My Ivy.. Latest Relapse...She's Gone

[Serrin]

Cyn, you know we're here. I so hope that LadyHawk gets the chance to meet this so very precious girl. She brings with her not only goodies, but all the love from all of us everywhere. Would that we could all have the opportunity to great this wonderful little lady ourselves, but we know how impractical that would be.

I want to thank you Cynthia, for giving each of us a chance to know your Ivy, even just a little bit, through your posts about her. There will surely be an enormous ache in my heart when she leaves us. But I will rejoice in the life that she had. As I said once before: In my next life, I'd like very much to be one of your hens!

 

[joletabey]

Hugs, Cynthia, many, many hugs.

 

[Cetawin]

Well biscuits it is...does Ivy prefer her biscuits from self-rising or all-purpose flour?

I think some berry muffins for the rest of the crew are in order yep a stop at Krogers on the way out of town is a must...not to mention the first watermelon stand I find.

I shall drive in, spoil them rotten, become known as the "spoiling aunt" and then I shall come back home and leave Cyn with a bunch of ticked off chickens who are giving her stink eye and wondering where the heck the goodies are and why she is not coughing em up.

Yes that is the plan. muahahahahahaha

 

[speckledhen]

Don't forget that you must carry Gypsy around all the time, too.

 

[speckledhen]

Were going to put the birds up before an approaching storm hit and found Tux standing with tail down, looking lethargic. She has been fine, just not laying due to her molt. Saw her on the nest today, but no egg. I think the heat (heat index is 100) and her molt combined to put her in crisis. We took the hose and misted her under her wings, her feet and her head and put her under the fan. In fact, we misted them all. Tux is Olivia's sister, also a black bird, so that just soaks up the heat. It's very disheartening that I may lose all three of my PoufyHead Sisters. Kate is gone, Olivia is dying from internal laying/egg peritonitis and now this with Tux. When those three are gone, it will be the end of an era. They hatched with Suede three-and-a-half years ago.

 

[WriterofWords]

They've had a pretty good 3.5 years, it's a shame they've had health problems like this. It's like humans: The good ones go too soon and the bad apples hang around and spoil the jam!

 

[speckledhen]

At least, none of this has been anything contagious, really more malfunctions than disease. And it's very common with hens, especially the hatchery production types. I hope Tux isn't the first hen I'll lose to heat stress. We'll check on her later and if she seems bad, I'll bring her inside to cool off until the sun goes down.


ETA: upon checking Tux, DH found her in a floor level nest box that is rarely used. Not sure why-no one bothers her since she is near the top of the pecking order. Maybe she just wanted it really dark, who knows? He brought her inside and she is alarmingly thin, something I've seen with molts, but this extreme heat we've had for two weeks straight may be just too much for her. She is inside near the window A/C, nibbling on salmon and shredded cheese. Could be that she has egg peritionitis in early stages on top of her molt and the heat, poor girl. Sigh. I'd like a few months with no issues, please.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Well of course...that is a give and I felt the need to state it was not necessary. Isn't everyone who visits you forced to carry Gypsy around to shut her up?

Cyn....I hope Tux is okay and it is just the heat and her molt.

 

[Serrin]

If this were all happening to me, it is at this point that I would start to ask myself "Who did I piss off this badly to deserve all of this!?!" But I can't for the life of me imagine our sweet Cynthia ever having a single enemy!

Let alone ticking anyone off so bad as to warrant this kind of return bad Karma.

WTH!

I'm with LadyHawk here.

Keeping everything crossed that it's just a coincidence of circumstances. How was Tux once the evening cool settled in Cyn? I sure hope she's doing better. You just don't need this dear lady. I wish I could take some of that heat from y'all down there. It's so cold and dismal up here that we'd welcome 20 extra degrees with open arms!

*sigh*

 

[speckledhen]

Tux is standing hunched up, tail down, but alert. She has been nibbling at her food and drinking okay. That whole flock was wormed about four weeks ago, so doubt it's worms. Haven't had any moldy feed issues, at least in the bagged feed or in the coops and her crop isn't soured, was just empty. Will dust her for mites just in case, though I haven't seen any evidence of any pests on any of my birds.


Serrin, it's just life. And life with chickens, at that. Some folks take little care (or no care) of their birds and have no problems, at least that that they notice (I notice most everything) and some are hyper-vigilant and have oodles of issues. There's no rhyme or reason to it.