Penny was the result of a little experiment I did to see what the offspring of a Cream Crested Legbar and an Amber Star would turn out like... As usual, out of the twelve eggs, only two of them were hens (at least there were two I guess xD)
Anyway, I love her to bits.
She's by far my favourite hen, always the first one of the flock up to see me when I get back from school every day, and the only one who actually enjoys physical contact. She loves scritches almost as much as the parrots!
Her backstory is quite traumatising actually. To start with, she's a runt. She hatched a day later than the others in her clutch and almost died in the process, requiring an egg-topsy to remove her in the end. Then, at four days old, she got her leg stuck under the drinker somehow and was almost trampled to death by the other chicks... almost. At three weeks, on her first trip outside, she leaped out of the pen before I could close the door and got stepped on by the emu. Again, she almost died... almost. When the babes were all feathered out, we had to say goodbye to our lovely house chooks and set them up outside. On her first night, Penny fell off the perch and gave herself a compound fracture in the wing. When I found her in the morning, the blood still hadn't clotted, and she had been awake all night in terrible pain, waiting for her humans to rescue her. She had almost died for the fourth time... almost.
She is the most accident-prone bird in the entire universe... but his time it seems, it really is nothing to do with her.
This morning, as I let out all of the chooks before school, I noticed that Penny, usually lively as hell, just went and lay down in a rather peculiar manner (with one foot curled up underneath her) under the trampoline and started panting. I didn't have time to check her out before the big S, so I just assumed she either needed to lay, or was taken by surprise by the unnaturally warm weather. When I returned home however, I arrived just in time to see her squirt out a jet of what looked like custard from her vent. She was a sorry sight. Her Roo, Fleance, was standing by her side and doing that little warning growl/screech thing every time a woodpigeon went over. He could tell she was ill. She was stood on one leg, with her wings half stretched out, panting. I was freaked out by the fact that she wasn't rushing over to see me, so I went over do a little examination. There was nothing wrong with her foot, her leg bones all felt fine, she didn't have an egg stuck, and her crop was bean-baggy as usual. She perked up a bit when I gave her some mealworm and apple paste (her favourite), and from then until bedtime she was a little brighter, and hobbled around the garden for a while with Fleance, and snuggled with me for a while, eyes closed and fluffed out.
After some pre-freakout Googling, her symptoms seemed to pretty much match Mareks. I'm probably overreacting (I do tend to freak out when my birds are in trouble) but I'd like to get a professional point of view.
What id really like to know is what I can do to help if it is Mareks. I know it's not curable, but is there anything I can do to make it easier on her? There's no way on Earth I'm going to give up, but equally, if my babe is in pain, id rather her go out quickly then drag on and suffer.
It may just be that she was hot and she jarred her leg after jumping off something. Equally, it could be the big M... I'll post some pictures as soon as I have daylight and the camera at the same time...
Thanks y'all, and sozzage for the long post!
Anyway, I love her to bits.
She's by far my favourite hen, always the first one of the flock up to see me when I get back from school every day, and the only one who actually enjoys physical contact. She loves scritches almost as much as the parrots!
Her backstory is quite traumatising actually. To start with, she's a runt. She hatched a day later than the others in her clutch and almost died in the process, requiring an egg-topsy to remove her in the end. Then, at four days old, she got her leg stuck under the drinker somehow and was almost trampled to death by the other chicks... almost. At three weeks, on her first trip outside, she leaped out of the pen before I could close the door and got stepped on by the emu. Again, she almost died... almost. When the babes were all feathered out, we had to say goodbye to our lovely house chooks and set them up outside. On her first night, Penny fell off the perch and gave herself a compound fracture in the wing. When I found her in the morning, the blood still hadn't clotted, and she had been awake all night in terrible pain, waiting for her humans to rescue her. She had almost died for the fourth time... almost.
She is the most accident-prone bird in the entire universe... but his time it seems, it really is nothing to do with her.
This morning, as I let out all of the chooks before school, I noticed that Penny, usually lively as hell, just went and lay down in a rather peculiar manner (with one foot curled up underneath her) under the trampoline and started panting. I didn't have time to check her out before the big S, so I just assumed she either needed to lay, or was taken by surprise by the unnaturally warm weather. When I returned home however, I arrived just in time to see her squirt out a jet of what looked like custard from her vent. She was a sorry sight. Her Roo, Fleance, was standing by her side and doing that little warning growl/screech thing every time a woodpigeon went over. He could tell she was ill. She was stood on one leg, with her wings half stretched out, panting. I was freaked out by the fact that she wasn't rushing over to see me, so I went over do a little examination. There was nothing wrong with her foot, her leg bones all felt fine, she didn't have an egg stuck, and her crop was bean-baggy as usual. She perked up a bit when I gave her some mealworm and apple paste (her favourite), and from then until bedtime she was a little brighter, and hobbled around the garden for a while with Fleance, and snuggled with me for a while, eyes closed and fluffed out.
After some pre-freakout Googling, her symptoms seemed to pretty much match Mareks. I'm probably overreacting (I do tend to freak out when my birds are in trouble) but I'd like to get a professional point of view.
What id really like to know is what I can do to help if it is Mareks. I know it's not curable, but is there anything I can do to make it easier on her? There's no way on Earth I'm going to give up, but equally, if my babe is in pain, id rather her go out quickly then drag on and suffer.
It may just be that she was hot and she jarred her leg after jumping off something. Equally, it could be the big M... I'll post some pictures as soon as I have daylight and the camera at the same time...
Thanks y'all, and sozzage for the long post!
