I hope it will come good but I half expect to find her gone today.

Oes

 

[newfoundland]

So sorry for the loss of your hens oesdog, this winter has been one of the worst we've known. All the flooding and landslides and now the heavy snow! I make up a bucket of porridge for my poultry and I put a tablespoon or two of brandy, whisky or rum in it. Don't know if it's good for them but it seems to keep out the cold a bit. The other thing I do is fill those old stone hot water bottles from the kettle and wrap them in sacks. I put them in the coops and the birds huddle round them. Being stone the heat lasts a good long while and can easily get them through a bitter night.

 

[oesdog]

Thanks for that but poor Bertha is wrasping for breath - though she is outside with the others - I doubt if she ate this morning. She laid yesterday and the day before that she was fine but when I went to get her out this morning she had a real death rattle going on. I am surprised she is still up and about. Her crop is empty. - I don;t know what to do? It is all very uspetting. DH wont pay fro anymore vet care for the girls so I just have to do what I can. I will try the - " porridge for my poultry and I put a tablespoon or two of brandy, whisky or rum in it." - ha ha. I have an old water bottle here but I think it might leek. It is ceramic? Have gotten more hay today. I opened the new bail of wood chip and the darn thing is mostly dust NO GOOD FOR respiritory issues! Darn! DH says use it anyway - he "doesn't get it"! I am just watching my girls die one after the other? I wonder what I can do for them? I would bring them in but doubt if DH will have that! lol. He says I am too soft. In some ways he is right as three point of lay hens cost less than a vet for one of my old girls. Bertha is at youngest 5yrs now.

Oes

 

[Gargoyle]

I have two hens who's upper beaks tend to grow a bit long and overlap the lower by a couple millimeters. When that happens they slow down on eating (keep dropping food), get pale and weak. Now that I've learned to spot it and trim back that upper beak, they perk back up in a day or so and are back on top of the world in three days.

 

[newfoundland]

Oesdog, I would bring the hen in and feed her with as much warm milk mixed with scrambled egg as she will take. You might have to force her beak open to start with but I have managed to syringe quite a decent amount of food into a hen like this. She may perk up after this but it does sound as though she has a respiratory infection. Would the vet not give a prescription for Baytril, which is the only bird antibiotic I know of? It's worth ringing them up and throwing yourself on their mercy. I know what you mean about the high cost of vet care though. Yes my hot water bottles are ceramic, the old fashioned ones that look like stone jars on their sides. They are brown and beige colour. I do wish you luck with your sick birds.

 

[oesdog]

Oesdog, I would bring the hen in and feed her with as much warm milk mixed with scrambled egg as she will take. You might have to force her beak open to start with but I have managed to syringe quite a decent amount of food into a hen like this. She may perk up after this but it does sound as though she has a respiratory infection. Would the vet not give a prescription for Baytril, which is the only bird antibiotic I know of? It's worth ringing them up and throwing yourself on their mercy. I know what you mean about the high cost of vet care though. Yes my hot water bottles are ceramic, the old fashioned ones that look like stone jars on their sides. They are brown and beige colour. I do wish you luck with your sick birds.

I brought the hen in this afternoon once the warmth started to go from the air. She was breathing a bit better earlier in the day - it was hard to know what to do with her. Ieft Dorothy out with her friends, she lasted quite a while before she died and I comfort myself in the knowledge that at least she spent that time with her friends. Drumstick just went downhill really fast. Dorothy had been ill for a few years so it didn;t come as a surprise when she got sick. But Drumstick was a strong good laying hen, I really didn;t want that one to die so I took her into the shed and gave her loads of food and water and warm bedding etc but she died within about 48hrs? Nothing worked and I felt bad because she spent that last few days alone in the shed. But it was bitter cold outside. It is that awful raw wind here that goes through the bones.

Anyhow I brought Bertha in and she ate readybreck its like prridge oats but I don;t have any so next best thing. She was sooooo hungry and finished it off. She is in the cat case beside the radiator. Her breathing was prety awful - I put an old towel over the box and sprayed asthma inhaler into the cage and put the towel down again. I am hoping it will help ease the breathing. - She seemed to be doing better after that so I did it a couple of times during the evening. When I went to check on her now before bed she is fast asleep and is breathing evenly with little "rattle". I am hoping a good night sleep in the warmth will help her a bit. I will give her egg tomorrow and try to get more food in. We will see. - the thing I do know about this hen is "she sat eggs for three weeks and never came off the nest not even to poo! " She virtually exploded with poo everywhere the minuite she got off it and I had to wash her as she stank so much. Now that is going back a couple of years but she never ate or drank much in all that time. She is also the record holder for 18weeks of brooding her chicks! She is one gutsy old girl. She does sound like she has pneumonia - I hope she makes it but it is hard to heal without meds.

We will see what the morning brings.

Oes

 

[Gargoyle]

Oes, any chance it could be gapeworm?

 

[oesdog]

Pretty sure its Pneumonia. She is alive this morning and the Asthma inhaler seems to be helping the breathing. Last I saw her she was tucking into eggs and yogurt for breakfast. Her breathing is very raspy but even and she had a good night sleep.

Oes

 

[newfoundland]

I think you are doing all the right things. i wonder if a steaming kettle nearby would help? I know when my children had croup I filled the bathroom with steam and it helped the rasping breathing enormously. Certainly the asthma inhaler will help with breathing. I do hope she pulls through, she sounds a very gutsy girl and the fact that she is eating is a very good sign.

 

[rngrbill]

Oes.
Try garlic. I have had bronchitis for over 50 years and when coming down with an attack a bulb of roasted garlic has stayed off many an onslaught. I know we should avoid thing like garlic because they will flavor the eggs but hey I'm sure you would prefer a live chicken. Garlic is a natural anti-biotic/fungal/viral. See http://www.naturalnews.com/029149_antibiotics_garlic.html for more info. I've been told to roast it to make it more palatable I don't know how it effects it's effectiveness.
As always you and yours are in my prayers.