Okay good fellow chicken nuts, I have learned having worked on the farm and later as a Curator of Birds, that birds uniformly have developed a survival trait that at first glance seems odd. It is less pronounced in raptors but otherwise all birds are very prone to it. What you are saying about a chicken, or what have you bird, that they seem hale and hearty on minute and near death the next is absolutely true. And 'tis NOT weird at all. Over the aeons of evolutionary time birds have developed by natural selection an innate ability to hide their illnesses until they are so sick hiding it is highly improbable. The survival value is this: Many birds who are ill recover and it goes unnoticed. Had the sick one shown symptoms the probability of survival would diminish for this is one of the things the raptors are looking for. Such a bird would not live long enough to get well much less to reproduce! And there you have it. So we must pay very close attention to our birds so that we may intervene with the appropriate treatment as soon as a diagnosis can be made. This helps the bird survive because as we all now know inattention lets the bird get sicker until there is no return. Many bird keepers are very adept at this. Also, it pays to have, in our arsenal, a vet who specializes in birds.
I wish you all wellness; and for Pete's sake, stay away from raptors big enough t eat you,
Neal, the Zooman
