Pipd's Peeps 2014!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I'm here again with sad news. We said farewell to Louise last night. After a two-month-long stint of rollercoastering health and intensive, hands-on care, Louise's body began to shut down on her earlier this week. It became evident when her crop stopped emptying overnight. I couldn't justify letting her linger any longer. She hadn't opened her beautiful brown eyes in days... So we put her out of her misery as gently as we could.

I grew rather attached to Louise in my time giving her so much hands-on care. I knew I shouldn't have, but just a week or two ago, she was looking like she might pull out of it, and I let myself get hopeful that I would see her out in the flock again some day. Last night, I spent some hours rereading this thread and just sobbing at every mention of her. I thought it would be nice, now that I have cried it out and am able to look at these pictures without bawling, to remember some of Louise's short time here with us.

Louise getting right up close and personal with the camera:

She was always the quiet, reserved one. To be honest, this should have been a warning sign that something would go wrong in the future... But she was a little sweetheart, and look at this face!

Wouldn't you know it, Louise was the first to discover scratching. Elda's taking notes from the sidelines.

Here's Louise trying to play innocent, even though the evidence is on her back!

She was also the smart one. First one to hop onto the EcoGlow, first one to discover scratching...

Louise and Georgie are plotting something, I just know it...

She and Georgie were always plotting, too. Can't you just tell by their faces?

Louise, at attention! Love her little face!

Oh, that little face...

Louise is particularly difficult to get pictures of, so I picked her up. I got this look as a result. "Put. Me. Down."

"I mean it, human!"

She was the dignified lady of the group, the graceful and refined French maiden. She was also quite stubborn!

Louise and Mabel coming over:

Her face in this picture just made me smile...

{Georgie} is also huge next to Louise, who is the same breed and age:

She was always smaller than Georgie. I thought at first that Georgie girl might be a cockerel, and then I just thought she was a rather masculine pullet, but perhaps it had more to do with Louise...

Louise the stubborn French hen, who would not pose except while perched on my arm.

Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn... She was stubborn right to the end, too, fighting us for each and every treatment we tried.

Well, today was a nice day, so I got everything set up and took the babies out for their first trip outside! Them being older than usual for their first trip, I think it went quite well.


Louise didn't like the looks of this...

Their first time outside.

Louise doing a dramatic, over-the-shoulder pose

She was such a beautiful young lady...

Well, it's that time of the week again! The littles are 11 weeks old and Poppy and Vi are 12 weeks old today!


Louise the graceful:

Always the graceful one...

Here's Kit and Louise perched together.

Louise. She's so pretty!

What a precious face.

I can't get over how lovely Louise's eyes are! Here is her left...

...And her right!

I had always loved her eyes. I'm sad I won't see them anymore.

Hey, all, it's been a while. Today the babies are 5 months old.


Lovely Louise!

This was probably her at her best. Look at how attentive and vibrant she looked!

Louise again--she's so shiny! {6 months old}

The last time she really looked healthy...

Louise at 7 months old:

Looking at these pictures... You could really tell something was up here. I wish I had acted on it then...

{9 months old}

Our sweet Louise had to take a break from the cold, so she's bunking with my old Cubby in my room:

She came inside and her hands-on care began on February 17. Two months... Poor, sweet darling...


This is the last picture I took of her, back in March. She was resting after a feeding, but otherwise seemed like she was pulling through. This picture really hurts my heart... Those lovely brown eyes...

I really, really hope this is my last sad post for a while. PLEASE, let this be my last sad post for a while! It's been one of the rockiest Springs I've experienced in a while already! Just five of my babies from last year are left... But, they and the rest of the flock are looking strong and healthy, and we haven't seen anything of the hawk in a while, so fingers crossed for happier times ahead.

I will try to keep in good spirits for the 11-month-old picture taking this weekend--I'll post again then!



Edited to fix quotes


Edited again because sometimes I'm dense

 

[autumnhearth]

I'm here again with sad news. We said farewell to Louise last night.

After a two-month-long stint of rollercoastering health and intensive, hands-on care, Louise's body began to shut down on her earlier this week. It became evident when her crop stopped emptying overnight. I couldn't justify letting her linger any longer. She hadn't opened her beautiful brown eyes in days... So we put her out of her misery as gently as we could.

I grew rather attached to Louise in my time giving her so much hands-on care. I knew I shouldn't have, but just a week or two ago, she was looking like she might pull out of it, and I let myself get hopeful that I would see her out in the flock again some day. Last night, I spent some hours rereading this thread and just sobbing at every mention of her. I thought it would be nice, now that I have cried it out and am able to look at these pictures without bawling, to remember some of Louise's short time here with us.
She was always the quiet, reserved one. To be honest, this should have been a warning sign that something would go wrong in the future... But she was a little sweetheart, and look at this face!
She was also the smart one. First one to hop onto the EcoGlow, first one to discover scratching...
She and Georgie were always plotting, too. Can't you just tell by their faces?
Oh, that little face...

She was the dignified lady of the group, the graceful and refined French maiden. She was also quite stubborn!
Her face in this picture just made me smile...
She was always smaller than Georgie. I thought at first that Georgie girl might be a cockerel, and then I just thought she was a rather masculine pullet, but perhaps it had more to do with Louise...
Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn... She was stubborn right to the end, too, fighting us for each and every treatment we tried.
Their first time outside.

She was such a beautiful young lady...
Always the graceful one...
What a precious face.

I had always loved her eyes. I'm sad I won't see them anymore.

This was probably her at her best. Look at how attentive and vibrant she looked!
The last time she really looked healthy...
Looking at these pictures... You could really tell something was up here.

I wish I had acted on it then...
She came inside and her hands-on care began on March 17. Two months... Poor, sweet darling...


This is the last picture I took of her, back in March. She was resting after a feeding, but otherwise seemed like she was pulling through. This picture really hurts my heart... Those lovely brown eyes...




I really, really hope this is my last sad post for a while. PLEASE, let this be my last sad post for a while! It's been one of the rockiest Springs I've experienced in a while already! Just five of my babies from last year are left...

But, they and the rest of the flock are looking strong and healthy, and we haven't seen anything of the hawk in a while, so fingers crossed for happier times ahead.

I will try to keep in good spirits for the 11-month-old picture taking this weekend--I'll post again then!

Oh Pipd, I am so very sorry for your loss. We put down Morgaine our one year old BCM, also from Meyer, last Saturday. Do you mind if I ask you to describe Louise's symptoms, when they started, when/if she stopped laying. Morgaine laid her first egg on Halloween but stopped laying at the end of November/early December.

She got the worst frostbite of the girls. In late December/early January I noticed she wasn't moving too much and then had a hard time walking and standing. I brought her in, she was depressed, I made her take liquids and after a couple days brought Victoria the Dorking (who was molting at the time) to keep her company, after two days with Victoria she seemed less depressed, she started eating more, standing more and preening.

I re-integrated them after a week and she resumed her position as head hen, but she was never quite the same. Baby our Buff Orp took on more of the responsibilities of looking out for predators, even going after a sweet stray cat I was hanging out with, but Morgaine kept her place. She was always a loud grumpy girl, she loved to complain and didn't like to be held, except when she was sick.

Last week she wasn't herself again, she was standing still during free-range time puffed up, though her comb hadn't been red for months, he was looking especially pale, a sort of sickly peach color. Last Friday I noticed she had some blood vessels that had broken on her comb, I put on blu-kote and the next morning it had turned yellow. Her droppings were white and watery. Unfortunately I took her to the vet to late, she had already lost a lot of weight. Her crop wasn't processing food and her abdomen was hard and sore.

Is Georgie okay? Has she been laying well?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I thought about that after I saw your post on the Meyer thread. There are similarities, though there are differences as well... Louise started out very gradually, kind of slowed down and fluffed out over some weeks, and she had a puffiness to her face when I first brought her in, though that cleared up once she was inside. Within a week of her coming in, she started exhibiting signs of wry neck. It came and went over the two months she was inside, so I don't know if anything we treated her with actually worked or if it was coming and going on its own. She was unsteady on her feet and kept trying to tumble forward or backward, typical of wry neck. We ended up putting her in a sling because she would either grind her face into her bedding or stumble through her droppings, and that was not pleasant. She did have plenty of strength in her legs right to the end, though, and could stand when supported.

Her droppings were normal for a sickly hen, loose, but otherwise appropriate for droppings. She lost about 400 grams of weight, starting at about 1700 when she was brought in and stabilizing at around 1300 during her time inside, no matter how much food we tried to get in her. She was bright and her wry neck had all but vanished just last week, even to the point that she was trying to preen and drinking on her own. Then, like a light switch, she was down again this week. Her crop did shut down, but she didn't seem to have any hardness or soreness in her abdomen like you're describing. She never became well enough to go back outside during this time. Poor thing passed without ever knowing that there was an end to the dreadful, miserable winter we had. :/ I know, I'm too sentimental about these things...

Louise never came into lay, so I can't say anything as to what her laying habits would have been like. She also only got a touch of frostbite, not like poor Georgie and her now-smooth comb from losing all her tips! Georgie girl is totally fine, by the way. Laying, scratching, pecking, pestering me for attention, all that good stuff. That T rex of a chicken hasn't slowed down for an instant!

My strongest suspicion was something related to the MG. I had heard that MG could cause issues with deficiencies, so I assumed it was either that, or just something that didn't develop right internally. She had always been the quiet, low-energy one of the group, which makes me think something internal at least played a part. She rather reminded me of my German Shepherd, who we knew had some internal defects and she was also lumbering and reserved. Maybe there is some sort of genetic issue with one of Meyer's BCM pens and Louise and Morgaine had issues from inheriting from that? Wasn't Morgaine a darker BCM as well? Louise hardly had any copper in her hackles, in contrast to Georgie, who is very coppery in her neck...

Anyway, I probably should get some sleep at this point, just wanted to get a reply out there to you.

 

[autumnhearth]

I'm sorry, I should have waited to hit send until this morning, I did not mean to keep you up reliving her illness It does sound quite a bit different than Morgaine. I wish I had known what it was for some peace of mind, but the husband couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars for x-rays and bloodwork and ivs. And while a stay at the clinic might have got her through the weekend it really seemed she wasn't long for this world. I didn't think of getting a necropsy done until we were driving home and who knows how much that would cost. So our best guess without all that was a reproductive problem, though I wouldn't rule out a defeciency, they have has good quality organic feed with a vitamin and mineral pre-mix and I have been putting vitamins and probiotics in their water. I did notice Morgaine had broken two toe nails at the end, I didn't catch them right away like with Victoria's nail. Perhaps an infection was part of her final demise, but she had not been well before that.

Yes Morgaine was all black, no copper on her neck, just the tiniest bit of mossiness on her wings. She was very light as a chick though, almost half yellow, not dark like your girls. Her face stayed light for a long time and she had some white feathers on her wings up until her juvenile molt. She was quite reserved as a chick, it wasn't until three months old when they were moved out to the coop that she decided she wanted to rule.

I am glad that Georgie is healthy. But so very sorry for all the loss you've suffered this year. How is Frou? And is there another one that rides in your basket at night? When I read that I could picture it instantly, so cute. Don't feel like you have to respond today.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, no worries! If I had anything to get up for today, I would have waited to reply. I was just on my way to bed and thought I could type up a quick response, and then I kept thinking of more details that probably could be of use, and next thing I knew it was 1 am!

It sounds like Louise and Morgaine were similar in demeanor, at least, though Louise came into an established flock so she never had a chance of being the big boss hen. It is curious... I had strongly considered a necropsy, myself, and I'm still torn as to whether I should have or not... At one point early on, when I was sure she was a goner, I was 100% committed to finding somewhere to send her for necropsy, but then as time went on and she rollercoastered and I got distracted hoping that she would pull through, well, I guess I let it slip my mind. :/ It would have answered some questions, but then I feel pretty confident in my speculations. If any other birds in the flock had come down with similar symptoms, I'd be more concerned, you know?

And ugh, I've really been out of it. I just realized in that initial post about her that I said she came inside in March and now in April two months had passed. She came in on February 17, not March 17.




Frou-Frou, you mean the giant, goofy ball of fluff? She did move back outside last weekend and she's miserable! Well, she'd like to make me think so, anyway. If I look out through a window, she's having a grand ol' time of it, but as soon as she knows I'm outside, she's at the fence honking desperately at me. She just doesn't understand why she can't go back to her luxury suite and spa treatments! She's doing so well, though, and I truly think she'll be happier outside than she would be as a house chicken. I did consider bringing her in every night, but then I don't want to stress her later this summer when the temps get warm, going from comfortable AC to summer heat.

It's funny, I was slow in putting her back outside mainly because the Partridge Rocks were pushing her around, and now they're just as thick as thieves once again! Their dynamic has changed a bit; Frou-Frou used to be more dominant than them and now they are more dominant than her. However, I caught them hanging out together just like old times the other day. I'm happy for my Frou-Frou.

And miss Betty Beard was the other young lady getting the basket rides. She only came in a few nights, though. I went ahead and wormed her and gave her ACV water because I didn't have much else to go on, but she was pretty much back to her usual before I even had the chance to get that done. Bett's quite the bird! She's so calm and cool with everything that I could bring her inside, even though it had been years since she was last inside, and she would be exploring and poking around like it was nothing new. She's my only Easter-egger that isn't totally crazy in one way or another. The rest of them are nuts!

 

[autumnhearth]

It is curious... I had strongly considered a necropsy, myself, and I'm still torn as to whether I should have or not... At one point early on, when I was sure she was a goner, I was 100% committed to finding somewhere to send her for necropsy, but then as time went on and she rollercoastered and I got distracted hoping that she would pull through, well, I guess I let it slip my mind.

It would have answered some questions, but then I feel pretty confident in my speculations. If any other birds in the flock had come down with similar symptoms, I'd be more concerned, you know?
Frou-Frou, you mean the giant, goofy ball of fluff?

She did move back outside last weekend and she's miserable! Well, she'd like to make me think so, anyway. If I look out through a window, she's having a grand ol' time of it, but as soon as she knows I'm outside, she's at the fence honking desperately at me. She just doesn't understand why she can't go back to her luxury suite and spa treatments! She's doing so well, though, and I truly think she'll be happier outside than she would be as a house chicken. I did consider bringing her in every night, but then I don't want to stress her later this summer when the temps get warm, going from comfortable AC to summer heat.

It's funny, I was slow in putting her back outside mainly because the Partridge Rocks were pushing her around, and now they're just as thick as thieves once again! Their dynamic has changed a bit; Frou-Frou used to be more dominant than them and now they are more dominant than her. However, I caught them hanging out together just like old times the other day.

I'm happy for my Frou-Frou.

Yes I absolutely do know. The main reason we took Morgaine to the vet was not save her but to check to see if this was something that the rest of flock just wasn't showing symptoms for and that I could treat, like worms or cocci. I didn't realize just how on the edge of death she was until the vet looked her over.

Aww Frou-Frou! I know how that is only sometimes my chickens see me at the kitchen window and they start fussing, lol! I'm glad she is doing well and getting along, but who doesn't want to be spoiled? Yeah I would not really like to have a full time house chicken and the temp difference in the summer and winter would be rough. You made a good decision.

 

[lightchick]

So sorry to hear abut Louise!

It's hard not to get super attached to sick/weak chickens/chicks that your caring for!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Aww Frou-Frou!  I know how that is only sometimes my chickens see me at the kitchen window and they start fussing, lol!  I'm glad she is doing well and getting along, but who doesn't want to be spoiled?  Yeah I would not really like to have a full time house chicken and the temp difference in the summer and winter would be rough. You made a good decision.

Haha, now remember, it isn't spoiling if they deserve it! Frou-Frou sure thinks she deserves it, anyway.

So sorry to hear abut Louise!    It's hard not to get super attached to sick/weak chickens/chicks that your caring for!

It really is hard. All of that close contact with them, you really get to know them, even if they are a bit off from their illness. It's been hard for me as well because taking care of Louise had become part of the routine, twice a day, every day. It was a fight every time, but somehow I still miss it.






But anyway, I've got pictures, lots and lots of pictures! I must run out to the girls first, though. Will post these pictures once all of my birdies are accounted for and tucked away safely in their coops.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hm, hm, I nearly forgot to come back! I'm thinking since there are so many quoted pictures at the top of this page that maybe the tons of pics I have tonight should go to the next page, so...

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

...let's just move things along here! Pictures in my next post! I'm not sure my old laptop could take it otherwise!