Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[CuteFluffyButtSilkies]

Look at that cute little face

 

[GoodGuinea]

My kids took Winter, our rooster, outside today. He's been living in our basement for a couple weeks, recovering from frostbite. But it was a warm-ish day, so why not? But then they decided to put him back in with the other chickens, whom he hasn't seen in the last two weeks, and just leave him there. It didn't go well.

Cottonball, our alpha hen, was NOT pleased to have him back. Both of them are a little bloodied-up, and it looks like Winter got the worst of it. I put him back in solitary, and he honestly seemed happy to get back to it.

I didn't plan on reintroducing him at all, since he's going to a new home soon. Pretty sure that's the last time he'll see his sisters. Sucks that it had to be such a bad experience.

 

[TillyPeeps]

This is Henny's final diagnosis:

Hard to say what caused her second cancer. All my other girls now have bright red combs, and look healthy and happy. Dragon's eggs turn to X-large now!

 

[dheltzel]

This is Henny's final diagnosis:
View attachment 2533401
Hard to say what caused her second cancer. All my other girls now have bright red combs, and look healthy and happy. Dragon's eggs turn to X-large now!

Unless you are the researcher doing work you are getting paid for, it is hard to get pathologists to care that much about finding the real cause of death - this is NOT CSI!
Poultry are still considered "livestock for consumption" and not given the same care as a dog, cat or horse would be afforded.
When I see the words "consistent with", I know they are guessing. It is the guess they are told to make when seeing lesions that meet certain criteria, but they do not do an actual test for the presence of Marek's. That would be too expensive and these are "just poultry" to the pathologist.
I'm not saying they should expend hundreds of dollars in resources to make a diagnosis you can do nothing about with your flock (other than get vaccinated chicks in the future).
Even with dogs and cats, the vets treat them based on your budget, which is good. When our dog needed dental work, they called to ask if I wanted to spend that much. Of course, he is a member of the family and I would spend $10,000 without a thought, but not everyone would.
I just sent off feather samples from 3 of my Opal roosters for genetic testing to see how many copies of the blue egg gene they carry. Costs $30 per bird, so I picked 3 I thought were most likely to live. I would hate to get a report on a roo that expired weeks before I got the test results. If they all come back with disappointing results I will have wasted $90 because I still won't know which rooster I should be using (just 3 that I should not).
My point is that we all have to decide how much we are willing to expend for our pets. Some of us are obviously more committed to our birds financially.

 

[TillyPeeps]

If I remember correctly, they did test Candy for Marek's visus and found it's possitive. I assume they didn't test it again this time, because Henny is from the same owner. For $65 fee, I cannot expect they do too much though. It's true that most people don't really treat chickens as cats or dogs. I would take my cats to vet whenever they have a sign of sickness, but I tried home treatments first for my chickens and would only take them to vet if I failed. Another problem is most vets are clueless about chicken diseases anyway.

 

[VictoriaTemple]

Clueless vets? I paid an avian vet $120 once to treat a Jersey Giant cross rooster who was emaciated and unable to eat, with something hard lodged in his crop. He diagnosed him with worms and syringe-fed him and sent me home with veterinary dewormer. Jason died the next day, and I discovered a 1.25”x 1” chunk of silicone material stuck in his crop. Vet had no idea it was there. An avian vet who specializes in birds and treats chickens! God help me, I am STILL steamed about that one!!

 

[MamaBelle5]

Mindy is 'chicky sitting' this morning. With only 2 little ones left to go out to waiting broodies they were getting lonely and cheeping. So we had her settle on the couch and put them near her belly. Took them all of about 30 seconds to get buried into her fluff. Now everyone is happy.
View attachment 2529379
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Mindy looks so much like my golden retriever we lost to cancer last year. She was so gentle and loving.

We have a new golden, Moose. He's 12 weeks old. He doesn't really seem interested in the chickens. I make sure to take him on walks by their run. The one hen seems to really like him, she follows him along the run and he sniffs at her and walks away. Doesn't bark or anything.

I'd like to keep the harmony between them. Do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions?

 

[BullChick]

I feel when a puppy is calm, let them near the chickens. Tell them they are good, and offer a treat. My last dog was older when I started with chickens. He was very interested in the brooder. Everyone said, “wait until the chicks are bigger!” The dog was 9 pounds. A full grown chicken to start would have scared him (he looked so funny in with the adult turkeys!). I showed him a chick figuring I had to know eventually. Besides, I wasn’t attached to the chicks like I would be a hen.
The dog was great. He was a shelter dog, and afraid of everyone and everything. My poultry were his pack.

 

[Lelanae]

Clueless vets? I paid an avian vet $120 once to treat a Jersey Giant cross rooster who was emaciated and unable to eat, with something hard lodged in his crop. He diagnosed him with worms and syringe-fed him and sent me home with veterinary dewormer. Jason died the next day, and I discovered a 1.25”x 1” chunk of silicone material stuck in his crop. Vet had no idea it was there. An avian vet who specializes in birds and treats chickens! God help me, I am STILL steamed about that one!!

I feel you. $3,000 in avian vet bills for a Moluccan cockatoo that I utterly adored.Sky high white count, autopsy only showed liver flukes. I have taken chickens to my vet, but my general sense is avian medicine is still in its infancy and by the time birds show symptoms, the odds are against them. Avian vets may help those odds, but maybe not by that much.

 

[dheltzel]

I feel you. $3,000 in avian vet bills for a Moluccan cockatoo that I utterly adored.Sky high white count, autopsy only showed liver flukes. I have taken chickens to my vet, but my general sense is avian medicine is still in its infancy and by the time birds show symptoms, the odds are against them. Avian vets may help those odds, but maybe not by that much.

If it happens to be a pathogen that responds well to IM antibiotics, injections by a vet can cure quickly. Or something that is plain to see, a physical injury or break. But if it is a virus or a resistant pathogen, the vet is unlikely to help.
If you have a lot of birds, buying a bottle of Tylan 200 and disposable syringes is a lot cheaper than a single vet visit, and likely as useful in actually saving the bird.