Help, my first sick chicken! Something with her eye...

[chickcrack]

Well Ariel is the luckiest chicken ever to have ended up at your house! Thank God you took her in. Sure sounds like it wasn't going to just "go away"!
Did they think she can still see out of that eye? I don't get how someone could sell chickens in the condition you got those girls. I feel bad for the others he has.
Hope the meds work quickly. How long did they suggest you keep her separated?

 

[Des R]

So the vet said he can't tell if she'll regain site in her eye or not, I have to take her back for a follow up visit next week, he said he'll know more then. If she doesn't regain site, will she be easy pickings when I let her free range with the others? Or is there a chance the roosters will keep an eye out for her? Literally...

And not near as lucky as Happy Gilmore

 

[chickcrack]

Roosters are good at guarding. I'm sure she will be able to adapt. The hen I had that had a "foggy" eye I think saw a bit out of it. She would free range just wasn't as brave as the others. And the head hen always seemed to keep tabs on her. Like she knew she needed a bit of help sometimes. Toward the end of her life (she passed last spring) Sherman the rooster definitely paid attention to get her in the coop at night. They are amazingly adaptable little creatures. Hopefully she mends quickly now and can get back out with her friends. Are you eventually going to put everyone in the same coop or keep them separated?
Here's a couple more of Happy for you:

 

[Des R]

I ADORE the Happy pics and stories, I really do! He has the biggest comb for his little self, I love it!

I plan to integrate everyone into the one big coop eventually, so the old coop will always be open for new comers, babies, or a sick chicken. But it's stressssssssful! I talked to the guy via email for months before I purchase the birds and I was so convinced he knew everything about them and took such great care of them that I trusted everything he said blindly... lesson learned. So, first he talked me into a second rooster while I was there picking up the birds, said they were brother who got along fabulously - which appears to be true. Now I'm just worried about two roosters with 18 girls? So, I brought home both and on his advice put the roosters right into the coop with my 12 other girls. (Yes, that was stupid stupid as they should have been quarantined). I put the 6 new girls into the old coop and run. I got up early the next morning and went into the coop before dawn and turn on the light to see them all wake up together. That was a very scary minute (that felt like 100 minutes) of birds flying, fighting, screaming, feather pulling, and bouncing of the windows of the coop. I literally took cover with my arms over my head. As suddenly as it started, it stopped. With all of the birds standing in huddles... not even blinking. We all stood frozen for about 10 minutes and then life just went on like nothing. The girls yanked a feather here and there, but you could tell it wasn't serious, more like testing. It took the boys about 3 days to decide to come out of the coop, and about a week for them to free range with the girls. But all in all, everything is great in that coop. I see them stick more and more with the girls and even make weak attempts at keeping the girls together. So far it appears Donald acts more like a hen, and Cadbury more like a rooster. I noticed Donald dives right in when I throw treats and Cadbury struts a circle around them all. The boys were hatched in May he said, but they are not after the girls sexually which is why I think it's so peaceful?

"Donald" (Trump) is on the left with the floppy bad COMB over.. hahaha.
"Cadbury" (Cream Egg) is the cream on the right.


Now the girls in the other coop... They took a few days to start venturing out of the coop but seem to get friendlier each day. I even have a few eating from my hands now. I have those 5 in there and of course the one in the basement still. I haven't let them out to free range with the others yet because I'm sticking to 30 day quarantine plan. The one in the basement can go back out in 14 days assuming her meds work like we hope. So if I wait to put her back with the girls she came with, that will 5 weeks since I've had them. I don't want to integrate the flocks without her, since I think that will make it harder on her. I want to give her a chance to team back up with her girls first. What are your thoughts? Then how should I integrate them all at the 5 week mark? Should I move them to the new coop in the night again? I'm stressed about this.

 

[chickcrack]

Ya would be best for Ariel to get reacquainted with her sisters first. Will give her a chance to form buddies again before having to figure out a whole new pecking order. If the chickens can see each other through the pen it will go a long way to integrating everyone. I tried to let my new guys this year have some time in the coop by themselves to explore things before they got locked in there with the big girls. Hoped that way they would at least know escape routes and stuff. If you can add a new perch specifically for them it will help. My old girls are VERY protective of their perch spot and I think would fight to the death to protect it. I lol'd reading your rooster introduction!
They are handsome boys. When you have 2 one will always be the chief. He will crow deeper and may even be bigger. I had to give away my one cochin boy because the two boys were being way too hard on the girls. They got along great but the girls were getting chased so bye bye. Sold a girl with him which I didn't really want to do. Heard from her last week that a weasel got into her coop and killed a lot of birds...the cochin boy was one of them. Now im really kicking myself for selling the girl! I've got 2 girls in solitary confinement right now-Sharon and Phoebe. I don't know where I went wrong raising those two lol. Miss Kitty was practically naked from molt and the mean girls pinned her down and plucked her pin feathers out of her back. So she wore a fleece vest for 2 weeks. Thankfully her feathers are coming back in. Niece coming this aft to go over instructions for everyone's care next week. She has no idea what she's getting herself into. They all feel very high maintenance right now.

 

[chickcrack]

How's Ariel doing?

 

[Des R]

I think her eye looks worse but maybe it's just blindness I'm seeing? We have a follow up appt with the vet tomorrow night... I'll be sure to post.

How did your neice make out chicken sitting? Are you still in warmer weather?

 

[chickcrack]

Oh I really hope she's going to be ok.
We haven't left yet! Head out tomorrow. Can't wait for a few days of warmth and a vacation from these needy dogs lol. Our dollar is horrible right now so I def want be shopping down there!
Good luck at the vets. Fingers crossed.

 

[Des R]

Well, good news from the vet! Her infection is gone. I thought the eye was worse, but what I'm seeing is scar tissue that runs deep in her eye. He even tried to remove it, but it won't budge. She can see 'something' from the eye, but probably not much. He said there is still a chance the scar tissue could shrink and she could regain some vision... but otherwise, she's free to rejoin her flock! So we're going to introduce her slowly in with the 5 other girls I purchased that she was raised with by putting her in her own run we thru together out of pallets and chicken wire and put it up against their run for the next two days, bringing her in at night still. Then Friday night I'll put her in the coop and night, then monitor Saturday.

Here's a pic of what she's left with...



Hope your trip is starting out great! Did you leave Phoebe and Sharron in solitary?

 

[chickcrack]

Yay! Good news
Will be great to start to get things back to normal for both of you. Hopefully she integrates well now that she feels better. I gave Sharon and Phoebe a chance to go back in with everyone before we left on vacation. Watched them outside together for an hour and things seemed fine. Went inside and came back out to find Miss Kitty hiding amongst all the feed bags. They had been at it again. So back in solitary they went. I think I may need to rehome those two. It's at the point Kitty starts screaming when they even look at her and it's causing them to attack her. So frustrating. They are the only two currently laying eggs for me! Young girls haven't started and older girls are on vacation lol. Haven't received anything from my niece other than pics of her cuddling with Happy and my cat and a message that she may never leave my house! Good luck with Ariel this weekend. We are off to do Disney whirlwind today and act like 5 year olds!