HenHypochondriac
In the Brooder
- Aug 23, 2024
- 2
- 18
- 26
I’m back after many years, though not really as I’m always reading when I have chickens.
I first kept chickens from 2008 until 2013. I thought I’d become more self-sufficient, that maybe I’d even eat them.
That was silly. I’m incapable of killing animals larger than insects, and insects can be a challenge for me as well.
All was well till I saw my first girl miss the step on her way into the coop. She died within the day, while I crashed around on this site drowning in information about what could have befallen her and how to help.
That impotent feeling happens a lot when keeping hens. They really can get into trouble quite easily. Henkeeping mistakes are also extremely easy to make. And then it seems that their little bodies have been engineered to give it and spend it all as quickly as possible.
I’m always playing vet now, even when I spring for one. I’m always googling symptoms. I’m always weighing whether to take the problem to a vet, and then often frustrated because there isn’t a vet available. Then when there is, I struggle with the money I’ve just spent ($471 last time), and the answers I still didn’t really get, but at least there is this: I got the drugs and a dosage.
I have 5 hens. Three at the ripe old age of four, and two of those three in the sick house at this very moment.
I’ve come back to post questions and get organized.
Thanks for being here!
I first kept chickens from 2008 until 2013. I thought I’d become more self-sufficient, that maybe I’d even eat them.
That was silly. I’m incapable of killing animals larger than insects, and insects can be a challenge for me as well.
All was well till I saw my first girl miss the step on her way into the coop. She died within the day, while I crashed around on this site drowning in information about what could have befallen her and how to help.
That impotent feeling happens a lot when keeping hens. They really can get into trouble quite easily. Henkeeping mistakes are also extremely easy to make. And then it seems that their little bodies have been engineered to give it and spend it all as quickly as possible.
I’m always playing vet now, even when I spring for one. I’m always googling symptoms. I’m always weighing whether to take the problem to a vet, and then often frustrated because there isn’t a vet available. Then when there is, I struggle with the money I’ve just spent ($471 last time), and the answers I still didn’t really get, but at least there is this: I got the drugs and a dosage.
I have 5 hens. Three at the ripe old age of four, and two of those three in the sick house at this very moment.
I’ve come back to post questions and get organized.
Thanks for being here!
Its never easy on the heart to lose them. 
But death does come with the territory of keeping chickens unfortunately. Many of them just don't live long enough.
