MJ's little flock

[Ribh]

I'm loving the Christmas carols. I'm rather partial to "The Coventry Carol", all those minor chords, though it's not strictly for Christmas.

This is the sort of music my YD was trained in. I like it too. I've put up this one because the words are there.

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning folks

 

[Shadrach]

That was one of the best parts of Maleficent being broody. I could pet her fluffiness whenever I wanted. She was sooo fluffy too.

It's the best bit about sick chickens here, I get to hold them.
When barking mad Bracket was having her neurological problems she was so cooperative. I just had to slide my hand under her and she would settle. She's a tiny hen and yes I did stroke her.

 

[Shadrach]

Sandy's health

Well, she's not doing as well as I hoped she would. She's not running any more, jumping is out of the question, and she uses her pain posture for an hour or so before moving again. Yesterday she stood in pain while hidden in the tall grasses. The other two sat with her.

She has a follow up with Dr Hill today, but I'm not keen on having to touch her and put her in the basket because it's going to hurt her. I daresay the bumps in the car ride will be traumatically painful too.

I think she needs surgery. I'll write an update once I know more.

I do hope you can get her sorted out. It's heartbreaking when you can see they are in pain.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm very worried about her. I've pinned my hopes on surgery but she might not be strong enough to survive it. I think Mary and Janet are preparing for the worst. They've been very gentle with her lately and they even let her sleep in the captain's seat on the roost.

It's strange. All the stuff one reads about chickens attacking sick and/or injured flock members and I've never seen that here.
I've had to be quite careful when catching sick hens at times because their roosters were right on the edge of going for me.

 

[Shadrach]

Dr Hill says all of her reproductive strife is because she was bred to be an efficient economic unit of production.

This is something that should be on the front page of BYC. A frightening number of hens get sick and die at what are young ages compared to many of the high production hens.
Good BYC advice would be don't get high production hens, especially from hatcheries if you want them as pets, or even want your chickens to live long lives.

 

[Shadrach]

She's such a brave hen when it's hurting. She gets in her pain posture and keeps very still. An hour later, she takes a few steps and if it feels OK, she takes a few more.

I'll go tell her you are all on her side and sending her your best wishes.

Cillin says to tell her, 'some days just hurt'.

 

[Shadrach]

Christmas dinner for the hens?

So I'm planning to make a special salad for the hens on Christmas day.

Watermelon, rocket, strawberries, tuna or salmon. Maybe some cheese.

Is anyone else planning a Christmas treat for the flock?

Yep.

Plan as yet not finalised.

 

[Shadrach]

At present her tail is up and she's relaxed, so I think she's feeling OK for now. She ran out of the coop this morning - a very good sign that her body is not troubling her too much.

Because her pain comes and goes, perhaps it occurs when her body tries to make an egg?

If so, she'll be in pain again this afternoon. I'll keep watch and see what happens.

Now that I'm thinking about it: Has anyone ever tried giving ibuprofen or paracetamol to their hens?

No, but you can give children's aspirin.
Half a tablet with food am and pm but not for more than three or four days.
There is an analgesic+anti inflammatory called Metacam. It's what my vet prescribes for the chickens here.

 

[Shadrach]

We were talking about how Christmas can be crackers in a bad way over on @Ribh 's thread, so I thought it might be a good idea to share our favourite Christmas carols so that we can slow down and enjoy the season.

Here's mine:

The things I love about this particular video is that it's in the chapel of King's College, which is an utterly wonderful place, and that organ and King's Choir is leading a wider congregation in the singing. Many of the King's Choir videos have the choir singing by themselves, but this one has the whole crowd joining in, yet we can still hear the descant - it gives me shivers!

"Hark!" the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn king!" Wonderful.

Oh! And I love the anglican tradition of singing while facing each other. It's not a performance for an audience!

I've been there for a carol service many years ago.