Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Hope the chick makes it ok. If you have a betadine solution for your horses you might try swabbing some on her head. It will help kill any present germs. I usually use pine tar on polish heads that get picked. But I am sure the triple antibiotic will work well too. The main thing here is to keep her brain from swelling and make sure she has enough fluid and calories. If you have some vitamin E capsules open one up and just squirt it directly in her mouth. Any kind of fat will help put calories in her system even if it is a little veggie oil. I'm sure Seymore didn't intend to be mean. Birds pick because they are bored or curious. And those "mop tops" are just irresistible. I guess it would suffice to say that she shouldn't be trusted with the birds now until they are fully grown and able to fight back a little.
If she starts eating and drinking on her own she should make it. If she is standing on her own tomorrow, try putting a little sugar or honey in her water and dip her beak.
Best of luck with her.

 

[msjfrizzle]

Hawkeye, that poor baby!! Hoping for the best!!
Danz, Hope the roos recover- and that your recovery is proceeding smoothly!
OzawkieBantams- Those are some amazing photos of BEAUTIFUL birds!!
Myabcs3- congrats!! I have a LONG time to wait for my EE's to lay, and I have NO idea what color the eggs will be.
Some of those chicks that followed me home from Atwoods are looking mighty roosterish. I'll try to get some photos posted. I need to find new homes for them before someone starts crowing, since I know I have a neighbor that will turn me in.

Thanks for sharing the dog stories! I've really been enjoying them!!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Quote:
Righto! We have some really amazing things in the works that will make some of the suggestions y'all are making, especially a few days ago, a lot easier to do and manage. We hope we'll be able to announce some of these changes and edits in the next few weeks!

So, please keep thinking of ideas and get ready to work together to create some really amazing stuff!

 

[Ivywoods]

Admin-I'm eager to hear what's in the works.

Wasn't it just after New Years last year that new ideas were solicited and incorporated?

Thanks for an AWESOME website!

Hawkeye- Don't give up hope (I know you won't) on your polish.

I've had chickens get pecked pretty bad and they've pulled through. Last year I had a BCM that had a hole pecked a whole inch deep in her side just ahead of her tail.

My DH put some "magic medicine" on the wound and she healed up and you couldn't even tell which one she was. I can't tell you what the medicine was... it was something that isn't even on the market any more and he had it for his horses or something. I couldn't believe she lived! I kept her isolated from the others until she was completely healed and could free range and not be penned up with the other bullies. Once they get one down, they sure go for blood. It's a chicken thing. (The little cannibals!) If they see your polish's little red bald spot they are sure to go for it until they kill her, so keep her separated until it is completely healed.

Trish-The GP's sure don't mind the bad weather. I think they LIKE it! I know they like the cooler temperatures. Sometimes when it's been wet and muddy outside mine come back looking like they've been in a mud wrestling contest.

Amazingly, a day or two later they look like someone has just given them a bath. I don't know how they clean themselves up like they do, but they sure manage to get rid of the mud.

MSJfrizzle-Hope you get some pretty colored eggs soon. I've just started saving some of my black ameraucana eggs for hatching. I'm gong to fire up the ole 'bater Thurs. or Fri.

Myabc's3-Congrats on your colored eggs. I love having a colorful egg basket! I wish some of my egg customers could appreciate them as much as I do.

 

[sharol]

For the last couple of weeks an owl has been living (or hunting) near the road we take to town. Yesterday (early -- about 6:15), my husband had an owl encounter of the truck kind, and the owl came out the loser. It was a beautiful bird, and we both were devastated by its death. It was flying up across the road (in fact had been doing so at about the same spot) and flew into the grill of the truck. Steve said its neck was broken, but otherwise it looked unharmed. The high school biology teacher took it to use in the Zoology class next semester. I'm sure the voles and mice in the area were doing a happy dance.

Having chickens has given me a whole new perspective on the beauty of birds (and specifically, their feathers). RIP lovely raptor.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, my Polish baby is alive this morning!!

I'm still proceeding cautiously, but I'm hoping she will continue to do better. She is no longer laying on her side. She is sitting on her chest and keeping her head up!!! It's still not a 'healthy' stance-- she's a bit droopy and weak, but she's trying! It's still dark here and she's moving her head around when she hears me talking to her. I'll syringe her more electrolytes and yogurt here in a bit. I did put water and food in her box in case she felt like it. Nothing has been touched, and of course, I'm not surprised.

Nifty-- thanks for letting us know we have wonderful surprises to look forward to soon! That is exciting!!

Thank you so much everyone for your concern for my baby. It does make me feel better. Don't think I'm going to get that same concern from anyone else who doesn't have birds.
Ivy, definitely not giving up hope here, I'll keep on.
MsFrizzle, hope you don't end up with too many roos. Lets see some new pics soon!
Danz, I never have betadine on hand. Not a bad thing to have, though! But with horse injuries, as awful as it sounds, you have to do a soap scrub, plenty of rinse, and get proud flesh cut off. So it's a bit of an attack on the wound. After that, my vet has always said that the best thing is to keep it packed and moist with triple antibiotic and vasseline. So long as the edges aren't allowed to dry out, it's more likely the skin and fur will grow back without horrible scarring or puckering. Especially in places where you can't wrap it. My gelding had a horrible wound on his chest a couple years back and it was DEEP and the flesh was hanging off. I cleaned it at home and then took him to the vet to have most of it cut back. He always cuts off more skin than I would. No way to wrap this wound, so for a couple of weeks, I was out there every day putting the ointment on to keep it moist. There is no scar there now! You'd never know. It was a good 2 inches deep or more. Lots of blood. But horses-- aren't chickens!! I'm just glad this baby had a cleanly picked wound with no skin sticking up.
Sharol, soooo sorry about that owl. That is indeed, very sad.

 

[chicken danz]

Hawkeye, really that surprises me. I figured people used it as an antiseptic flush out wounds. Shows what I know about horses.
Do give that little gal some vitamin E like I mentioned. Keep the fluids going. When I had my sick rooster in here months ago I fixed bowls of water, pedialite, vitamins, sugar, and oil for him and dropped it in his mouth by dropper until he would stop swallowing and it would run out. I would do that 3-4 times a day. He lost weight but he lived for over a month that way even though he couldn't lift his head to eat on his own. He got pneumonia from not being able to pick up his head which is what eventually killed him. So as long as you provide the nutritional needs she still has a chance.
The roo with the cold in here started crowing about 5:30 this morning. I gave him a big bowl of feed last night before bed and he has devoured it. He seems to be doing well. I hate to put him back outside in this damp weather. I'm still on the fence about the antibiotics. I hate to use them if they can get well without them. I sure wish there was some place local I could buy medications without running down the vet or driving 80 miles round trip.
I spent $60 yesterday buying ingredients to make VetRX. I will just have to add the corn oil base when I mix it. It seems like another ridiculous expense but it certainly would be better than loosing a lot of birds. I know I'd better make a ton of cash this spring on chicks or I'll seriously have to look at cutting back on birds. I am so far in the red at this point I don't know if I could recover that expense in the next 10 years.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
That is an interesting point you make about the betadine! I mean... my horse vet uses it every time he is going to make a cut. But I've never really seen him use it when cleaning out a wound (on my horses, anyway). Hmmm.. But he DOES use it-- just usually when he is cutting something. I've been in several times with bad wounds, and he just mixed up a pail of warm water, and soap and we scrubbed it out. Took a hose and rinsed with more scrubbing. We usually have to put the horse under a bit to do this and it's really painful. When he cuts off the proud flesh, he squirts the area with betadine (before cutting). I think I will get some betadine, as that is such a great suggestion. I don't know why I didn't think of that.
I have given my little Polish yogurt twice already this morning and sugar water with electrolytes twice as well. After she gets the water, she pecks around at her food in the box. Not much, but she does eat a bit of it. But then she goes back to sleeping. So I'll keep waking her up and giving her doses of the yogurt and water and maybe she'll start doing more eating.

Sounds like your roo is doing better and eating!! Yay! I don't think I'd put him back outside until the rain quits. It's been raining non stop here. If he's already sick, I'd probably wait. Unless you have a nice large area in a barn or something you can put him where he can't get back out.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Well when you get your 2 new incubators, perhaps I will buy the cabinet you don't need anymore!

Make a couple of bucks that way!

Glad your roo is doing better, and I agree about antibiotics- I think they are used far too frequently by folks when they aren't sure what they are dealing with- many times we're fighting a virus and Tylan or whatever won't do a bit of good, anyway.

It's bound to cause us to have more antibiotic-resistant bacteria if hobby farmers aren't careful and responsible. We should be advocating for NOT using them unless we have a culture to confirm the bacteria present.

 

[Myabcs3]

Hawkeye, I had a cuckoo maran get scalped over the summer by the alpha roo. She was young and not submissive and he was a bit, well, agressive with her (just with her for some reason). The back of her head and part of the neck was flapping. We segregated her, cleaned it and kept her segregated until it was held and fully feathered. We did end up putting a bit of loose vet wrap on it, because she kept wanting to itch it and then it would break open and we would start all over. She was very unresponsive for a few days, but eventually started perking up. Because it was warm outside, I kept her segregated in the feed area of my coop so everyone could still see her. Sounds funny, but I am sure they are traumatized a bit and need to recover from the shock. By the way, she is fine now...good as new.

I agree that keeping the wound unbandaged and clean but not dried out is the key. In fact, wounds seem to heal much faster when left uncovered and clean, then bandaged.

Keep us posted.