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Liam H

Chirping
Nov 14, 2024
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Hi,

I´m new to the forum and need to introduce myself. My wife and I live in rural Spain and have been keeping chickens for about 5 years now. We fell into it accidentally when our first chicken, Henny (Yeah, I know...original, eh! :)) found us. She must have escaped from somewhere and ended up hiding in the hedge next to our land. We had not a clue where she had come from, so after feeding her through the fence for a few days, we dug under and she climbed through. We had her as a solo hen for a few months, and she used to have the run of an acre of land in the day, then in the evening she used to wander up onto the terrace and sit with us.

Henny Adopted.jpg

Henny on adoption day

We read somewhere that it is best for them to have some pals, so we got a couple from a local supplier (red star / golden comet...which is what we think Henny was), and then we got some silkies as well (my wife thought they looked cute). We only have 5 chickens now (at max we had 9). Three red star / golden comets and two silkies.

First Silkies.jpg

First Silkies (Can you spot the imposter?)

We´re completely self-taught on chicken keeping and don´t have access to a vet that is experienced with chickens, so we´ll be glad to get advice from the more experienced folks on here.
 
Hello Liam H.
Welcome to BYC,
Something tells me you're not Spanish.:D
Vet care in Catalonia tended to reach the extremes in my experience. I got lucky and had rural vet who specialized in avian care when she qualified. She had only had two people bring her chickens in her entire practice time at the village the surgery was in; me and another crazy old man who used to take his rooster to her. I saw her do some stuff most vets wouldn't even attempt.
If you're rural then there are smallholdings and farms and a farm vet will be available, a requirement in fact. If one needed drugs then most would write a perscription for you without even seeing the creature. The reasoning behind this according to our farm vet was that farmers are likely to know more about health problems in their livestock than pet owners because dead through disease meant no carrcass money more often then not.
Take that as you will.:confused:

If you're been there a while, speak the language and socialize with local people then an alternative vet option is to find the people who used to breed fighting cocks. They will know who is best to see. As one would expect, many of these breeders manage their chickens health problems without official vet care, and many know more than a vet.
 

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