- Jul 30, 2013
- 248
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Two years ago we bought four little fluffy chicks. We rehomed one because she was not getting along with the others and apparently has a lovely life strolling around a rose garden bossing two other chickens around. We added two more grown chickens later to make five. Out of our five Lydia (named after one of my son's best friends) was our blue egg layer and my son's favourite. Our chickens have always been pets with benefits for us, not livestock that lay eggs.
Well something went wrong, she went from being our most reliable layer to not laying very often and then she started producing rubber eggs. Three days ago my husband put the chickens to bed and noticed she was already in the coop and not free ranging (they have only been able to free range in the evening while we are rebuilding a fence and so they are very happy to be out). He brought her to me and we noticed that she not only had diarrhoea but her crop was full of water and overspilling but didn't seem to have any masses in it. We put her in our bathtub (where they were raised as chicks) and gave her soft food and water with antibiotics and rehydration minerals in it. We've tried to nurse her back to health but she was getting worse. Today she refused all food (even the really good stuff) and was drowsy and having problems standing and her tail was very droopy.
We spoke with our son and the three of us decided that we had to let her go. He said he did not want to be here so we sent him off to train and my dear sweet husband offered to do it. I knew going in to this that sometimes you lose chickens but this was hard. We have an avian vet in our city but honestly I couldn't see spending a large amount of money on a chicken that was having so many problems and I felt that waiting for an appointment would just be prolonging it for her.
So here is a picture of sweet Lydia. We plan to bury her in the garden and plant a tree there eventually. It isn't a good picture because she didn't like her picture being taken but she had lovely iridescent feathers and a fluffy beard and cheeks and blue legs (hard to see in this picture). She was a little flighty but a good protector of the flock. She loved banana leaves and sitting on the roost with the fan blowing on her in hot weather.
Well something went wrong, she went from being our most reliable layer to not laying very often and then she started producing rubber eggs. Three days ago my husband put the chickens to bed and noticed she was already in the coop and not free ranging (they have only been able to free range in the evening while we are rebuilding a fence and so they are very happy to be out). He brought her to me and we noticed that she not only had diarrhoea but her crop was full of water and overspilling but didn't seem to have any masses in it. We put her in our bathtub (where they were raised as chicks) and gave her soft food and water with antibiotics and rehydration minerals in it. We've tried to nurse her back to health but she was getting worse. Today she refused all food (even the really good stuff) and was drowsy and having problems standing and her tail was very droopy.
We spoke with our son and the three of us decided that we had to let her go. He said he did not want to be here so we sent him off to train and my dear sweet husband offered to do it. I knew going in to this that sometimes you lose chickens but this was hard. We have an avian vet in our city but honestly I couldn't see spending a large amount of money on a chicken that was having so many problems and I felt that waiting for an appointment would just be prolonging it for her.
So here is a picture of sweet Lydia. We plan to bury her in the garden and plant a tree there eventually. It isn't a good picture because she didn't like her picture being taken but she had lovely iridescent feathers and a fluffy beard and cheeks and blue legs (hard to see in this picture). She was a little flighty but a good protector of the flock. She loved banana leaves and sitting on the roost with the fan blowing on her in hot weather.
