Heartsick

[All Ball]

So glad you have them - are you able to post for safer quarters for them? If you give me a blurb I can post on the Yahoo Group for wine country chicken owners, or if you are not on twitter, I can share a brief chicken foster home request there - let me know if u are tubbs, atlas, mendo, sulphur, etc. I agree the hard part is finding homes without existing nearby chickens with unknown bugs to share and territory issues.

 

[Peeps61]

Best of luck to you! I lost everything I had in Hurricane Ivan back in 2004, and then had to rehome my dogs afterward - that broke my heart.

At least now, my chickens have 10 acres to range over - if I had to leave them, I'd leave the coop open and hope for the best.

Let us know how you are doing!

 

[PLayne]

Just read through this forum and I feel like I’ve been on a rollercoaster! God bless you and the emotional strain you’ve been through! I’m so sorry you have had to go through all of this. And to make the decisions you’ve had to make. We all say what we think we would do in a situation like yours, but when faced with the reality, who knows until it truly happens. And I tip my hat to you for doing everything you’ve done. My prayers are with you and yours, to keep you all safe, and for new, happy beginnings!!!

 

[centralcaligirl]

Wow! What a relief to hear that your chickens made it! And what a wonderful neighbor you have! When I saw your first post I felt sick thinking about your poor chickens, but they made it!!!

I grew up in Napa and my family there and in Santa Rosa are still evacuated too. Growing up we dealt with the flooding and occasional earthquakes, but never, ever dreamed of fires like these. I can't even imagine what you are going through right now. My prayers are with you now, and for a long, long time to come.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sorry, I don’t understand - put them through what?

I am in agreement that you *probably* don't need to use Corid. Though it may not hurt them either. I will say that Corid works by blocking thiamine and starving out the coccidia that are in EVERY single chicken poo. So Nutri drench actually doesn't have the B's which I think are vital to energy and recovery from things, but it may still be effective if using Corid.. since you should NOT supplement vitamins (specifically the B's) because that would defeat the purpose. I personally prefer to use another bird vitamin with B's in it, but do also have the nutridrench as it was so touted by people.

As far as your chooks having damaged lungs and such, the body is an amazing, self healing, living organism. So IF they do have lung damage, they will probably fully recover from it.

So happy to her that some of your community are pulling together to help, to the best of their ability!

I know you challenge is not over even if you aren't fearing for you life anymore. I hope you will continue to get support and that your animals pull through as well. Keep holding on, there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

I don't know... what I wouldn't give to see a pic of you and your kids right now?!

 

[Stephine]

I am in agreement that you *probably* don't need to use Corid. Though it may not hurt them either. I will say that Corid works by blocking thiamine and starving out the coccidia that are in EVERY single chicken poo. So Nutri drench actually doesn't have the B's which I think are vital to energy and recovery from things, but it may still be effective if using Corid.. since you should NOT supplement vitamins (specifically the B's) because that would defeat the purpose. I personally prefer to use another bird vitamin with B's in it, but do also have the nutridrench as it was so touted by people.

As far as your chooks having damaged lungs and such, the body is an amazing, self healing, living organism. So IF they do have lung damage, they will probably fully recover from it.

So happy to her that some of your community are pulling together to help, to the best of their ability!

I know you challenge is not over even if you aren't fearing for you life anymore. I hope you will continue to get support and that your animals pull through as well. Keep holding on, there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

I don't know... what I wouldn't give to see a pic of you and your kids right now?!

Ha! There’s no picture of me, but here’s one of the kids feom yesterday. The smoke is heavy at times even out where we are now...
I ended up leaving rhe chickens at their first set up after all and hoping for the best. I couldn’t really find anything better. Now I hope that we‘ll be allowed back soon so they can go back to their regular coop! I was thinking about using Corid just in case, since I don’t see them every day now to assess. But now I just hope it won’t be long till I can take them back.
I think one of the pecked ones I have here with me might have a crop issue, her crop felt big and squishy tonight. I have seen her eat feathers soomerime and am wondering if she ate a lot of them while they were stuck without feed. They are molting so there were lots of feathers around. And no grit besides oystershell. If her crop doesn’t feel better tomorrow morning, should I give her some oil on her feed? Would butter do (we don’t have any olive oil right now, but I can go get some if need be)? What else?
Thank you so much everyone for joining me on this wild ride for a bit - it helps so much!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Oh wow, your kids are big kids.

I am very unfamiliar with crop issues so far. But I would try to bring in a dish of dirt so they can get the grit that occurs naturally in it. This is all my birds get, though I guess I do have river sand on m y coop floor as well. If they are molting, then they probably won't eat OS anyways since they don't need it. And I know it isn't actually hard enough to be considered a grit source.

The one thing I do know is the crop should be nice and full before roost time and empty in the morning. So if it was still squishy feeling in the morning I WOULD consider taking some action.

I don't think butter will be effective if it can't stay melty to lube things up on there. Though it will probably be melted when inside the body. But I would even use standard vegetable oil if I didn't have olive.

I hate to suggest a bunch of crazy things and supplements. I don't believe over doing it is a good thing. But... some people use raw apple cider vinegar with Mother in their water for their birds. If you are having sour crop, acidifying a little might help. And since it has mother has also got pro biotics to help the birds fight stuff off in the gut.

But, I don't think sour crop and impacted crop are the same thing. I think the oil would be for impacted crop. Though I could be wrong and am here to learn also! Maybe they go hand in hand... like things move through too slow and sour in the process.

Even though it isn't ideal, at least your birds do have a chance to live now verses being burned up or starving and dehydrating.

I'm sure you are probably still running on adrenaline and that weight of what has happened hasn't settled in on you too hard yet. But when that time comes, in your moment of quiet hurt.. I hope it's the good things flooding your heart with joy that bring the tears to your eyes and help your heart (and mind) to heal and move forward WITHOUT fear.

 

[All Ball]

I'll let others provide advice on crop issues - but thanks for keeping us updated! We are thinking of you, your family, your flock, and your community.

 

[twilightgecko]

what a nightmare this must be for you.. that neighbour, bless her heart..

 

[sumi]

@TwoCrows wrote a good article on crop issues and how to help fix them:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

I am so glad your chickens survived. I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your home though